Tucker Carlson quarrels with guest who makes Charles Lindbergh comparison

Tucker Carlson doesn't want to be lumped in with Hitler apologists

By Matthew Rozsa

Staff Writer

Published July 12, 2017 11:01AM (EDT)

 (AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)
(AP Photo/Charles Dharapak, File)

Fox News host Tucker Carlson got into a heated exchange with Lt. Col. Ralph Peters over whether questioning America's relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin is analogous to Nazi apologists from the 1930s.

"I'm not vouching for Putin's character. He seems like a shady guy. A strong man for sure. Wouldn't want to live there," Carlson said during the exchange Tuesday night.

"He's a killer," Peters interjected.

"Hard to see why he's a threat to us," Carlson continued. "How many wars can we fight at once? How many people can we be in opposition to at once? Why not just accept that people who are bad people share our interests and side with them?"

Peters then pointed out, "You sound like Charles Lindbergh in 1938 saying, 'Hitler hasn't attacked us.'"

"You cannot compare me to somebody who would make apologies for Hitler!" Carlson exclaimed. "And I don't think Putin is comparable to Hitler. I think that's a grotesque overstatement, actually."

Charles Lindbergh, though best known today as a great American aviator, became a controversial political figure in the late 1930s and early 1940s for his outspoken isolationist stances. Lindbergh was a well-known racist and anti-Semite and, because of his frequent trips to Nazi Germany, was widely suspected of being a Nazi sympathizer. Even after the Third Reich began invading neighboring European countries (much as Vladimir Putin has done in Ukraine), Lindbergh continued to insist that America must avoid war with them.


By Matthew Rozsa

Matthew Rozsa is a staff writer at Salon. He received a Master's Degree in History from Rutgers-Newark in 2012 and was awarded a science journalism fellowship from the Metcalf Institute in 2022.

MORE FROM Matthew Rozsa


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Donald Trump Lt. Col. Ralph Peters Partner Video Russia Tucker Carlson Vladimir Putin