For some unknown reason it took a Swiss newspaper to discover how Tucker Carlson really feels about Donald Trump.
In an interview with “Die Weltwoche,” Switzerland’s leading German-language weekly, the Fox News host was very blunt: “I don’t think he’s capable,” he said.
Carlson also made clear that he strongly dislikes the self-aggrandizement and boasting that have become President Trump’s hallmarks. And, when the interviewer asked if he thought Trump has kept his promises, the normally verbose Carlson simply said: “No.”
Fox News Channel is known to be generally pro-Trump, so it is surprising for one of their leading commentators to voice harsh words about the president. Fox is usually aligned with the current administration’s policies and positions. And popular prime time hosts Sean Hannity and Jeanine Pirro have taken strong positions supporting Trump in his battles against Democrats and “the Resistance.”
When asked about Trump’s boastfulness, Carlson said: “I hate that about him. It’s not my culture. I didn’t grow up like that.”
When asked to provide more details about whether Trump has kept his promises or achieved his goals, Carlson did not hold back on expressing his opinion:
“His chief promises were that he would build the wall, de-fund planned parenthood, and repeal Obamacare, and he hasn’t done any of those things. “I don’t think he’s capable of sustained focus. I don’t think he understands the system. I don’t think the Congress is on his side. I don’t think his own agencies support him.”
“He knows very little about the legislative process, hasn’t learned anything, hasn’t surrounded himself with people that can get it done, hasn’t done all the things you need to do, so it’s mostly his fault that he hasn’t achieved those things.”
Carlson has been critical of Trump before. When he harshly attacked then-attorney general Jeff Sessions, for recusing himself from the Russia investigation, Carlson said Trump’s attack was a “useless, self-destructive act.”
For Carlson the main issue is immigration, and has been “a fervent advocate for Trump’s hard-right position on immigration,” according to the Washington Post.
Some of Carlson’s strongest words were used to criticize the Republican Party, saying that it “will die” if it doesn’t take steps very soon to honestly represent middle-class American voters.
“The elite in our country is physically separated in a way that’s very unhealthy for a democracy,” Carlson said. Rural America is “really falling apart,” he said, adding that “if you’re running the country, you should have a sense of that.”
The Die Weltwoche interviewer, in editorial comments, said Carlson sounded like a “renegade,” saying:
“He was so tough on Trump. He was nobody’s cheerleader. For a person who is so successful on Fox News, I didn’t expect him to be so outspoken.”
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