Pro-Trump Writer Slams JD Vance Over His ‘Disappointing’ Response to Tucker Carlson-Hitler Controversy: ‘It’s a Dishonest Strawman’

(Bill Clark/CQ Roll Call via AP Images)

Newsweek opinion editor and pro-Trump commentator Batya Ungar-Sargon slammed Trump’s running mate, Senator JD Vance (R-OH) over his response to the controversy over Tucker Carlson’s interview with and praise for amateur historian Darryl Cooper .

During that interview, Cooper argued that Winston Churchill was “the chief villain” of World War II and appeared to argue that the Holocaust was an accident borne of poor logistical planning, all without mentioning the Jews.

In a Twitter thread reacting to the outrage over his claims, Cooper dug an even deeper hole for himself by asserting that Hitler offered to “work with the other powers to reach an acceptable solution to the Jewish problem” and “was ignored.” Carlson, however, describes Cooper as “the best and most honest popular historian in the United States.”

The outrage over Cooper and Carlson’s interview was heightened because Vance sat for his own interview with the ex-Fox News host a few days after the Cooper interview was released. The Republican vice presidential nominee is also set to appear with Carlson at a live event later this month.

Vance has stood by Carlson in the face of the criticism, though. In a statement given to Jewish Insider , a spokesman explained that “Senator Vance doesn’t believe in guilt-by-association cancel culture, but he obviously does not share the views of the guest interviewed by Tucker Carlson. There are no stronger supporters of our allies in Israel or the Jewish community in America than Senator Vance and President Trump.”

And during a gaggle with reporters, Vance himself was asked if  Carlson “should be interviewing those kind of people in the months before the election?” as well as if it was “a distraction that’s causing problems?”

“Well look, Tucker Carlson isn’t affiliated with the campaign. So I don’t think of what Tucker Carlson does as a distraction or is not. He’s going to do what he wants to do and we can disagree or agree with the viewpoints offered by his hosts,” replied Vance. “But again, I think the fundamental idea here is Republicans believe not in censorship, We believe in free speech and debate. It’s one of the most important things that RFK [Jr.] said in his message endorsing Donald Trump is that Democrats used to be the party where if you had an idea you didn’t like, you pushed back against it, you fought back against it, you criticized it. This whole idea that has taken hold in the far-left of this country that if you see a bad idea, the way to solve it is to censor it. I think it’s ridiculous.”

“ Kamala Harris is the candidate of censorship. She’s the candidate of using Big Tech to silence Americans. She’s the candidate of shutting Americans up,” he continued. “Donald Trump is the candidate of letting us have the debate because he believes in the American people enough to know that if we have a real debate, wisdom is ultimately going to win out. That’s the Donald Trump approach. It’s anti-censorship, and I’m proud to stand with him on it.”

Ungar-Sargon was unimpressed.

“What a disappointing response from @JDVance,” she wrote in a post responding to the video of Vance’s remarks. “It’s a dishonest strawman to say people are trying to censor the guy who thinks Hitler is in Heaven. The view is the future vice president of the United States should distance himself from those lavishly praising that man’s content.”

Ungar-Sargon has been a reliable friend of Trump and his campaign, accusing the Democrats of “projection” when they charged him with Anti-Semitism during their convention last month.

In 2022, Carlson had Ungar-Sargon on his now defunct Fox show and praised her as being “singlehandedly responsible for making that magazine worth reading once in a while.”