Tucker Mocks Lindsey Graham’s ‘Fundraising’ Fox Interviews: ‘It’s Political Televangelism’
Carlson also may have been tweaking his fellow Fox star Sean Hannity, who has hosted Graham dozens of times for friendly chats on his show this year.
Fox News host Tucker Carlson ridiculed Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC) on Wednesday night for avoiding his show, calling the Republican senator out for running to friendlier Fox programs to beg for money on his “never-ending fundraising tour.”
And in the process, Carlson was perhaps tweaking his Fox News primetime colleague Sean Hannity, who has hosted Graham on his show no less than 35 times this year.
Over the past few days, Carlson has devoted near-nightly segments to criticizing Graham over his record as a lawmaker. Last week, for instance, the Fox News star spent the final few minutes of his show railing against the Senate Judiciary Committee member for not doing enough to block President Joe Biden’s court picks.
Following that anti-Graham monologue, in which the host called the senator a coward for avoiding his show, a smirking Carlson tapped his papers on his desk and handed his show off to Hannity, who claimed he didn’t hear him. Graham then appeared on Hannity’s show 30 minutes later.
Having already bashed Graham on Tuesday night for his hawkish support of the Afghanistan War—the senator again appeared on Hannity’s show that evening—Carlson expanded his criticism of Graham’s Afghanistan record on Wednesday night.
Stating that one of the reasons why Americans were shocked at how quickly Kabul fell is due to Washington leaders falsely painting a rosy picture of the situation in Afghanistan, Carlson said Graham was “one of the main mouthpieces for these lies.”
He then highlighted a series of Graham’s comments through the years, including the senator expressing support for the 2009 troop surge and claiming in 2011 that America was “on the verge” of winning the war in Afghanistan as long as we didn’t accelerate the withdrawal of troops from the region.
“We have a game plan in Afghanistan that I think justifies the expenditures of blood and treasure that’s about to come,” Graham also said in 2009, prompting Carlson to respond rhetorically.
“So now’s the moment to ask, really, Lindsey Graham? What exactly was that ‘game plan’?” Carlson wondered aloud. “And at what point did you realize that it wasn’t working? Well, if Graham ever knew that his plans were failing, somehow he forgot to mention it to the rest of the country.”
Carlson wrapped up his commentary by again slamming Graham for steering clear of his show. He also brought up the South Carolina lawmaker’s willingness to debase himself for campaign cash during his other Fox interviews.
“We’d love to know what Lindsey Graham thinks about that,” Carlson declared. “You see him on television quite a bit—all the time—on his never-ending fundraising tour. ‘I’m a conservative, send me money!’ It’s political televangelism.”
He concluded: “But weirdly, Lindsey Graham won’t come on this show, and that’s a shame because it would be a worthwhile conversation for everyone. The invitation remains open.”
Following the broadcast of his show, Carlson’s official Twitter account posted a video clip of the monologue in its entirety. It was the second night in a row that the Fox News star tweeted out one of his anti-Graham segments.
Graham, at least for one night, did not pop up on Hannity.