On the tragedy of ignorance

Sir Jacob Rees-Mogg is a former British MP and a Minister in the last Conservative government. He recently argued that Britain needs to be militarily prepared for further Russian aggression. Tucker Carlson, on his podcast, called him a "posh fool" who wanted to send kids to die in pointless conflict. Carlson, the actual fool, then invited Reese-Mogg on his show and proceeded to demonstrate that fact. From the exchange:

.... In the show, titled “Tucker Confronts Britain’s Most Pro-War Advocate”, the firebrand broadcaster also appeared to suggest that Britain’s involvement in [WWII] was unnecessary because Hitler had repeatedly claimed that he did not want to fight the UK.

Sir Jacob said: “You seem to be putting more trust in Hitler than I would. He said all sorts of things.”

Following a brief history lesson about Neville Chamberlain’s promise of “peace for our time” after his meeting with Hitler shortly before Nazi forces invaded Poland, Sir Jacob offered the American a little advice.

“I’m very surprised you’re verging on defending Hitler. I think this is not really what you want to be doing,” he said, explaining that it was essential that “we should learn from history”.

Carlson replied: “Yeah, I guess I’m just a secret Nazi. I’m actually not a secret Nazi...and hardly a public Nazi.”

Sir Jacob, 57, responded, “I’m reassured”, before explaining that, if the UK had not gone to war, “Germany would have invaded us”. ....

Carlson, 57, also suggested that the Second World War was still being “presented” by Britain as a “good thing” despite it having “destroyed” the empire.

Tucker Carlson asked Sir Jacob whether Britain had ‘benefited’ from taking on the Nazis.

“It was the classic good versus evil. We did the right thing,” Sir Jacob said, as he tried to explain the motivation behind going to war with a dictator who had invaded his neighbouring countries and exterminated millions of Jews.

But Carlson – apparently eager to understand “cause and effect” – wanted to know whether the UK had “benefited” from taking on Hitler.

Sir Jacob responded: “To have defeated Hitler? Yes.”

Carlson asked: “The UK is a better country now? It is a healthier country?”

Sir Jacob: “In other words, we would all be speaking German.”

The US broadcaster then said “Who cares?”, adding that “a lot of people in Britain” do not speak English, so if Germany had won, “at least a European language [would have been] spoken in your country”.

Carlson went on to suggest that “the beautiful country [of Britain]” had been “destroyed” and had “lost self-respect” after winning the war.

“I see no advantage in speaking German over any other language,” Sir Jacob explained. “We want to speak English, thank you so much. Our self-respect was greatly maintained by defeating the greatest evil the world has known.”

Carlson remained undeterred. He claimed that the British military victory had culminated in “foreign” troops being stationed on British soil.

Once again, Sir Jacob appeared surprised by Carlson’s assertion, pointing out that, as a member of NATO, the UK had agreed to host US bases during the Cold War because of fears of a Russian invasion.

Sir Jacob suggested that history showed that if an enemy thinks its adversary is “weak”, wars can start by accident.

“If you show that you are strong, then the invasion doesn’t happen,” he said. “If Hitler had thought we were strong, then Poland would not have been invaded.” ....

When Tucker's opinions are challenged, his frequent response has been that he "was only asking questions."

Steve Bird, "Rees-Mogg: Tucker Carlson ‘verging on defending Hitler’," The Telegraph, Oct 3, 2026.