Tucker Carlson Attacks Editors Writer Wurmser
Lumps him with Bari Weiss, Jewish Insider, Fox News’s Griffin: “No more repulsive group in American life”
Online video personality and former Fox News star Tucker Carlson, who spoke on the fourth night of the Republican National Convention and at Trump’s pre-election Madison Square Garden rally, is out with a new video attacking some writers for, he says, “pushing endless war.”
Last month, Carlson posted an interview with a Columbia professor, Jeff Sachs, who claimed “Netanyahu wars” have resulted in “a million or so deaths” and cost America $7 trillion. Israel’s cabinet minister for diaspora affairs and combating antisemitism, Amichai Chikli, replied by saying, “Congratulations to Tucker Carlson for becoming the leading platform for fringe Holocaust deniers, conspiracy theorists, and blood libel enthusiasts who oppose the State of Israel.”
In a new video posted on January 25, Carlson interviews the executive director of the American Conservative magazine, Curt Mills. “Interviews” may be the wrong word to describe the encounter, because Carlson dominates the conversation. Carlson frames the episode as being about, “The below-the-radar war between permanent Washington’s national security establishment, the neocons, and the incoming Trump administration.”
“What are the publications, who are the people involved in this campaign of lies?” Carlson asks. “There’s no more repulsive group in American life than the people who continue to push death and bankruptcy on the United States,” he says, calling them “disgusting.”
“Now, instead of telling us that Saddam has weapons of mass destruction or that Osama Bin Laden attacked us for our freedoms, or whatever the lie of the day was, the new idea is that Iran is quote the head of the snake,” Carlson says.
Among those the Carlson episode names:
•The Free Press and its editor Bari Weiss, of whom Carlson said, “It’s pretty obvious that the whole purpose of her organization the Free Press and her whole career in journalism is to kind of soften up the right for war with Iran.”
•Fox News’s chief national security correspondent, Jennifer Griffin.
•Jewish Insider, which published a story critical of Michael DiMino, Trump’s deputy assistant secretary of defense for the Middle East.
• David Wurmser, who has published a series of recent excellent and widely read pieces here in The Editors (“How Trump Can Avoid Transition Traps Set By Biden,” “Lebanon Will Get Worse Before It Gets Better,” “Prepare for Disintegration of Syria and Rise of Imperial Turkey,” “Encourage the Iranians to Liberate Themselves, Wurmser Says.”)
Carlson described Wumser as “not from this country, not really concerned with this country at all…someone who has no interest in the United States.”
In fact Wurmser notes that he is a U.S. citizen, having immigrated in 1962 at age 10 months from Switzerland to Baltimore. Moreover he served America for more than a decade in the U.S. Navy Reserve, reaching the rank of Lt. Commander. In October 1998 he was awarded the Defense Meritorious Service Medal for what a citation described as “exemplary professionalism and dedication to duty, coupled with his extraordinary ability to analyze and present intelligence information and products.”
Carlson offhandedly comments in the episode that U.S. involvement in the Middle East “caused 9/11 among other things.”
Mills says the president “should do a Trump-Iran deal. … There needs to be an accommodation with the de facto government of Iran.” Carlson replies, “of course there does.”
On the topic of the substance of Iran and Middle East policy, we’ll have more coming soon. For now let’s just say that a good prescription for “endless war” is stopping short of decisively defeating the enemy, or, worse, propping enemies up with sanctions relief and with messages that discourage their opponents. Let Iran have a nuclear weapon, or try again bribing it in exchange for unverifiable promises to back away from one, and watch the endless war ensue from there.
On the topic of David Wurmser, let’s just say that Fox News is the highest rated cable news network and has been around for 30 years; the Free Press “launched on Substack in 2022 and has since accrued an audience of 1 million subscribers, including more than 135,000 paid subscribers. A recent funding round valued the company, which now has 50 employees, at $100 million.” The Editors has been at this for less than a year and, though we’ve seen encouraging growth, have some distance to go before approaching Fox News or Free Press scale. That Tucker Carlson is mentioning Wurmser in the same breath as Fox News and the Free Press is a tribute to Wurmser’s analytic powers, which are indeed extraordinary, and which our readers are fortunate to be able to access through his contributions here.
As for Trump, he appears to be going out of his way to distance himself from the positions and views of Carlson, who was seated in the front row of the audience at Trump’s inauguration.
On Saturday Trump posted, “A lot of things that were ordered and paid for by Israel, but have not been sent by Biden, are now on their way!” That was an apparent reference to bombs and other military supplies that had been held back. Trump also said Saturday aboard Air Force One that he would like Egypt and Jordan to accept and resettle more Palestinians from Gaza on a “temporary or long term” basis.
And Trump also posted, “Be sure to watch Mark Levin's Show on Fox tonight, and, in particular, Sunday night. He is doing a fantastic job for America!” Levin says the bombs the U.S. is sending Israel are “perfect for taking out Iran’s nuclear sites,” and that “every deal Iran has made has been nothing but subterfuge to buy time. Now, there’s no time left.” Levin also amplified a post from Trump’s former ambassador to Israel, David Friedman: “The only path to peace in Gaza begins with Hamas surrendering and leaving. Absent that, Hamas must be destroyed.” Levin also described DiMino, who Carlson and Mills defended, as “a fool” and “a creep.” Levin has called for tariffs on Qatar “the world’s banker for terrorism and antisemitism,” and also posted, “YES, IRAN DID IN FACT SEEK TO ASSASSINATE PRESIDENT TRUMP!”
I hope (and it seems likely to be so) that Trump's approach to Carlson is “Keep your friends close; keep your enemies closer.” Tucker Carlson is no friend.
I find you much more interesting and perceptive than Barri Weiss which is why I subscribe to The Editors and not her.