The “GOP foreign policy establishment” on Capitol Hill is “largely shrugging” at talk show host Tucker Carlson’s departure from Fox News, according to a report.
According to a recent report in Politico, hawkish Republican lawmakers said that Carlson’s views did not have much sway when it came to foreign policy.
Sen. Thom Tillis (R-NC) told the outlet, “You have got to think about the scale — I know he had an audience of three million people. There are 330 million people in the country.”
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Senate Minority Whip John Thune (R-SD) suggested Carlson was an “influencer” who does not swing votes on national security.
Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-AK), a Marine Reserve colonel, argued that the majority of Republicans support U.S. aid for Ukraine, despite Carlson’s arguments against it.
“It’s more about what my constituents are saying to me than different individual personalities,” he said.
Even the staunchest GOP foreign policy hawks remained mostly diplomatic.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) — one of Carlson’s targets, said, “[We] probably agree on many things, but I think we have a different worldview, addng, “My worldview is not dependent on what somebody says on cable TV.”
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) said, “Whether you agree with him or not, he was one of the few people out there that every day was sort of challenging orthodoxy — you didn’t like the show, you don’t have to watch it.”
He added, “There’s things I don’t agree with him on. There’s things that I find that he says that are edgy and interesting.”
Rep. Mike Gallagher (R-WI), a Marine veteran, was cited as saying, “I presume he’ll still have a massive platform.”
There was one apparent exception, however.
Navy SEAL veteran Rep. Dan Crenshaw (R-TX) told the outlet sarcastically, “I’ve shed many tears over Tucker Carlson losing the show — many, many tears.”
Carlson once called Crenshaw “eyepatch McCain” related to his hawkish views on Ukraine.
Meanwhile, Sen. Josh Hawley (R-MO) defended Carlson, saying he had a “very distinctive point of view.”
“He has a very strong following,” he said, “[I] bet that we’ll continue to hear his voice — and I think it’s an important voice.”
