One line from Tucker Carlson sparks political firestorm for the GOP

Reactions have come pouring in from defenders and detractors alike after Tucker Carlson made a shocking pronouncement that may well serve as a bellwether for the future of the Republican Party.

On a recent podcast appearance, Carlson, who has been vocal about his misgivings about the current direction of the GOP, drew a hard line in the sand when asked about his ongoing support for the Republicans.

‘And if I’m out, then I think a lot of other people are out.’

Asked about the war in Iran, which became a wedge issue among Republicans long before the end of February, Carlson argued that supporting the current conduct of the Trump administration has become untenable because Israel’s undue influence: “How could I or any American voter support a political party that’s not loyal to the United States? That puts the interests of a foreign country above those of its own citizens?”

“I voted Republican my entire life. I worked at Fox News, CNN, MSNBC. I’ve been a consistent defender … of the Republican Party — I mean, very consistent defender,” Carlson explained. “But there’s no defending this because it’s immoral, and it’s exactly the opposite of what a political party in a democracy is charged with doing, which is representing its own voters, its own citizens, its own nation. And they’re not doing that. So no, I’m out.”

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“And if I’m out, then I think a lot of other people are out,” he added.

Some leaders attacked Carlson’s statements, accusing him of hating America. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), for example, wrote: “This has been obvious for some time. @TuckerCarlson HATES: Trump[,] Republicans[,] Israel[,] Christian Zionists[,] YOU[.] Tucker loves: Qatar[,] The Ayatollah[,] Antisemite crackpots[,] Shirtless Putin[,] Sharia law.”

It isn’t clear how Carlson’s disagreements with the conduct of the Republican Party make him a lover of “Shirtless Putin.”

However, Carlson’s message seemed to resonate with others.

“Sadly the GOP will lose hundreds of thousands of voters in the mid-term election because of the total betrayals that have occurred[.] Turn out will drop significantly[.] @TuckerCarlson aligned voters like myself & millions of others are disappointed by the America Last foreign policy & massive amounts of foreign ‘legal’ labor coming in still,” Lake County Commissioner Anthony Sabatini wrote.

Marjorie Taylor Greene joined the fray, adding that millions of people like Tucker Carlson are tired of the “America LAST” politics in the party today:

Tucker is not the only one who is done supporting the Republican Party. There is A LOT of us that are absolutely fed up and will not support a party that betrays its voters and country. That does not mean we are turning into Democrats either. But we are DONE with the America LAST Republican Party.

Michael Knowles, on the other hand, made an attempt to get people to look past the “infighting”: “I’m just pointing out: while the Right does all this infighting, the Left is waiting for the Right to destroy itself so they can bring back transing kids, racial politics, government suppression.”

“I am imploring the American Right: please keep some perspective,” Knowles added.

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