Tucker Carlson accused the Florida Republican congresswoman of being more concerned with protecting Ukraine’s borders than the US’s after she backed President Volodymyr Zelensky’s call for more weapons for his country but declined to call for US troops to be sent to Mexico. border.
Carlson invited Maria Salazar, a former news anchor turned U.S. representative, to his show after she made headlines for her support of a no-fly zone over Ukraine.
Last week, Salazar, 60, was asked on The Grayzone website, run by controversial former Russia Today journalist Max Blumenthal, if she supported the no-fly zone.
On Wednesday evening, Carlson chided her for supporting a no-fly zone, but Salazar, in a heated 20-minute debate on his Fox News show, countered that she was not in charge of Ukraine policy.
Tucker Carlson invited Florida Congresswoman Maria Salazar to his show Wednesday night to discuss her position on Ukraine.
Tucker Carlson and Rep. Maria Salazar argue about her views on immigration and he asks:
“I just can’t help but notice the contrast between your desire to send MiGs to Ukraine to preserve its borders, but not here.” pic.twitter.com/fMdqtipYfu
— The Post Millennial (@TPostMillennial) March 17, 2022
President of Ukraine Volodymyr Zelensky speaks via video link with Congress on Wednesday.
He then asked her if she would support sending US troops to the Mexican border, noting that she had introduced a sweeping immigration reform bill last month.
UKRAINIAN LIST OF WEAPONS
* More MiG fighters
* More Javelin and Stinger anti-tank missiles
* Larger air defense systems that can hit higher targets than Javelins.
* Long range anti-ship missiles
* Improved satellite navigation technology
* Tactical military radios
* Communication Jammers
* Other electronic warfare equipment
When she objected, Carlson said she was more concerned about protecting Ukraine’s borders with Russia than the United States’ borders with Mexico.
“You don’t seem all that outraged by the violation of our borders by tens of millions of people,” Carlson said.
In a heated discussion, when Salazar accused him of misrepresenting her words, he again asked her if she would send the US military to the southern border.
“Let me ask you a question: Do you see why Americans who support the right of Ukrainians to secure their borders – I certainly understand most people, all Americans – see the frustration they may feel listening to you? , legislator, say yes, there is a process when it happens in a foreign country, we have to send billions, US troops, your sons, but we can’t do it here – because why?
“Can you understand the disappointment a little?”
Salazar responded that she never offered to send US troops to fight in Ukraine.
“I never said that I want to send troops, our guys, to fight in Ukraine, because I don’t think Zelensky is asking.
“We ship stingers and darts and ammo at the same time—we ship a lot of things.”
Carlson replied, “Why don’t we defend our frontier with the same seriousness?
“But it isn’t. You don’t take our border crisis with the same seriousness.
A Ukrainian soldier holds a Javelin missile system in position on the front line in the north of the Kiev region on Sunday.
Zelensky inspects Javelin anti-tank missiles in Donetsk on February 17.
The Ukrainian military unpacks Javelin anti-tank missiles delivered as part of a US military aid package on February 11.
Salazar’s defiant defense of his views began with Carlson showing her being interrogated in the Gray Zone.
“Do you support a no-fly zone in Ukraine?” Blumenthal asked her.
“I support everything related to the punishment of Vladimir Putin for helping Ukrainians,” she replied.
“Wouldn’t that mean direct conventional war with Russia?” Blumenthal asked.
“I don’t know what that would mean, but you know freedom isn’t free.”
Blumenthal replied: “Do you know what a no-fly zone would mean if you had to shoot down Russian planes?”
Salazar said, “Of course!”
This idea was widely rejected by NATO because its planes would patrol the Ukrainian skies and potentially shoot down Russian planes, leading to a major escalation of the war in Ukraine.
Carlson said that he mocked her for her comments, and therefore he wanted to give her the right to respond.
Max Blumenthal of The Grayzone asked Salazar if she supported the no-fly zone.
Salazar courageously agreed and went toe-to-toe with the Fox News superstar in a segment that took up a third of his show.
“My position is that we should not remove the no-fly zone from consideration,” Salazar said.
“But before that, we have to give Zelensky exactly what he asks for.”
