Tucker Carlson slams Republicans for criticizing Trump's Syria troop withdrawal

Stephen Proctor
Updated

Tucker Carlson slammed Republican lawmakers Monday night for their criticism of Donald Trump’s surprise decision to pull U.S. forces out of northern Syria, a move seen by many as abandoning the Kurds, who played a huge role in the fight against ISIS. Even some of the president’s closest allies derided the decision, like Mitch McConnell (R-KY), who said in a statement that “a precipitous withdrawal of U.S. forces from Syria would only benefit Russia, Iran, and the Assad regime.”

Carlson began by saying, “We’d love to tell you that it’s just the lefty hacks on CNN demanding that we stay in Syria forever, but unfortunately, it was not. Not even close. A ton of Republicans on Capitol Hill made exactly the same point.”

Carlson singled out Mitt Romney (R-UT), Pat Toomey (R-PA), Ben Sasse (R-NE), and former ambassador to the U.N. Nikki Haley. But Carlson took particular umbrage with Lindsey Graham (R-SC), who is normally one of the president’s most ardent defenders.

“Watch Sen. Lindsey Graham of South Carolina, for example, get so worked up by the idea of Americans leaving a foreign war zone, which is the one thing that’s never allowed, that he forgets to make any sense at all,” Carlson said.

Carlson was referring to a phone interview Graham did with Fox & Friends in which he contradicted Trump’s repeated claims that he’s defeated ISIS, something even the Pentagon has refuted.

“Nothing better for ISIS than to create a conflict between the Kurds and Turkey. The Kurds will now align with Assad because they have nobody to count on because we abandoned them. So this is a big win for Iran, and Assad. A big win for ISIS,” Graham said, later adding, “ISIS is not defeated, my friend. The biggest lie being told by the administration: ISIS is defeated.”

Unfortunately, Graham wasn’t around to clear things up for Carlson.

“How can an American withdrawal be a win for both sides? That doesn’t make any sense at all,” Carlson said. “Graham didn’t explain how that might work. He turned down our offer to come on tonight, so we can only guess.”

Tucker Carlson Tonight airs weeknights at 8 p.m. on Fox News Channel.

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