Daily Caller News Foundation co-founder Tucker Carlson told a story on “The Charlie Kirk Show” Friday about how Kirk won him over after originally being “skeptical” of him.
Carlson told Vice President J.D. Vance, who guest-hosted the show on Monday, that he admired Kirk’s ability to have fond feelings for those who disagreed with him. Carlson said that Kirk’s youth and his assumption that he was preying on their mutual donor friend were off-putting, but that after a debate, they started speaking and bonding.
“I met Charlie when he was a teenager. He was connected to, funded by, a close friend of ours called Foster Friess … And so he tells me at dinner about this kid he’s met. He’s only 18 … And so he’s like, ‘You would love this guy, he’s not going to college.’ And I was like, ‘Man, I love that.’ Because I really am opposed,” Carlson said. “And I mean it … And I really thought, assumed that Charlie was just some predator and I didn’t like it at all. And of course there’s the bias against young people. I mean, Charlie’s literally the age of one of my children.”
“And I felt he’s probably just totally conventional — telling old people what they want to hear, sucking up to donors, whatever. So I meet him. I thought he was smart as hell, but I was very skeptical,” he added. “Then he calls me: ‘Would you do an event?’ Sure, I was going to be in the state anyway. So I do it … I was going to give a speech and I got there, we were backstage, he was like, ‘Well actually, let’s just do a Q and A. And I was like, ‘I don’t know, son, I don’t think you want to do that with me, because I’m kind of a jerk.”
Carlson said Kirk dismissed his concerns and pushed for a debate. Carlson said he told Kirk he disagreed with him on the economy and foreign policy that he was “hot on these topics.” Kirk again dismissed Carlson’s concerns.