Tucker Carlson calls on GOP voters to 'demand three things from their candidates' this November

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Tucker: Voters need to demand change from the GOP

Republican office holders are not working hard enough for the American people and, at a moment like this, that's a severe and dangerous problem.

Tucker Carlson called on voters to hold Republicans accountable Tuesday in the aftermath of his Monday interview with Sen. Mike Braun, R-Ind., about Braun's introduction of a bill that would limit qualified immunity for law enforcement officers.

"An awful lot of Republican officeholders look very much like Mike Braun right now. Probably most of them. That's a problem. In a moment like this, it is a severe and dangerous problem ... " the "Tucker Carlson Tonight" host. "Republicans at all levels could lose this fall. If they do, there will be profound consequences for you. People who supported Donald Trump will be punished, there's definitely no question about that. There's never been an American political party as radical and as angry as the Democrats are now."

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"Imagine them with unlimited power and that's what they plan to get in their first year," Carlson went on. "The point is, and it could not be clearer: Non-Democrats in America are in peril."

Carlson said his interview with Braun was meant to remind viewers that Republicans were the only "shield" for non-Democrats.

"Yes, the Republican Party, flawed and infuriating though it often is. The fact remains, the GOP is the only institution still open to the rest of us, to Americans who want to live as they did just 15 years ago, quietly, productively, without being harassed and harangued by self-righteous lunatics who mean them harm. And they do," Carlson said. "If you want to be left alone to do your job and raise your family in this country, you will need a protector. That protector must be the Republican Party. There are no other options, but it must be a very different kind of Republican Party."

The host called on Republican voters to "demand three things from their candidates. And if they don't provide them, don't vote for them.

"First is vigorous defense of total equality under the law. We are equal because we are citizens. Every American has precisely the same rights as every other American. Period. That is the promise of America," Carlson said. "It's why millions of people move here for a long time ... It was obvious, but it no longer is obvious. And there are many who are working in the opposite direction. Republicans must counterbalance this. They must work as hard as they can to make America fair again."

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"Don't get caught in pointless debates about whether or not this is a racist country," Carlson added. "Clearly it isn't. Prove it by making it less racist by making it a colorblind meritocracy. That's our promise."

Carlson next called on Republicans to "defend our freedom of speech."

"We are not a free society without that," Carlson said. "This is not simply a debate about the First Amendment and its limits. It's bigger than that and more important. If you can't articulate something, if you're not allowed, you can't think. And that's precisely why authoritarians try to control language. They're trying to control your mind. Republicans should lead the fight against this without shame. Americans have the absolute right to tell the truth. This is not negotiable.

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"Nor, by the way, is it a theoretical concern of interest only to intellectuals. Everything depends on it. If you can't think freely, you can't solve problems. Try to build a hydro plant or fly a commercial airplane. If certain categories of thought are off limits to you, it doesn't work. The power grid collapses. Planes crash. Society degrades. No speech means no science, no art, no civilization.

Carlson's final point was "we must never forget that in the end, the Republican Party exists to serve the interests of normal people."

"Can Republican officeholders change their party?" Carlson asked. "Yes, they can. We just have to make them."