PBS NEWSHOUR: Washington Post associate editor Jonathan Capehart and Ramesh Ponnuru, editor for the National Review, join Geoff Bennett to discuss the week in politics, including attacks on elected state officials, President Trump’s consideration of U.S. military involvement in Iran and the debate among Republicans about entering the conflict.

GEOFF BENNETT, PBS NEWSHOUR: Well, the prospect of another war here has ignited a debate within the MAGA wing of the Republican Party, since President Trump ran on avoiding foreign wars. And I think this was, in many ways, best exemplified by a conversation that Tucker Carlson had with Senator Ted Cruz this past week. Tucker Carlson is firmly in the anti-war camp. And this clip that you’re about to see picks up with Carlson asking Cruz how many people live in Iran, and Ted Cruz didn’t know. TUCKER CARLSON: How could you not know that? SEN. TED CRUZ: I don’t sit around memorizing population tables. TUCKER CARLSON: Well, it’s kind of relevant, because you’re calling for the overthrow of the government. SEN. TED CRUZ: Why is it relevant whether it’s 90 million or 80 million or 100 million? Why is that relevant? TUCKER CARLSON: Well, because, if you don’t know anything about the country… SEN. TED CRUZ: I didn’t say I don’t know anything about the country. TUCKER CARLSON: OK, what’s the ethnic mix of Iran? SEN. TED CRUZ: They are Persians and predominantly Shia. TUCKER CARLSON: What percent? SEN. TED CRUZ: OK, this is cute. OK. TUCKER CARLSON: No, no, it’s not even – you don’t know anything about Iran. So, actually, the country… SEN. TED CRUZ: OK, I am not the Tucker Carlson expert on Iran, who says… [CROSSTALK] TUCKER CARLSON: You’re a senator who’s calling for the overthrow of the government, and you don’t know anything about the country. BENNETT: So what does that say about the larger debate within the GOP right now? RAMESH PONNURU, NATIONAL REVIEW: Well, it says that it includes a lot of sound and fury. There was a misstatement, though, in that Carlson claimed that Senator Cruz wants regime change in Iran. And he is not calling for boots on the ground. He is not calling for an invasion. He’s calling for a strike on Fordow. Now, of course, that could have destabilizing implications. But the idea that this is just the Iraq War debate all over again, I think, isn’t true. The MAGA debate that we’re seeing right now is also distorted, because you have got a lot of people who are called MAGA influencers and they have taken that title too much to heart. They think they have got way more influence than they actually have. The polling suggests that there is no Tucker Carlson wing of the Republican Party on this question, and Trump is – Trump calls the shots. He doesn’t – he doesn’t need the influencers. The influencers need him. JONATHAN CAPEHART, WASHINGTON POST: This isn’t the – I think he said the Iraq War debate from way back when. At least then, there was an actual debate on both sides of the aisle and around the country about what should happen. The fact that there’s this intramural fight is pretty spectacular to watch. But in that clip between Senator Cruz and Tucker Carlson, what jumped out at me was the incredible lack of seriousness from Senator Cruz, a member of the Committee on Foreign Relations. How could he not know? Just instinctively, just throw out a number about the population of Iran. You have been sitting on this committee for God knows how long. How could you not know that? And the fact that he didn’t know it tells me that he’s not coming at this as seriously as he should as a member of the United States Senate in the majority.

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