Tucker Carlson has never shied from diverging with the GOP orthodoxy. In a recent interview with the prestigious Swiss magazine Die Weltwoche, the Fox News host blamed Donald Trump for the ‘unfair’ 2020 election and doubts he can make a comeback in 2024.
Carlson told Die Weltwoche that Trump inflamed the political left during his four years in office but allowed them to join forces and ‘change the system’. Amid the COVID-19 pandemic, both Republican and Democratic states passed measures to ensure people could vote by mail instead of in-person before election day.
‘He made them self-consciously his opponents, and then he didn’t neutralize them,’ Carlson said. ‘There’s no question that Trump inflamed his enemies. He’s allowed them to coalesce, to organize.’
‘I think most people understand that it was not a fair election. They changed the system. Trump allowed that to happen,’ he added.
Primetime rival Sean Hannity cheered on Trump before and after he left the White House and entertained the idea of him running for office in 2024. Carlson, however, is not optimistic.
‘The most important quality in a presidential candidate is desire. You have to really want it. I don’t know if he does or not.’
Capitol Hill police, Carlson claims, unjustly shot protester Ashli Babbitt on January 6 and compared it to the Chinese Communist party’s repression of dissidents in Tiananmen Square. The most-watched cable news host also believes the GOP is void of any leadership following Trump’s exile and the unrest in DC.
‘One of them was shot dead, and they’re hiding the identity of the guy who did it. It’s disgusting,’ Carlson declared during the interview. ‘How is that different from Tiananmen Square?’
‘I think you have a lot of mediocre, fearful people who are too afraid to stand up for the country and for their voters and for what’s right. It’s a tragedy. There’s no one defending half the country.’
Carlson believes former president Barack Obama is ‘by far’ the most dangerous individual in American politics, alleging he has more power in the Democratic party than the current commander-in-chief Joe Biden.
‘He’s radical,’ Carlson said. ‘He’s a liar, not straightforward about his views or his aims.’
Carlson also shares ‘deep sympathy’ for Hunter Biden, a view that may surprise many of his voters. For years the pair were neighbors in Washington DC and, according to Carlson, have spoken together about addiction.
‘I have deep sympathy for him. I know him personally well, and I always liked him. He’s what we call a white-knuckle, recovery person. He’s never happy, and so he’s loaded. That’s just sad as hell.’
But Carlson did not refrain from attacking Hunter’s father, adding, ‘Joe Biden as vice president changed America’s foreign policy so his son could make a living. I think that’s disgusting.’
‘[Voters] care about inflation. They’re worried about the economy. They think the schools are terrible, crime is rising, and the border is open.’
