Tucker Carlson had a recent interview with Jacob Rees-Mogg, a former British MP and noteworthy pundit. Where Tucker had his famously -infamously - friendly interview with Vladimir Putin in 2024, his conversation with Rees-Mogg was positively contentious bordering on hostile. Fine, that makes for a more interesting interview, but Tucker comes across as a Putin apologist and maybe even a Hitler apologist. Good grief! The centerpoint of the discussion was that Rees-Mogg has argued that the UK should build up its military under the old truism that 'if you want peace, prepare for war.' Tucker attacked this notion repeatedly. Among his attacks was to say that England ruined itself by fighting in World War I and World War II, both of which he argued were entirely voluntary. Indeed, the UK joined WWI because Germany attacked Belgium.
"Who cares?" Tucker argued.
"We had a treaty," Jacob replied.
Then there was World War II. The UK went to war with Germany because Germany invaded... Poland! Heck, Germany was merely reclaiming territory that had been 'stolen' in the Treaty of Versailles. 15% of Poland had been Germany/Prussia.
"Why not leave the Germans to it?"
"We had a treaty."
Tucker argued that the wars left the UK much worse than it was. He pointed out that the UK now had a population that was 19% foreign-born. If you can't even stop boats from landing on your shore, what makes you think you can face nuclear-armed Russia? Really, if Putin so wished it, he could win tomorrow by nuking Ukraine or rolling out hypersonic missiles. The UK stands no chance against Russia, which has a much bigger military.
The point that Tucker refused to understand was that strength deters aggression where weakness encourages it. The UK was clearly unprepared in both 1914 and 1939. Aggressors took that weakness as an invitation to attack. By contrast, the US was strong post-WWII and remained so throughout the Cold War. As such, the Soviets did not see weakness and no war resulted.
Repeatedly, Tucker spoke highly of Russia while dissing the UK and disapproving of US involvement in both Iran and Ukraine. Heck, he condemned Hiroshima as unjustified. 'You can never kill innocents.' Wow, there is a rule that, if followed, would lead to a loss every time. Sheer stupidity.
Jacob Rees-Mogg had the patience of Job during this debate. Somehow, he interjected some lighthearted moments despite Tucker's unrelenting series of attacks. At the conclusion, Tucker thanked Jacob for putting up with his nasty questions. Rees-Mogg brushed it off as a friendly discussion, showing he is unruffled by such. Indeed, he came off rather well while Tucker sounded like a crackpot who sympathized with tyrants.
There was a time when I thought highly of Tucker, but it seems that his former employers - both CNN and later Fox - reined in his extremes. Now free of editorial control, he has gone off the rails.
