Aaron Rupar tells another sad sordid tale of right wing humiliation and masochism:
One day after Tucker Carlson lambasted Republican Sen. Ted Cruz for describing the January 6 Capitol insurrection as a “violent terrorist attack,” Carlson invited Cruz on his show on Thursday night and thoroughly emasculated him.
The scene had the same vibes as the infamous 2016 image of Cruz phone banking for Trump after Trump insulted his wife and accused his dad of being involved in the murder of JFK.
Cruz made his fateful “violent terrorist attack” remark during a Senate hearing on Wednesday, and for once he was totally right. The attack on the Capitol, which left five dead and hundreds of people injured (including 140 police officers), clearly meets the FBI’s criteria for “domestic terrorism,” which the bureau defines as “violent, criminal acts committed by individuals and/or groups to further ideological goals stemming from domestic influences,” such as trying to install a defeated candidate in an elected office.
But for Carlson — who has spent a year defending insurrectionists, downplaying the January 6 attack, and even pushing an absurd conspiracy theory about the whole thing being an FBI trap — Cruz’s comments were insulting. And he made sure to remind him who’s boss.
Carlson’s producers teased the interview with chyrons that gave away where things were headed: “SEN CRUZ WILL BE HERE TO EXPLAIN HIMSELF,” blared one. Early during the interview, another asked “WHAT ON EARTH WAS TED CRUZ THINKING?”
Carlson came out of the gates swinging, accusing Cruz of lying about January 6 “on purpose” and demanding he account for this purported deception.
Cruz immediately began groveling.
“Well, Tucker, thank you for having me on. When you aired your episode last night, I sent you a text shortly thereafter and said, listen, I’d like to go on because the way I phrased things yesterday, it was sloppy and frankly, it was dumb,” Cruz said, prompting Carlson to jump in and say he wasn’t buying it.
“So Tucker, as a result of my sloppy phrasing, it’s caused a lot of people to misunderstand what I meant,” replied Cruz, going on to explain that when he referred to January 6 rioters as terrorists, he was only referring to those who assaulted police officers.
“Wait a second, hold on, what you said doesn’t even make sense,” interjected Carlson. “So if somebody assaults a cop, he should be charged and go to jail, I couldn’t agree more. I’ve said that for years. But that person still isn’t a terrorist!”
To shore up credibility with the Tucker set, Cruz made sure to point out that he was one of eight Republican senators who voted against certifying the election in the hours after the attack on the Capitol. He went on to try to blame the media for “twisting words,” even though what he said couldn’t have been any clearer.
The entire public shaming is worth watching.
While Cruz wanted Carlson’s viewers to believe his “violent terrorist attack” comment was a one-time mistake, journalists quickly pointed out that Cruz has used that language repeatedly in his public statements about January 6.
Watching the interview, it’s hard not to feel some schadenfreude, especially since it shows so clearly why Cruz is extremely unlikely to ever be the Republican nominee for president. He exudes weakness, and, as Trump demonstrated, Republican voters love a strongman.
Rupar’s newsletter is really good by the way.Nobody covers right wing media like he does,.
Meanwhile, here’s a blast from the recent past. Tuck was talking about the George Floyd protests, of course:
The word in right wing circles today is that Tucker is running for president. They love seeing him destroy Ted Cruz. Nobody likes that guy.