I beg your pardon?': Tucker tears apart guest who compares him to Nazi apologist

Fox News contributor Lt. Col. Ralph Peters compared fellow FNC personality and primetime cable host Tucker Carlson to an apologist for Adolf Hitler in the 1930s Tuesday. But Carlson quickly cut in and took his guest to task over the "grotesque" statement.

Peters and Carlson were discussing the extent to which the U.S. should work with Russia to defeat the Islamic State in Syria. Carlson advocated for a "temporary alliance" between the U.S. and Russia to defeat the terrorist group in the Middle East. Peters, on the other hand, said Russian President Vladimir Putin is not someone America can or should work with, and instead, likened Putin to Hitler.

Carlson, despite his support for a temporary alliance with Russia, made clear that he was in no way "vouching for Putin's character."

"He seems like a shady guy, a strongman for sure. Wouldn't want to live there," Carlson said, referring to Putin and Russia.

But, the Fox host added, it's "hard to see why he [Putin] is a threat to us."

"How many wars can we fight at once? How many people can we be in opposition to at once? Why not just accept that people who are bad people, share our interests and side with them?" Carlson said.

Peters interjected and told compared Carlson to someone who made excuses for Hitler.

"You sound like Charles Lindbergh in 1938 saying, 'Hitler hasn't attacked us,'" Peters said.

Lindbergh, of course, was the American pilot who was the first to fly across the Atlantic Ocean from New York City to Paris. He was also an activist during World War II, having gone before the House Foreign Affairs Committee to urge members of Congress to negotiate with Hitler, according to History.com.

As soon as Peters made the comparison, however, Carlson cut in and set the record straight.

"I beg your pardon? Slow down. I'm not in any way — you cannot compare me to someone who made apologies for Hitler, and I don't think Putin's comparable to Hitler," Carlson said.

Peters replied by saying that "I think Putin is" comparable to Hitler.

Carlson further told Peters that his comparison was "insane" and a "grotesque overstatement."

"You just compared me to a Nazi apologist because I asked a simple question ... which is, 'Why does it contravene American interests in a common cause with a group that's trying to kill ISIS?'" Carlson said.

Peters pointed out that Putin invaded Ukraine in 2013 and meddled in various elections in Europe and the 2016 U.S. presidential election. Peters reminded Carlson that Putin is also believed to be responsible for the killing of a number of Russian government opposition leaders as well as journalists.

Peters further noted that the former KGB agent was also accused of targeting civilians at a hospital in Syria in October 2015.

"He [Putin] is as bad as Hitler," Peters said. "And if you don't like the Charles Lindbergh thing, I will retract that, but let's just say you sound like someone in 1938 saying, 'What's Hitler done to us?'"

Peters then asked why Carlson, who he pointed out has made his career on "being an American conservative patriot," is now "suddenly cheering for Vladimir Putin."

"I"m not in any sense cheering for Vladimir Putin," Carlson said. "I am cheering for America, as always. Our interests ought to come first, and to the extent that making temporary alliances with other countries that serve our interests, I'm in favor of that."

"Making sweeping moral claims, grotesque ones, comparing people to Hitler, advances the ball not one inch," Carlson said.

Tucker throws a fit when Lt. Col. Ralph Peters calls him out for defending Putin and compares Tucker to Lindbergh's comments on Hitler. pic.twitter.com/QgJGzU1GXf

— Richard W. (@IceManNYR) July 12, 2017