Carlson, Lackey to a Draft Dodger, Suggests Buttigieg Is Fake Veteran

The Wednesday episode of Tucker Carlson Tonight featured the Trump shill unloading on Pete Buttigieg, calling him "phony" and a "fraud," and intimating the gay presidential candidate lied about his military service.

The segment began with Carlson declaring Buttigieg's campaign dead in the water since Michael Bloomberg has overtaken him as the preferred candidate of Wall Street (this was taped just before the former New York mayor's disastrous debate performance). Carlson then named Buttigieg "Lego Man Pete," saying he was somehow built to be the perfect candidate (having a Harvard education, as Buttigieg does, is cause for speculaton and derision in Carlson's world).

"There was only one block missing, something to appeal to middle America," Carlson posited. "Buttigieg chose military service; normal people respect that."

After mocking Buttigieg's voice, Carlson dug into Buttigieg's service -- the future mayor joined the Naval Reserves in 2009 and did a tour of Afghanistan in 2014. Specifically, Carlson created a false narrative that Buttigieg's time in the military was somehow not real because he joined through a direct commission, a program that allows highly qualified individuals to join the military without attending Reserve Officers' Training Corps or a military academy. As Carlson pointed out, Buttigieg had a Harvard degree; he also had a degree from Oxford University, where he was a Rhodes Scholar. These accomplishments, as well as his work working for prominent politicians, likely helped him get a direct commission, and there's little scandalous about that.

"When Buttigieg deployed to Afghanistan he didn't go as a member of the unit, he went as a one-man reinforcement," Carlson declared. "He never saw combat; instead he spent his time sitting on base or ferrying people around in a jeep."

Carlson, meanwhile, acts as Donald Trump's propaganda minister, constantly lauding him and smearing his political enemies. Trump never served in the military, instead getting out of the Vietnam War-era draft because of "bone spurs." The bone spurs were exposed in 2018 as fraudulent, with a doctor reportedly making up the diagnosis as a favor to Trump's father.

Watch a clip of Carlson berating Buttigieg below, via Media Matters.

Back to the episode of Tucker Carlson Tonight -- the host's accusations against Buttigieg didn't end there. Carlson brought on Buttigieg's brother-in-law, Rhyan Glezman, as a guest. Glezman, brother of Buttigieg's husband, Chasten, accused the mayor of wanting to kill live babies because he said he supports a woman's right to choose when it came to late-term abortion procedures. Glezman said his brother-in-law was "anti-God" and has previously said he doesn't support his brother and brother-in-law's "gay lifestyle."