Texas Republican Senator Ted Cruz—a harsh Donald Trump critic-turned-MAGA minion—sat down with fired Fox News personality Tucker Carlson for the conservative influencer's self-produced online content,The Tucker Carlson Show, for the Tucker Carlson Network.
On Tuesday, Carlson shared a 1.5-minute clip revealing that things got contentious when the pair touched on the Trump administration's escalating tensions with Iran.
The teaser was captioned simply:
"Ted Cruz on Iran. Full interview tomorrow."
You can watch the clip here via YouTube or below via X:
The clip begins as Carlson asks Cruz:
"How many people live in Iran, by the way?"
Cruz responds:
"I don't know the population."
Carlson then asked:
"At all?"
Cruz reiterated:
"No, I don't know the population."
Seemingly surprised, Carlson responded:
"You don't know the population of the country you seek to topple?"
After again saying no, Cruz then asked Carlson:
"How many people live in Iran?"
Carlson informed the senator who is openly backing United States' aggression against the sovereign Middle Eastern country:
"92 million."
While some people dismissed Carlson's line of questioning, others refused to give Cruz a free pass on his complete ignorance of the people who would be affected by any U.S. attacks on Iran after deciding to back the Trump administration's tactics in the region.
Then after Cruz acknowledged the information, Carlson asked:
"How could you not know that?"
Cruz replied:
"I don't sit around memorizing population tables."
@Sebachambe/X
Carlson informed Cruz:
"Well it’s kind of relevant because you’re calling for the overthrow of the government. If you don't know anything about the country..."
Cruz, visibly upset interjected:
"I didn’t say I don't know anything about the country."
So Carlson pivoted to ask:
"Okay, what’s the ethnic mix of Iran?"
Cruz replied:
"They are Persians and predominantly Shi'a [Islamic]."
According to World Atlas, Iran is a multi-ethnic, multi-religion nation. Persians at roughly 51% are the largest ethnic group, followed by Azeris at 24%, Kurds at 7%, and the Gilakis, Mazandaranis, Arabs, Baloch, Lurs, and Turkmen each comprising smaller percentages.
Shi'a Islam is the second largest sect of Islam at ~10% which is way behind Sunnī at ~87%, but Shi'a is the majority sect in Iran. According to Iran Safar, Islam is the official state religion, but Zoroastrianism, Judaism, and Christianity are also officially recognized as minority religions. Baha'i, Mandaeism, and Yarsanism are also practiced in the county, but are not officially recognized by the government.
After Carlson asked what percentage of the population was Persian or practiced Shi'a Islam, things devolved into the men shouting at each other.
Carlson told Cruz:
"You don’t know anything about Iran!"
"You’re a senator who is calling for the overthrow of the government and you don’t know anything about the country!"
Cruz countered:
"[You claim] they’re not trying to murder Donald Trump!"
A Trump assassination plot is the unsubstantiated conspiracy theory the Trump administration is using to justify joining Israel in escalating hostilities in the region.
It harkened back to the Bush administration's justification for invading Iraq. It, like "weapons of mass destruction," ultimately failed to pass the "credible threat" versus "rumors and wishful thinking" test.
Cruz also yelled about the Trump administration's assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani in January of 2020.
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Carlson stated Cruz didn't really believe Trump was in danger, responding:
"I’m saying you don’t believe they’re trying to murder Trump because you’re not calling for military strikes against them in retaliation."
Cruz then claimed:
"We are carrying out military strikes—today!"
But Cruz immediately tried to walk back his words, saying the United States was only supporting Israel, not directly attacking Iran.
Carlson, at the end of the clip, stated:
"This is high stakes."
"You’re a senator—if you’re saying the United States government is at war with Iran right now, people are listening."
The clip was undoubtedly chosen to entice people to watch Carlson's content—something Cruz whinged about on X, trying to get Trump's supporters on his side.
@tedcruz/X
But as much as Cruz tries to ingratiate himself with Trump and his MAGA minions, the man dubbed the most hated person in Congress—by his fellow Republicans—just isn't that popular.
Multiple people fact-checked/trolled Cruz using X's generative AI chatbot Grok.
@whatevervisions/X
@GroksHandler/X
Cruz is even less popular than Carlson.
@texan77581/X
Some people, on the other hand...
The Tucker Carlson Show released the full episode on Wednesday.
@An_Enemy_Within/X