Three years ago, US Senator Ted Cruz came on then-Fox News host Tucker Carlson’s show. Come 2025, the Texas Republican joined the conservative political commentator on his own network for a heated crossfire that mostly ended with the media personality on top this week.
As the conservative titans clashed over the Israel-Iran conflict and the potential US military involvement in the Middle East over the same, the debate ascended to the status of a full-out confrontation. Seeing the two viciously hit back at each other in a sharp verbal contest was enough proof of even the MAGA camp being divided more than ever on the global crisis.
What went down during the Tucker Carlson-Ted Cruz standoff
“You don’t know anything about Iran!” Carlson lashed out at the Texas lawmaker. Challenging Cruz’s knowledge of the country he sought to “topple,” the former Fox News anchor hit the senator with a question that ultimately left him speechless.
“How many people live in Iran?” he popped the question during their two-hour interaction. Cruz curtly replied, “I don’t know the population.”
“At all?” Carlson pushed on to get an answer from him. As the conservative duo remained visibly divided in their takes on whether America should get involved in the war, the media personality shot back, “You don’t know the population of the country you seek to topple.”
In his attempt to climb back on top, Cruz redirected Carlson’s question back to him: “How many people live in Iran?” And the host instantly shot back with the answer: “92 million.”
As Tucker Carlson continued on his quest to drag Ted Cruz, the latter was left with no option but to give in and admit defeat, “I don’t sit around memorising population tables,” he said. And yet, he persisted in his failing attempts to drag his host.
A grumbling Cruz tried to reverse the tables, but Carlson again hit him with another question that got the better of him. “What’s the ethnic mix of Iran?” the media personality quickly popped the new enquiry as the US senator insisted that he did, in fact, know about the country. And yet, tongue-tied reaction said it all.
Late night hosts react to Tucker Carlson vs Ted Cruz
The clip instantly got the Internet talking, as many expressed their shock at how they were finally agreeing with Carlson on something. Netizens weren’t alone in raising the interaction to its viral fame, as late night show hosts joined the chat soon enough.
Feeling like a “Roman emperor,” an amused Seth Meyers said, “I just want someone to feed me grapes while I say, ‘Let them fight.'” The NBC late night comedian even likened the Ted Cruz and Tucker Carlson standoff to a gruesome Hollywood showdown. “It’s like watching a sequel to ‘Alien vs Predator’ called ‘I Can’t Believe I’m Saying This, but the Predator is Making Some Very Salient Point.'”
The Daily Show’s Jordan Klepper also broke down Cruz wanting war with Iran and Carlson’s critique of him. “Damn, Ted Cruz! Are you a pair of $800 Ferragamo boat shoes? Because Tucker Carlson owned you buddy,” Klepper reacted to the MAGA-verse fight. He even likened Carlson’s cross-questioning of Cruz to him metaphorically punching him in the face.
Akin to Meyers, he too, admitted, “I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’m starting to feel bad for Ted Cruz.” Further watching the clip of the two brutally interrupting each other, Klepper added, “This is awesome! ‘You don’t know anything,’ ‘No, you don’t know anything,’ I don’t care about who wins the fight. I just like watching the flights. It’s like Alien vs Predator but somehow more gross.”
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert host chimed in: “It’s so wild to see those two fighting. But I gotta say, in an argument between Tucker Carlson and Ted Cruz, I’m rooting for a sinkhole.”
Even daytime chat show hosts over at The View unleashed their thoughts on Carlson ripping into Cruz, while passing knowing looks at the studio audience. However, quickly bringing up a serious discussion on the debate, Alyssa Farah Griffin noted that Carlson was not worthy of receiving plus points for just this one thing.
“I’m not going to cheer Tucker Carlson because for the first time in ten years he made one good point. This is one of the most malignant forces in our political discourse. He might as well be a spokesperson for Moscow, he’s a stooge for Vladimir Putin… but cool, you once made a good point to Ted Cruz.”
Tucker Carlson on the outs with Trump?
In addition to Carlson snapping at Cruz, he even called out US President Donald Trump for his foreign entanglement plans and pushing the ‘America First’ agenda to the backseat. Despite being a longtime supporter, the ex-Fox News icon has recently been critical of the POTUS’ stance on a potential US intervention in the Israel-Iran conflict.
The Republican leader called him out as a “kooky” for the same. Switching his tone on Wednesday about “nice guy” Carlson, he revealed that he had actually “called and apologised” for taking aim at him.