The White House has lashed out at Tucker Carlson for interviewing historian Darryl Cooper, who described British war leader Winston Churchill as the Second World War’s real villain. Cooper also condemned Churchill for refusing to make peace with Nazi leader Adolf Hitler and implied that the Holocaust was not carried out intentionally. The historian argues that Nazi Germany was unprepared “to deal with millions of prisoners of war” and handled the problem by placing them “into camps” where they “ended up dead.”
White House spokesperson Andrew Bates issued a statement fiercely condemning Carlson for “giving a microphone to a Holocaust denier who spreads Nazi propaganda.” Bates added that Cooper’s comments amounted to a “sadistic insult” to the six million Jews murdered in the Holocaust, as well as the American soldiers who died fighting the Nazis.
Twitter owner Elon Musk also came under fire for sharing the Carlson interview under the caption, “Very interesting. Worth watching.” By the following day, however, Mr. Musk had deleted the tweet.
Donald Trump’s Presidential running mate, Ohio Senator JD Vance, has refused to add his voice to the criticism of Carlson and intends to keep an appointment with the former Fox anchor in September. A spokesman for the Republican said Vance does not “believe in guilt-by-association cancel culture,” adding that the Senator does not agree with the views expressed by Mr. Cooper. “There are no stronger supporters of our allies in Israel or the Jewish community in America than Senator Vance and President Trump,” the spokesperson added.
Tucker Carlson has conducted several highly controversial interviews since departing from Fox News last year. Among the most noteworthy was his February discussion with Russian President Vladimir Putin. He was later criticized for failing to sufficiently hold Putin to account for what many described as misleading claims. Mr. Carlson did not ask the Russian leader about alleged Russian war crimes or Putin’s suppression of his political opponents, prompting American commentators to slam the interview as an unchallenged platform for the Kremlin to spread propaganda in the United States.
The interview was watched by more than 200 million people online.
