JD Vance rants against Pentagon 'cowards' for applauding Tucker Carlson’s termination

Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) was not pleased to learn of Pentagon officials applauding Fox News for terminating conservative primetime host Tucker Carlson.

The Ohio lawmaker's remarks were in response to a piece published by Politico where the anonymous officials with the U.S. Department of Defense (DoD) seemed relieved by Fox News' decision. Taking to Twitter, Vance did not mince words when he criticized those who were in favor of the termination.

The officials, and even some Republican lawmakers, opted to remain anonymous in the Politico report.

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"We’re a better country without [Carlson] bagging on our military every night in front of hundreds of thousands of people,” one official said anonymously while another DoD official added, “Good riddance.”

According to Vance, those who commented without revealing their identity are "cowards."

Sharing his reaction to the Politico report, Vance tweeted, “Call me old fashioned, but senior military officials should maintain neutrality about hot-button political topics. And they certainly shouldn’t run to one media outlet to gossip — anonymously — about another."

Like Vance, many Republicans have criticized Fox News for its decision to fire Carlson, but there have been some conservative lawmakers that align with the anonymous DoD officials in celebrating Carlson's termination.

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Sen. Mitt Romney (R-Utah) and a number of others applauded the network and shed light on the moments they felt Carlson went too far with his on-air rhetoric. From the conspiracy theories and baseless claims of widespread voter fraud, to his take on the war in Ukraine, Carlson had managed to spark controversy on a number of key issues that have plagued the country over the last several years.

Carlson's termination comes just one week after Fox News announced its decision to settle the Dominion Voting Systems defamation lawsuit for $787.5 million.

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