‘I’m not going to take the anti-communist lecture’: Tucker Carlson spars with Salazar
In a tense back-and-forth where she invoked Fidel Castro and JFK, U.S. Rep. María Elvira Salazar sparred with Fox News’ Tucker Carlson over whether she backs a “no-fly zone” in Ukraine’s airspace, after a video clip where she appeared to support shooting down Russian planes went viral.
During the 20-minute interview on “Tucker Carlson Tonight” on Wednesday, Salazar — a Miami Congresswoman who serves on the House Foreign Affairs Committee — said she wanted to clarify her position on supporting Ukraine against Russian invasion, adding that any questions about whether a “no-fly zone” would increase the U.S.’ involvement in the war were “hypothetical.”
“My position is that we should not take the ‘no-fly zone’ off the table,” Salazar told Carlson. “But before that ... give [Volodymyr] Zelensky exactly what he’s asking for. No troops on the ground. Let’s give him the MiGs and S 300s, what he needs to defend his own airspace, so that he can create his own no-fly zone. And that’s what I think we should have done months ago.”
Salazar was defending her position after a reporter with The Grayzone, an independent news outlet, asked her if she thought a “no-fly zone” would mean “direct conventional warfare with Russia.”
“I don’t know what it will mean, but you know, freedom is not free,” Salazar said. The reporter followed up, “So you don’t know what a no-fly zone would mean, if you have to shoot down Russian planes, I mean...” And Salazar responded: “Of course.”
When Carlson asked Wednesday if Salazar could say how a war with Russia would then play out, Salazar rebuffed his question and said her soundbite was taken out of context.
“I think that’s a hypothetical question,” she said. “That was taken out of context because I said ‘of course’ that I know what that means.”
To justify her position on pushing for a no-fly zone, which the Biden administration has so far not supported, Salazar referenced President John F. Kennedy’s handling of the Bay of Pigs invasion in 1961, adding that Russia, Iran, China, Fidel, Nicaragua and Venezuela are “watching what we’re doing.”
“You say that we’re supposed to be representing the American people. I represent District 27, where you have millions of Cuban Americans and I’m representing what we think. We know that we acquire peace through strength. Look at what happened in 1960, Fidel Castro and JFK,” Salazar said before Carlson cut her off.
“Stop, I’m sorry, I’m not going to take the anti-communist lecture from anybody because of course I agree with you,” he said. “By the way, I hope that you’re not speaking for, quote, ‘Cuban Americans’ but for all Americans because it’s not a racial question, it’s a question of national interest.”
When Carlson pressed Salazar on whether she had considered the possibility that war with Russia posed the risk of a nuclear attack on the U.S., she said she had considered that concern but that it was a hypothetical question.
“I believe that he will not take that step if starting today the Biden administration will send the message that we are in charge, that NATO is ready to confront him and so are we,” she said. “If Zelenskyy comes to the United States Congress and he says that this is the best path forward, who are we to say that [it isn’t] ... they are the ones dying on the streets.”
This story was originally published March 16, 2022 at 10:45 PM.
