Tucker Carlson faced widespread criticism after suggesting in an interview with former British cabinet minister Jacob Rees-Mogg that Britain may not have benefited from fighting the Second World War.
The exchange occurred on Carlson’s podcast, The Tucker Carlson Show, in an episode released on October 2, 2026, titled ‘Tucker Confronts Britain’s Most Pro-War Advocate.’
During the hour-long discussion, Carlson questioned why Britain would want to go to war with Russia and repeatedly challenged Rees-Mogg on the value of the Second World War.
Carlson stated that Britain ‘destroyed their empire and their country fighting this war that they still pretend was a good idea, but it wasn’t’ .
When Rees-Mogg replied that the war was ‘fundamental’ and ‘the classic good-versus-evil,’ Carlson asked whether the United Kingdom had actually benefited from it .
Rees-Mogg responded that Britain ‘did the right thing’ and that without British intervention, ‘we’d all be speaking German’ .
Carlson replied, ‘Who cares?’ and suggested that having a European language spoken in Britain would be ‘at least nice’ given the number of people in the country who cannot speak English .
Rees-Mogg countered, ‘No, I see no advantage speaking German over any other language. We want to speak English, thank you so much’ .
Carlson also stated, ‘I’m certainly not here defending Hitler,’ while arguing that Hitler’s invasion of Poland was not ‘random’ because German territory had been given to Poland after the First World War .
Economic Claims Disputed
Earlier in the interview, Carlson claimed that Russia has a ‘much larger economy’ than Britain and questioned why Moscow would want to go to war with London .
Rees-Mogg interrupted to correct him, stating, ‘No, it hasn’t got a larger economy than Britain. It’s got a smaller economy than Britain. It’s got a larger military’ .
Carlson maintained that Russia has ‘much more wealth and resources and much larger manufacturing sector’ .
According to International Monetary Fund figures cited by the Daily Express, Britain’s GDP is approximately $4.26 trillion while Russia’s is $2.66 trillion .
Rees-Mogg described Russia as an ‘economic failure,’ noting its GDP per capita is significantly lower than that of the United Kingdom .
Backlash From Public Figures
The interview drew sharp responses from political figures and commentators.
Republican Senator Ted Cruz wrote on X: ‘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’ .
Conservative peer Daniel Hannan, Lord Hannan of Kingsclere, wrote: ‘Mogg 1, Tucker 0.’ He added that Russia’s economy was smaller than Spain’s before the war and is now ‘probably smaller than Portugal’s’ .
US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee wrote: ‘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’ .
Brent Scher, editor-in-chief of The Daily Wire, wrote: ‘This is absolutely priceless. Tucker just states as fact that Russia has a much larger economy than the UK, is completely wrong and gets schooled’ .
Context of the Interview
Rees-Mogg appeared on Carlson’s show following his GB News segment urging Britain to prepare for war with Russia.
In the podcast, Rees-Mogg argued that military preparedness deters conflict. ‘The way to avoid war is to prepare for it. And if you’re prepared for war, it doesn’t happen,’ he said .
Carlson has previously faced criticism for an interview with Darryl Cooper, a podcast host who claimed Winston Churchill was the main villain of the Second World War and that the Nazis did not intend to murder millions .
Carlson described Cooper as ‘the best and most popular historian in the United States’ at the time.
As of October 3, 2026, clips from the Carlson-Rees-Mogg interview continued to circulate widely on social media, with additional commentary from political figures on both sides of the Atlantic.
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