Tucker Carlson and Piers Morgan got into a tense standoff over an array of hot-button issues as they shouted each other down on a rooftop in Saudi Arabia.
The two journalists and former TV broadcasters met in the Middle East nation this week to discuss topics including the war in Gaza and whether the US should be funding it, gun control and the legacy of Winston Churchill.
On the Israel-Hamas war, Carlson condemned the Israeli government’s bombardment of civilians for over a year, which Morgan questioned as he said such bombing ‘wasn’t evil.’
Carlson said: ‘If you’re intentionally killing civilians, you probably shouldn’t beat your chest and brag about it… maybe you can make the case that you had to do it, but you should weep.’
‘Is it evil though?’ Morgan responded, to which Carlson argued: ‘To kill civilians on purpose? I think it is. Kids and children? Yeah.’
Morgan said he could see there being a ‘moral right’ to civilian deaths in wartime, saying: ‘If there is a world war that threatens the entire world, yes.’
When Carlson called his view ‘disgusting’, he walked back and said it could be justified ‘in a pure defensive action’ as the two journalists sparred over the conflict.
‘To intentionally kill noncombatants, women and children, I think we can say that’s wrong,’ he concluded.
Tucker Carlson and Piers Morgan got into a tense standoff over an array of hot-button issues as they shouted each other down on a rooftop in Saudi Arabia this week
One of the issues the two men sparred over was Israel’s war in Gaza, as Carlson branded Morgan’s argument that killing civilians can be morally justified as ‘disgusting’
The two journalists moved onto the issue of whether the US should continue funding Israel’s efforts against Hamas, after former President Joe Biden sent at least $17.9 billion in military aid since the October 7, 2023, terrorist attacks.
After Carlson repeated his calls for the US to stop supplying aid to Ukraine in its conflict with Russia, Morgan questioned: ‘Why do you support Israel against Hamas? Why do you support giving them billions of dollars?’
‘I don’t,’ Carlson snapped back.
‘I support Israel in the sense that I really like Israel, I brought my family on vacation there… but (I support Israel) only to the extent that it helps the United States.’
Morgan claimed this was a hypocritical stance given his criticism of aid to Ukraine, saying his support merely ‘depends on which country’.
‘I don’t see a difference between (Israel’s bombing of Gaza) and what is happening in Ukraine,’ Morgan continued.
‘This is a long way away from America, there is no direct involvement with America or no mainland involvement, and yet you think it’s right that America support Israel, but you don’t think it’s right that America supports Ukraine.’
Morgan and Carlson argued over whether the US was justified in sending billions of dollars to fund Israel’s onslaught on Gaza
Later in their conversation, which ran for more than an hour and a half and was posted to X, the two men got into a heated exchange on the issue of gun violence in the US.
Morgan, who has argued against the ownership of guns and has condemned America’s school shooting epidemic numerous times, acknowledged that their argument was based in ‘cultural differences.’
‘In my country, everybody used to have a gun in the old days, now very few people have guns, there are incredibly tight restrictions, and the consequence of that is that we have almost zero gun crime,’ he said.
‘But the problem we have is with knives.
‘So, I’m not saying for a moment the moment you get rid of guns nobody gets killed, we have a knife crime problem epidemic in our country.’
Carlson said London was suffering from a ‘people problem’ and said knife crimes had surged in the city compared to the 1970s, saying ‘the actions of the people are totally different, you have different people.’
Their wide-ranging conversation also turned to the legacy of Winston Churchill, with Morgan taking offense to Carlson’s argument that Churchill didn’t do enough in World War Two.
Their wide-ranging conversation also turned to the legacy of Winston Churchill, with Morgan taking offense to Carlson’s argument that Churchill didn’t do enough in World War Two
Morgan argued that Churchill was a significant figure because he ‘defeated the Nazis’, while Carlson question what his achievements ‘preserved’
‘People want to tell me Churchill’s an incredible guy. Really? Well, why didn’t he save Western civilization?’ Carlson said.
Morgan responded: ‘He did save Western civilization! He defeated the Nazis.’
‘Well, I know he helped defeat the Nazis with his friend Stalin,’ Carlson said. ‘I’m not defending the Nazis. I’m just saying, where is Western civilization? What did he preserve? Where is it? I don’t know where it is.’
Morgan countered that Churchill died in 1963, the year he was born, as he said the impact of Churchill’s defeat of the Nazis was significant at the time.
However, Carlson argued mass immigration had reshaped Western civilization beyond what Churchill saved decades ago.
‘But the question was like, Where’s the victory? I don’t understand. Like, everyone wants to yell at you for not loving Churchill. Okay, well, show me the victory — no it’s a theoretical victory.
‘He beat Hitler. Great. I’m totally for beating Hitler.’
