The Daily Signal - Victor Davis Hanson: The Tucker-Fuentes Interview—What Tucker Should’ve Done

Episode Date: November 17, 2025

Tucker Carlson’s interview with right-wing provocateur podcaster Nick Fuentes has the conservative movement fighting over what the definition of “canceling” is and struggling to determine if there are cases in which it is called for. If so, was the Fuentes interview one of them? Victor Davis Hanson states there is a fine line between “canceling” and “deplatforming,” and it all has to do with how the platformer handles the issue they’re amplifying. He breaks down this dichotomy and explains where he believes Carlson went wrong on this episode of “Victor Davis Hanson: In a Few Words.” “ When you don't invite Nick Fuentes on your program, it doesn't mean that you're canceling him. It doesn't mean that you're deplatforming him because he's beyond the pale. And you say, ‘Well, who are you to say that, Victor?’ Well, I'm not Victor saying that. There are accepted norms—that you don't use the N-word, or you don't call for people to go back to Israel, if they're Jewish, or you don't make fun of people's race in the public sphere, the way he did. You can do that, of course, under the First Amendment, but you're not invited into acceptable venues to vent those views and to spread hate.” (0:00) Platforming vs. Canceling (2:15) Debating Extremists (3:54) Tucker Carlson's Skills (4:27) Norms and Boundaries in Media (5:42) Tucker Carlson's Recent Controversies (6:54) Conclusion 👉Don’t miss out on Victor’s latest short videos by subscribing to The Daily Signal today. You’ll be notified every time a new piece of content drops: ⁠https://www.youtube.com/dailysignal?sub_confirmation=1⁠  👉Want more VDH? Watch Victor’s weekly, hour-long podcast, “Victor Davis Hanson: In His Own Words,” now! Subscribe to his YouTube channel, and enabling notification:  ⁠https://www.youtube.com/@victordavishanson7273?sub_confirmation=1⁠  👉More exclusive content are available on Victor’s website: ⁠https://victorhanson.com⁠   👉The Daily Signal cannot continue to tell stories, like this one, without the support of our viewers: ⁠https://secured.dailysignal.com/⁠  Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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of Nick Fuentes. I think we should make a distinction. These are options so when you don't offer a venue, you're not canceling them out. You're just making a choice. You make a choice every day who you invite on your show. If he is so extreme and you decide either to withdraw the invitation or not to invite him at all,

that's not canceling, that's not deplatforming. How about Tucker himself, which is a very different case. Fairly or not, people are going to think you're complicit in an effort to spread those views. I don't think necessarily the question is to go after Tucker Carlson for bringing them on. The question's more nuanced. Hello, this is Victor Davis-Hansson for the Daily Signal. There's been a lot of confusion discussion, but also confusion. about the idea of platforming some person or de-platforming someone versus canceling them. It came up during the Tucker Carlson interview of Nick Fuentes.

I think we should make a distinction. If you have a venue, you're a talk show host, a podcaster, you're inviting someone to lecture, that's a choice that you make, and you operate within particular sidelines, parameters. In other words, you don't invite an abject racist, you don't invite an abject anti-Semite, you don't invite somebody who would like to have that forum to advance your views. And we have to be very clear about this. People in the news that are anti-Semites, racist, anti-American radicals, whatever extremist point of view they embrace, they get to a point of public exposure because they're quite skilled in demagogic rhetoric.

They're formidable debaters. If anybody went back to firing line and watched William F. Buckley debate George Wallace, Buckley had the moral and the intellectual argument on his side, but he was dealing with a man who for 25 years had spoken almost every day to crowds, and George Wallace was probably the best orator. that ran for president, say, in 68 and 72. And Buckley, it used all of his skills just to tie down Wallace. And it was a very even debate.

So my point is, if you have a venue and you want to bring somebody in whom is beyond the pale, and that person is going to come onto your venue. Reason number 37, why Nissan is built for our winter. Because winter getaways should be cozy. Not cold. Kick's standard heated front seats and side mirrors help keep you warm and your view clear. That's winter ready. Now, Lisa 2026 kicks S front wheel drive for 349 monthly at 3.9% or get $2,000 cash purchase bonus on remaining 2025 models. Visit your local Nissan dealer today or nissan.ca for more details. Leasturn for 48 months with 1,249 down conditions apply.

To do a couple of things, of course get greater exposure for his noxious ideas. but more importantly he's coming equipped with formidable rhetorical skills and three don't expect when he has a large mainstream audience he is going to voice all of the extreme positions that got him on the show in the first place that was true with william f buckley with ewey newton eldridge cleveler william shockley etc so when you bring somebody like Nick Fuentes on, be prepared that he's not going to be transparent about the excess of his views or the extreme nature of them. He'll calm them down in order to get a bigger audience. Two, he's going to come after years or hours, days of debating people, so you have to be at the top of

your game. In the case of Tucker Carlson, there was no, there's no question that he's a very skilled, interviewed her. And when he wanted to pin Ted Cruz down, who himself is a formidable debater, Tucker Carlson did very well. I mean, it was almost an ambush interview, and he tried to embarrass and sometimes successfully so Ted Cruz. So he could have used those formidable skills to cross-examine Nick Fuentes, but he did not. So when you don't invite Nick Fuentes on your program, it doesn't mean that you're canceling him. It doesn't mean that you're deplatforming him because he's beyond the pale. And you say, well, who are you to say that, Victor? Well, I'm not Victor saying that. There are accepted norms that you don't use the N-word or you don't call for people

to go back to Israel if they're Jewish or you don't make fun of people's race in the public sphere the way he did. You can do that, of course, under the First Amendment, but you're not invited into acceptable venues to vent those views and to spread hate. The second thing is canceling. These are options so when you don't offer Fuentes a venue, you're not canceling them out. You're just making a choice. You make a choice every day who you invite on your show, who you talk to, where you go. But if he is so extreme and you decide either to,

draw the invitation or not to invite him and all, that's not canceling, that's not deplatforming. How about Tucker himself, which is a very different case? Tucker Carlson had had a distinguished career as a journalist, as a writer, as a debater, as a conservative pundit, and for years, I was on his show for six or seven years. He never once voiced anything that was remotely, I would consider. anti-Semitic. His father was a devout Christian. Maybe he would qualify as a Christian. Zionist, a big supporter of Israel. He was a patriot. He had a very distinguished career. Tucker Carlson

comes from one of the oldest families in California, the Miller-Lux 19th century development, land development company. So he's been around for a long time, and no one had ever questioned that he was I don't know what happened in the last year or so when he decided to bring on these beyond the pale guest. But I don't think necessarily the question is to go after Tucker Carlson for bringing them on. We don't go after William Buckley. The question is more nuanced. The question is, if you bring them on, are you prepared? to ask them the sort of questions, which they are, A, going to evade, and B, going to moderate their views, and C, use you to get a larger audience.

And if you don't do that, then fairly or not, people are going to think you're complicit in an effort to spread those views, which in the case of Nick Puentes or abhorrent. So I think everybody was shocked, disappointed that Tucker didn't use those skills with somebody as reprehensible as. Flintes. And I think they hope that he will in the future. Thank you very much. This is Victor Davis Hansen for The Daily Signal. Thank you for tuning in to the Daily Signal. Please like, share, and subscribe to be notified for more content like this. You can also check out my own website at victorhansen.com and subscribe for exclusive features in addition.