Former Republican Congresswoman Liz Cheney is blasting former Fox News host Tucker Carlson for interviewing a podcaster who argued that Nazi leader Adolf Hitler was searching for “peace.”
Carlson conducted an interview of more than two hours with podcaster Darryl Cooper, whom Carlson called “the most important popular historian working in the United States today,” in a video posted on Monday to X, formerly Twitter.
During the interview, Cooper cast British Prime Minister Winston Churchill as World War II’s “chief villain” for refusing to accept “peace proposals” from Hitler’s Nazi Germany, arguing that Churchill was “primarily responsible” for the war escalating.
Cheney, who was kicked out of Republican leadership and eventually left Congress after condemning former President Donald Trump for his actions surrounding the January 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol, on Tuesday denounced Carlson for providing Cooper a platform.
Leon Neal; Paras Griffin
“Actually, this is pro-Nazi propaganda, including, ‘Churchill was the chief villain of WW2’ and Hitler ‘didn’t want to fight,'” Cheney wrote in response to Carlson’s video post. “No serious or honorable person would support or endorse this type of garbage.”
Actually, this is pro-Nazi propaganda, including, “Churchill was the chief villain of WW2” and Hitler “didn’t want to fight.” No serious or honorable person would support or endorse this type of garbage. https://t.co/1jkGxvCfBI
— Liz Cheney (@Liz_Cheney) September 3, 2024
Newsweek reached out for comment to the Tucker Carlson Network via email on Tuesday night.
Cooper also claimed during the Carlson interview that 6 million Jews killed in the Holocaust simply “ended up dead” because Nazi Germany was “unprepared to deal with the millions and millions of prisoners of war,” arguing that the Nazis decided it would be “more humane to just finish them off quickly” due to food scarcity.
While Cooper insisted that casting Churchill as “the chief villain” did not mean that he believed the Nazis were “the good guys” of World War II, he went on to assail the British leader, accusing him of committing “rank terrorism” against Germany while baselessly claiming that the Holocaust was the unintended result of bad planning.
Carlson and Cooper received some praise for the interview, including from X owner Elon Musk, who reshared the video post on Tuesday morning and described it as “very interesting” and “worth watching.”
Cheney was far from the only person to criticize Carlson and Cooper for seemingly attempting to minimize the horrors of Nazi Germany by promoting a historically suspect account of World War II. Several other conservatives were among those who also denounced the former Fox host and his guest on Tuesday.
“Didn’t expect Tucker Carlson to become an outlet for Nazi apologetics, but here we are,” conservative commentator and talk radio host Erick Erickson wrote on X.
Didn’t expect Tucker Carlson to become an outlet for Nazi apologetics, but here we are.
— Erick Erickson (@EWErickson) September 3, 2024
“Tucker Carlson just hosted a Nazi apologist to explain why Hitler wasn’t so evil and how Winston Churchill was the real ‘bad guy,'” wrote the Republicans against Trump account. “This is a reminder that Tucker Carlson got a major speaking slot at the Republican Convention and speaks regularly with Donald Trump. Vote accordingly.”
Tucker Carlson just hosted a Nazi apologist to explain why Hitler wasn’t so evil and how Winston Churchill was the real “bad guy”.
This is a reminder that Tucker Carlson got a major speaking slot at the Republican Convention and speaks regularly with Donald Trump.
Vote… pic.twitter.com/wBBew6NOl4
— Republicans against Trump (@RpsAgainstTrump) September 3, 2024
“This is just the same old Hitler apologetics (‘He didn’t want to widen the war,’ ‘They didn’t know what to do with all POWs so he put them in camps,’ etc.),” conservative columnist and Compact magazine editor Sohrab Ahmari wrote. “Remarkably, there isn’t any historiography behind it. This ‘popular historian’ just makes conclusory claims. Shameful.”
This is just the same old Hitler apologetics (“He didn’t want to widen the war,” “They didn’t know what to do with all POWs so he put them in camps,” etc.).
Remarkably, there isn’t any historiography behind it. This “popular historian” just makes conclusory claims.
Shameful. https://t.co/nUdHhpvAJI
— Sohrab Ahmari (@SohrabAhmari) September 2, 2024