The American presenter Tucker Carlson has claimed Britain would have been better off losing the Second World War to an incredulous Jacob Rees-Mogg – but says he is not a Nazi supporter.
The US commentator was widely mocked after his most recent episode of the Tucker Carlson show, featuring former Tory minister Mr Rees-Mogg, aired last night.
In the online show, Mr Carlson claimed Britain ‘destroyed their empire and their country fighting this war that they still pretend was a good idea but it wasn’t’.
The former Fox News presenter – who once described Darryl Cooper, a Holocaust denier, as ‘the best and most popular historian in the United States’ – asked Mr Rees-Mogg if the UK had benefited from fighting the Second World War.
He then asked if Britain was ‘a better country than it was’ after winning the war.
Mr Rees-Mogg replied that the Second World War represented ‘the classic good versus evil’ war and said that ‘we did the right thing’.
He said Britain was a better country ‘to have defeated Hitler’ and that ‘otherwise we’d be speaking German’.
Mr Carlson then said that there are a ‘lot of people’ who are unable to speak English in Britain, arguing it would ‘at least be nice’ to have a ‘European language’ spoken in the UK if Germany had won the war.
Tucker Carlson has been widely mocked after the most recent episode of his show aired last night, featuring the commentator debating Jacob Rees-Mogg over the Second World War
Mr Carlson claimed that Britain ‘destroyed their empire and their country fighting this war that they still pretend was a good idea but it wasn’t’
Mr Rees-Mogg, who served as a Conservative MP from 2010 to 2024, replied: ‘I see no advantage of speaking German over any other language. We want to speak English. [Winning the war] benefited us… because eventually Germany would have invaded us.’
When Mr Carlson was warned that he sounded like he was defending the actions of Hitler, he said: ‘I’m actually not a secret Nazi. I’m someone who tries to think clearly about cause and effect.’
Responding to the commentator’s remarks on social media, Republican senator Ted Cruz said: ‘Yes, Tucker, the UK is better off for winning WWII.
‘America is better off for winning WWII. And the world would be much worse off if the Nazis had won WWII. This is not complicated.’
Mike Huckabee, the US ambassador to Israel, added: ‘When it seemed impossible for Toxic Tucker to descend deeper into the sewer here he goes opining that UK should have let Nazis take over.
‘Forget that Hitler murdered 11 million people? I thought Tucker was against killing? He needs help. Serious help.’
In the hour-long discussion, Mr Carlson also stated as fact that the Russian economy is much ‘larger’ than Britain’s.
The pundit, who once described Moscow as ‘nicer and safer’ than any American city, said Russia had ‘much more wealth and resources’ than the UK.
Mr Rees-Mogg told Mr Carlson that the Second World War represented ‘the classic good versus evil’ war, adding that Britain ‘did the right thing’
Mr Rees-Mogg replied: ‘It hasn’t got a larger economy than Britain.
‘Its GDP is smaller than the UK’s. It’s about two-thirds.’
The GDP of the UK sits at around £3.22trillion while Russia’s GDP is estimated to be £2.01trillion.
The GDP per capita in Britain is around £46,179.93 while Russia’s is around £14,023.
Mr Rees-Mogg continued: ‘Russia is an economic failure. It could have a huge economy but it’s got a small economy because it’s deeply corrupt and hasn’t managed to use its resources effectively.
‘So although the population of Russia is bigger than that of the UK, its GDP per capita is so much lower that the total GDP of Russia is smaller than that of the United Kingdom.’
Mr Carlson has previously been criticised for his interview with a man who claimed Adolf Hitler was not the Second World War’s chief villain.
Darryl Cooper – a podcast host and so-called historian – caused controversy when he said that not only did the Nazis not intend to murder millions but that Winston Churchill was instead the main villain of the war.
Yet Mr Carlson described him as ‘the best and most popular historian in the US’.
The Biden White House spokesman Andrew Bates issued a harsh rebuke to the episode of the show at the time.
In a statement, he said: ‘Giving a microphone to a Holocaust denier who spreads Nazi propaganda is a disgusting and sadistic insult to all Americans, to the memory of the over 6 million Jews who were genocidally murdered by Adolf Hitler, to the service of the millions of Americans who fought to defeat Nazism, and to every subsequent victim of Antisemitism.’
Mr Carlson was also mocked over a fawning video praising Moscow’s ‘cheap and fresh’ groceries while overlooking the much lower wages in Russia.
The presenter wheeled a shopping trolley around a Russian superstore while marvelling at the stock as he continued his Putin PR tour.
He claimed he could buy a week’s worth of shopping for $100 and that it could cost up to $400 in the US.
He said the revelation moved him from feeling ‘amused to legitimately angry’ that his home country apparently charges much more for basics such as food.
The video drew widespread ridicule from people online, as many pointed out the disparity between the average wage in Russia – which is the equivalent of $9,072 – or 6.5 times less than the average US salary of $59,428.