Earlier Wednesday, the Ukrainian leader addressed Congress and called for more help in the fight against Russia.
Joe Biden on Tuesday approved $1.1 billion in military aid, which received bipartisan support.
Salazar said Zelensky should be given fighter jets and state-of-the-art “kamikaze drones” called Switchblade 300s that hover over targets, then swoop down to the ground and explode.
“No troops on the ground: give him MiGs and S-300s, what he needs to protect his airspace, so that he creates his own no-fly zone, and this is what I think we should have done a few months ago,” Salazar said.
“It’s embarrassing that this guy, this president who’s under bullets, came to Congress to beg us to give him what we should have done a long time ago.”
Carlson asked Salazar, who was born in Little Havana and is known for her activism, interviewed Fidel Castro in 1995 and represented a predominantly Cuban-American district, if her position risked dragging the US into the war.
“If the United States provides weapons to one side in a war, how is it not participating in the war?” he asked.
Salazar replied, “I represent District 27, home to millions of Cuban Americans, and I represent what we think.
“We know that we find peace by force.
“Look what happened in 1960 – Fidel Castro, John F. Kennedy.”
Kennedy was elected in November 1960 and accepted his predecessor Dwight Eisenhower’s plan to invade the Bay of Pigs in April 1961 to overthrow the Cuban leader.
Carlson intervened: “Stop, I’m sorry, I’m not going to listen to anyone’s anti-communist lecture, because, of course, I agree with you.
Carlson spent a third of his Wednesday night show discussing support for Ukraine with Salazar.
“I am as opposed to communism, I think, like no one else.
“But my question is this: if we supply weapons to one side in a war, I think it’s fair to ask, maybe the other side will say that this is an act of war against us.
– And if this happens, then what next?
“And it seems careless not to think about it, but since you’re on the Foreign Affairs Committee, I know you’ve thought it through. So tell me about your views and what’s next.”
Salazar recoiled, accusing Carlson of being too timid.
“Unfortunately, the United States has fallen into the trap of Vladimir Putin,” she said.
“He is the one who dictates what we will do and what we will not do.
“He said we don’t want a no-fly zone over Ukraine and we’re abiding by it.”
Carlson went on to press whether she was considering Putin’s response to the increasingly active U.S. involvement in the war.
The Russian leader has already threatened to use nuclear weapons, and on Wednesday called pro-Western Russians “scum and traitors” who must be removed from society.
In an angry speech from the Kremlin, Putin called the war in Ukraine, which is proving far more complex than he had hoped, part of an existential clash with the United States.
“So we are generally concerned that he might use nuclear weapons against the United States?” Does it bother you? Carlson asked.
“Is that what you’re thinking of when recommending these rules?”
Salazar replied: “Of course, we are very concerned that he may throw biological weapons against the Ukrainians in the next few hours, because he cannot take Kyiv as he thought.
“Of course, we oppose the dictator.
“But I think we need to put it in context.
“If we in the free world believe that this will be the first of the last skirmishes with a bad actor, we are in for a very big surprise.
“Because if they don’t confront the bad actors with force, then we will have China, Russia, Iran, Fidel and Venezuela and they are watching what we are doing….”
Salazar, pictured in May, insisted she represented the views of her constituents, who want more support for Ukraine.
Carlson asked her to calculate the probability that Russia would launch a nuclear strike on the US, which Salazar refused.
He then asked her how many nuclear weapons Russia had. When she replied “a lot”, he gave her an answer of about 6,000.
Carlson got Salazar to say whether she supported the idea of handing over Crimea to Russia, and Ukraine promising not to join NATO or the EU in exchange for ending the war.
“I’m not imposing any views,” she replied, as Carlson repeatedly accused her of dodging the question.
He then switched to discussing her immigration bill, which she claims would both stop new illegal immigration and provide dignity to the undocumented people already living in the US.
She said the border would be heavily guarded and said she was not offering a path to citizenship, but Carlson said her bill amounted to an amnesty.
“I don’t want to misrepresent you,” he told her.
“I’m asking – you don’t support sending US troops to the border – you don’t.”
She began: “I support…”
“A foreign country, but not our own.” Carlson objected. – That’s pretty clear.