Daily Caller co-founder Tucker Carlson called out Republican presidential candidate Chris Christie for refusing to face him one-on-one.
Christie accused Carlson of “always [being] wrong” about the war in Ukraine during a Sunday interview with ABC’s George Stephanopoulos. The Daily Caller co-founder said he reached out to Christie to give the candidate the chance to “explain his views,” but Christie declined the offer.
“Sounds like this could be a longer conversation,” Carlson wrote in a Sunday tweet. “We just asked @GovChristie to sit down and explain his views on Ukraine. He refused. 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? We hope he reconsiders.”
Sounds like this could use a longer conversation. We just asked @GovChristie to sit down and explain his views on Ukraine. He refused. 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… pic.twitter.com/6khc5xi3Co
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) July 16, 2023
Carlson interviewed almost all of the major 2024 Republican presidential candidates at Blaze TV’s event Friday, where he confronted former Vice President Mike Pence on supporting Ukraine despite a handful of Christian clergy being arrested by Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy’s administration. He then compared the amount of resources being sent to Ukraine to the amount being dedicated to the crime spike and homelessness crisis in the U.S. (RELATED: Tensions Boil Over As Tucker Confronts Mike Pence About Christian Discrimination In Ukraine)
“I’m sorry, Mr. Vice President. I know you’re running for president,” Carlson told Pence. “You are distressed that the Ukrainians don’t have enough American tanks. Every city in the United States has become much worse over the past three years. Drive around. There is not one city that has gotten better in the United States, and it’s visible.”
“Our economy has degraded, the suicide rate has jumped, public filth and disorder and crime have exponentially increased, and yet your concern is that the Ukrainians, a country most people can’t find on a map, who’ve received tens of billions of U.S. tax dollars, don’t have enough tanks,” Carlson said.
In response to Carlson, Christie claimed during the ABC interview that if U.S. leaders back away from supporting Ukraine, China will be tempted to invade Taiwan. He also said while there is major division amongst Republicans regarding Ukraine, most in the party want the U.S. to support the Eastern European country.
“I would have said, you’ve always been wrong about this, Tucker, and you’re still wrong,” Christie told Stephanopoulos. “In fact, what’s going on is this is a proxy war with China. The Chinese are funding the Russian war by buying Russian oil. They’re coordinating with the Iranians to provide lethal weapons to the Russian army, and we can decide when to have this conflict.”
“Right now, the Ukrainians are willing to fight this fight for themselves if they have our support to be able to win it. If the Chinese watch us back away from Ukraine as Tucker Carlson and others would advocate — believe me — the next move will be Taiwan,” Christie continued.