Monday, July 17, 2023

Tucker Takes Down Chris Christie, Long Distance, Even Without an Interview


Nick Arama reporting for RedState 

Tucker Carlson has been on fire over the past couple of days. First, it was with the Republican candidates at the Family Leadership Summit in Iowa. We reported on his interviews with former Gov. Asa Hutchinson, former Vice President Mike Pence, Sen. Tim Scott (R-SC)Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis, Vivek Ramaswamy, and former U.N. Ambassador and South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley. Tucker also did an interview with Glenn Beck with a few more remarks about the candidates. Then Carlson went to the Turning Point Action Conference in West Palm Beach, Florida, and had some great fun during his remarks there, particularly savaging former Vice President Mike Pence and roasting the White House over the cocaine found in the West Wing.

Carlson also made this great point about the importance of free speech for the health of our nation, noting that it was being stifled and that people were not allowed to raise questions about the 2020 election without facing a possible ban on social media.

One of the people who wasn’t there in Iowa — and so did not get the Tucker Carlson grilling — was former New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie.

Christie instead went on ABC and attacked Tucker Carlson as “wrong” on his position about the U.S. support for Ukraine.

“I would have said, you’ve always been wrong about this, Tucker, and you’re still wrong,” Christie declared.

Carlson responded with the voice of one who is unrestricted in what he might say. He said that he thought that merited a longer conversation and invited Christie to interview with him, like the interviews he did with the other candidates in Iowa, to explain his views on Ukraine. But Christie refused.

Carlson was not shy about shooting back. “You hate to think that Chris Christie is a blustery coward who plays the tough guy with sycophants at ABC but won’t answer real questions, but who knows?” he said. “We hope he reconsiders.”

I think that Carlson might have just achieved something unique; he nuked Chris Christie long distance without even having to interview him.

If Christie truly believes Carlson is wrong, why not go on with him and defend his point? Yes, it would likely be a barn burner, but if he believes in his points, stand by them. If he doesn’t, he’s saying he only wants to go on safe liberal media that agrees with him and wouldn’t question what he has to say. That isn’t going to get him more votes in a GOP primary.

But if that wasn’t enough, Christie also came to the defense of FBI Director Christopher Wray, saying he thought he has done a “very good job.”

How to do yourself in (if you ever even had a chance) — that’s it, right there. But then, while he went to bat for Wray, he was also trying to draft off DeSantis, telling DeSantis, “Welcome to the party” with the Die Hard meme, for saying he wanted to deal with the swamp, even as he, Christie is praising a member of it. And if you’re supporting Wray while he dissembles and doesn’t give proper answers about censorship, you’re not truly supporting that free speech that Carlson noted is so important for the health of our society.