Tucker on the Devastating Cost of War and What It Means for American Politics With Saagar Enjeti

**Tucker Carlson** (0:04)
So in just a second, we're going to talk to Saagar Enjeti, who's one of the smartest and most honest analysts of American politics. We think about the effect of the war in Iran here in the US, on our politics, on our economy, on our life. But first, just a couple of quick things, which is no matter what you think of this war, you've got to be rooting for the United States, your country, and particularly for the people fighting this war. It's a cliché to say it, but it's true. They are the best people this country produces, people who voluntarily joined to defend the United States, who are often put to bad use and badly treated by our political class. But that doesn't make them bad. They are great. And you've got to be rooting for them, for us collectively, and saying prayers both for the country and for the people fighting on its behalf and in its name, our troops. That is real. The second thing concerns the show that we did two days ago about the efforts to rebuild the third temple in Jerusalem. We went on at some length about this and why at its core, for some of the people fighting in this conflict in the United States, and Israel, and Iran, this is a religious conflict. And that we should be aware of the effects of that long term. Religious conflicts are not typically resolved quickly. They can go on generationally. They can go on a thousand years. In fact, they're still ongoing for over a thousand years in some cases. So, it's a big deal to have a religious war. In some ways, this may turn out to be a religious war, and others, it's just inherently a religious war. So you should know. And at the center of that conflict is this thing called the Third Temple, which is not yet exist, but some people would like to rebuild. So we did a whole show on this, seemed important and true. And in the course of that show, we described patches that some soldiers in the Israeli military, the IDF, are wearing that show an image of a temple, the Third Temple. And we asked, where did these come from? And it seems like from accounts that we read from those soldiers online, that they got these patches somehow from a group called Habad. In the United States is a global group, but it's headquartered here in New York and Brooklyn. And we said, and you can check the tape, it was like, Habad, they seem like really nice people, met a bunch of people in Habad over the years. They do a bunch of charitable enterprises. But apparently, these patches came from Habad, and Habad, check their website, is in favor of rebuilding the third temple. And why wouldn't they be? They're religious Jews, and the temple is at the center of Judaism, as described in the Torah, what Christians call the Old Testament. And all sacrifices, all public worship, takes place in the temple in Jerusalem, built on the foundation stone. And that's where God resides, according to Judaism, to Torah Judaism. And all of that ended in 70 AD when the Romans, as predicted by Jesus, destroyed the temple. Now, from a Christian perspective, God destroyed the temple, Jesus destroyed the temple, and became himself the temple. He replaced the temple with his body, and he says this, I am the temple. So that is the Christian view of the temple. But the Jewish view of the temple is very different. And it's what I just described, which is this is where God lives. So if you're a religious Jew, you want to see the temple rebuilt. And there's no criticism of that. That's a religious perspective, which is internally coherent. Our only point was, you should know that this is happening, and that US taxpayers are paying for it. And apparently these patches came from Chabad.
That was the kind of sum total of my observations about Chabad. Well, the next morning, which is to say yesterday, wake up and there are all these attacks, you know, Chabad, you're attacking Chabad, you're blaming Chabad for the war. No. Didn't really pay too much attention to it. Of course, these are organized by these attacks are part of a propaganda campaign waged by Israel and its proxies here in the United States, who are many, at least online. And the idea was to make this seem like an attack on Chabad, which it wasn't and not intended to be and wasn't not inherently an attack. And then Bill Ackman gets in and says, You have potentially blood on your hands. You're calling for violence. And Bill Ackman is mad at me. I know Bill Ackman because nothing to do with Israel, because I once pointed out that Bill Ackman is a thoroughly mediocre intellect. Bill Ackman is not a genius. And yet Bill Ackman has billions of dollars. And like, how did that happen? That's not the American dream I was told about, that people with very little talent become the richest people in our country. How does that work? What American dream are you living? How did you do that? Same with Jeffrey Epstein. Guys like, not very bright, very obvious from his texts and emails, but he wound up with a billion dollars and his own island. Where did the money come from? How does this economic system work, actually? Can I get in on this? And I made that point about Bill Ackman, because anyone who knows Bill Ackman knows, you know, not a genius, not like a moron or anything, but clearly not a brilliant person at all. And yet he is so rich. So that's his grudge, understandable. People don't like it when you point that out. No one's ever answered the question, by the way, how did he get rich? But whatever, anyway, he doesn't, he's mad. And so he accuses me of, you know, stoking violence or something. And I just completely ignore it. But then I get two phone calls from friends of mine, and people I know and have known a long time who are involved with Habbad, both good guys, and both have kids at Habbad schools. And the first calls and says, you know, people are really upset that you're calling for violence against Habbad. And I said, well, I'm not calling for violence against anybody, including Habbad. And I would never do that ever. I totally reject that. And so that didn't happen. And he said, well, it would be very helpful if you would issue a statement disavowing violence. And I said, well, gosh, I mean, I've done like 100 shows on that. I hope my life is an ongoing disavowal of violence against innocence. And I will continue to say that because I sincerely mean it from the bottom of my heart. It's my religion. So, yes, I mean it. And then just to be kind of mean, I said, I will issue a statement disavowing violence against innocence in tandem with Habbad's statement disavowing violence against innocence. Knowing, of course, Habbad does not disavow violence against innocence, of course, Gaza. And they can't, because they don't believe that. I think, you know, I would be surprised if Habbad issued a statement disavowing all violence against all innocence. And of course, if they do, I will join them for dinner to celebrate, because that way I will praise them for doing that. And anyone who does that will get praise for me heartfelt. But I doubt they're going to do that. And then I get a call from another friend of mine, like an actual friend of mine, saying, you know what I mean to bother you? But I've got kids and they're closing the school because of your calls for violence. And I thought, oh my gosh, now I'm upset because I don't want to add at all, even inadvertently, to an environment where people are afraid or feel like they're going to get hurt. And so I guess what I would say is, of course, I'm totally opposed to violence against innocence again. But moreover, this is the product of the war that is underway now and evidence of the point that this is fundamentally a religious war whose effects are already being felt here, which is to say, groups are in fear of other groups. American groups are in fear of each other. And that is just absolutely a tragedy. And we should all oppose that. And at the center of it are the most innocent of all, which are kids who are being told by adults that they could be killed for who they are. Now think about that for a second. Think about a PR campaign or a propaganda campaign designed to make people terrified for their lives, which is what the Israeli campaign is. Telling Americans that they could be killed, that anti-Semitism in the United States is so terrible being ginned up by people like me and other people online, that they could be killed. Imagine that's not true at all. But imagine being so unscrupulous that you would terrify kids in order to silence criticism of your territorial expansion campaign, which is exactly what this is. Israel wants to be bigger. They want their regional rivals out of the way. They want to weaken the United States, get us out of the Middle East, and they want to weaken Western Europe, which they just hate for whatever reason. They truly hate Western Europe, which is one of the reasons the Israeli government has helped move migrants into Europe to weaken and destroy it. What is that? I don't really know the answer, but it's demonstrable. They hate Western Europe. And so whatever their bizarre agenda is, in order to stop criticism of it, they're telling Americans, including children, that they could be killed to get them onside with their program. That is super dark. That is evil, completely evil. And imagine, moreover, playing along with it with your own kids, telling your own kids that people hate them and will always hate them no matter what they do because of how they were born. That is not good for kids. And I say that not just as an American, but as a father of many kids. That's the worst thing you could ever do to children. Who's doing that? A lot of people are doing that.