Former Rep. Dennis Kucinich of Ohio joined "Tucker Carlson Today" on Fox Nation to promote his new book, "The Division of Light And Power", and also discuss his unique position as an outsider in the Democratic Party.
Host Tucker Carlson noted that Kucinich was an outlier among otherwise "neocon" Democrats during the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, with the former Cleveland mayor being much less interventionist and more circumspect about the role America should play in foreign wars.
"What happened to all the Democrats who used to agree with you?" Carlson asked.
Kucinich told Carlson his Rust-Belt upbringing taught him to appreciate his independent streak.
"Coming from the neighborhoods of the city, people I grew up with [we were] very proud to be Americans," he said.
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"I mean, I'm wearing a pin right now that my dad gave me. He was a truck driver, and this is his safe driving pen. And my dad was a Marine. He believed in service to America. His son, my brother Frank, served in the Marines. My brother Gary served in the Marines. My sister Beth Ann served in the Army. And I would have served in the Marines except, I had a heart murmur. I couldn't get into service—but we all believed in service," the former lawmaker added. "That ethic of service is ingrained, and not just in our family, but many people in our community. And when America goes to war, as it has many times in my lifetime, people want to believe that it's for the best reasons."
Kucinich said the worst thing a lawmaker or civilian can do is take "love-of-country" and misappropriate it to a cause that is wrong.
"So yeah, I challenged a number of wars, based on my understanding that the underlying facts were not supporting U.S. policy," he said.
Carlson went on to suggest Kucinich, whose views were often a point of contention in establishment Washington, has been "vindicated by time."
"There is some personal satisfaction in that, but when I think of the people who lost their lives, the family of the people who were injured, it's heartbreaking, really," Kucinich replied.
"Because then you see the cause of nationhood being undermined. And I think that's one of the things that's happening in America today. People lose confidence in the government… that's what the book's about, standing up to a big lie that somebody created."
Carlson asked Kucinich about his status as an outsider and being labeled "crazy" by fellow Democrats when he ran for president in 2004.
"There is a moment in our lives where we really believe that we must take a stand because we see something that is fundamentally wrong. And when you do that, you cannot worry about what people are going to say about you. You must not be dissuaded by criticism," he said. "What are you made of? Are you willing to take a stand? And how willing are you? Are you willing to risk the destruction of your entire career in order to stand on principle?"
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