American conservative commentator Tucker Carlson is one of the most consequential political figures in today’s United States. Millions tune into his monologues, interviews and shows across platforms and formats at a scale rarely seen in the western public sphere. He has termed the war against Iran “evil”, and said, following the American bombing of a school in Iran, that a country that thinks it is acceptable to kill innocent children in a war was not worth defending.
Mr. Carlson’s influence comes from the courage of innocence. He casts himself as the child who screams that the king is naked in the parade. He asks the most elementary questions about claims held as theology by the religious and secular warriors of the West, simply by exposing them to scrutiny. What actually is “Israel’s right to exist”, which is distinct from any other country — the U.K., U.S., Lebanon, or Iran?, he asked The Economist editor-in-chief Zanny Minton Beddoes, who tried to corner him on the charge of being an antisemite. Where exactly in the Bible does it say that supporting Israel is obligatory for Christians, he asked Republican Senator Ted Cruz, who had suggested precisely that. Can the modern state of Israel claim all of the land the Old Testament says god gave to his chosen people, he asked the U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee.
