Maybe he has a different definition of “obsessed”?
It’s flimsy, but it seems like the best explanation, after Tucker Carlson rejected claims he’s “obsessed with the Jews” and Israel on the Monday episode of his podcast. But the episode seemed to instantly disprove Carlson, because the Jews and Israel came up a whole lot.
How many times? 281 times, to be exact. That included 215 mentions of “Israel” and 66 mentions of “Jew” or “Jewish.” There was a lone reference to Judaism too, for good measure.
The lion’s share of those mentions came from The Grayzone reporter Max Blumenthal, his guest on the show, who said President Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again movement had been hijacked by an “Israel First” policy. Carlson agreed.
And towards the end of the 131-minute podcast, Blumenthal criticized Charlie Kirk’s widow Erika Kirk for doing an interview with CBS News boss and “self-proclaimed Zionist fanatic” (as Blumenthal put it) Bari Weiss, during which Erika Kirk said her husband was a big supporter of Israel. Blumenthal said that was bogus. He accused Erika Kirk of trying to “reverse his position” in the “eerie and cringeworthy” town hall.
That’s when Carlson defended himself against claims he has been fixated on Israel and Jews since leaving Fox News.
“One thing I really do resent is the idea that when you bring up stuff like this, some of the people you mentioned, will say to you, ‘You know, you’re kind of obsessed with the Jews.’ It’s like, well, I’m in no sense obsessed with the Jews — I’m obsessed with my kids, and a lot of things, but not the Jews,” Carlson said.
It’s a claim pundits like National Review writer James Kirchick have made, with Kirchick writing Carlson has an “unhealthy interest in Jews” last year. And Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) made a similar argument, saying the former cable news star seemed to have an “obsession with Israel.” Carlson scoffed at the accusations on Monday.
“Other people are obsessed with Israel in a way that’s really destructive and ugly, I think. But it’s not even quote ‘Jews’ who are doing this,” Carlson continued, while putting the words “Jews” in quotes with his hands. “It’s the Christian Zionists who are doing it. So it’s like, not a good faith response, at all.”
But again, Carlson’s own content sabotages his argument.
To point to a few examples this year: Carlson has suggested Israel is a terror regime which has “murdered” thousands of Gazans, claimed it is “probably the most violent country in the world,” and is “in control” of the U.S.; during a month-long stretch between February and March, 77% of Carlson’s YouTube videos were about Israel. And in July, he branded Trump a “weak” man who let Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu strong-arm him into the Iran war.
Carlson echoed those remarks when he announced he was ditching the Republican Party. He said he couldn’t vote for the GOP anymore because it had “betrayed” the nation.
“How could I or any American voter support a political party that’s not loyal to the United States,” Carlson said. “That puts the interests of a foreign country above those of its own citizens. It’s not possible to vote for people like that, and I’m not going to.”
The foreign country he was talking about was, of course, Israel.
If he’s not fixated on the topic, it’s hard to tell from his commentary.
The post Tucker Carlson Rejects Claim He’s ‘Obsessed With the Jews’ — in Podcast Where Jews and Israel Are Mentioned 281 Times first appeared on Mediaite.