Sen. Tammy Duckworth calls President Trump and Tucker Carlson 'insecure men' who have no idea what 'true patriotism' means

• Illinois Sen. Tammy Duckworth responded in a column to Fox News host Tucker Carlson's heated monologues in which he questioned her patriotism.
• In an opinion column titled "Tucker Carlson Doesn't Know What Patriotism Is," Duckworth accused Carlson of disingenuously conflating her previous remarks.
• Also attacking President Donald Trump, she said "attacks from self-serving, insecure men who can't tell the difference between true patriotism and hateful nationalism will never diminish my love for this country."
• Duckworth, a double-amputee and a US Army veteran, added: "These titanium legs don't buckle."

Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois replied Thursday to Fox News host Tucker Carlson's heated monologues from the week, in which the outspoken conservative personality questioned her patriotism.

In a New York Times opinion column titled "Tucker Carlson Doesn't Know What Patriotism Is," Duckworth accused Carlson of purposefully misrepresenting her previous comment about having a national dialogue on the removal of historical monuments.

She said the Fox host wrongly twisted her words to suggest she supported having the statues removed.

In the column, Duckworth wrote: "Let me be clear: I don't want George Washington's statue to be pulled down any more than I want the Purple Heart that he established to be ripped off my chest. I never said that I did."

"Led by the Fox News host Tucker Carlson and egged on by President Trump, they began questioning my love for the country I went to war to protect, using words I never actually said and ascribing a position to me that I do not actually hold," Duckworth said.

"Mr. Carlson disingenuously claimed that because I expressed an openness to 'a national dialogue' about our founders' complex legacies, people like me 'actually hate America.'"

Duckworth, an outspoken critic of the president, accused him and Carlson of being "desperate for America's attention to be on anything other than Donald Trump's failure to lead our nation."

"They should know, though, that attacks from self-serving, insecure men who can't tell the difference between true patriotism and hateful nationalism will never diminish my love for this country — or my willingness to sacrifice for it so they don't have to," Duckworth said. "These titanium legs don't buckle."

"The hateful vision for America parroted by Mr. Trump and Mr. Carlson will not win," Duckworth added. "Their relentless efforts to drive wedges between us will not work forever. We are too resilient a nation, too diverse a people, to let them."

Carlson and Duckworth's feud began after the senator's remarks about Trump's speech at Mount Rushmore last weekend

In a CNN interview on Sunday, Duckworth was asked for her thoughts on removing monuments dedicated to notable slave-owning American leaders including President George Washington. Duckworth replied by saying the US needed a "national dialogue" on the matter.

Carlson, who described the removal of historical US monuments as part of "cancel culture," questioned Duckworth's love for the country.

"Most people just ignore her," Carlson said during his show on Monday. "But when Duckworth does speak in public, you're reminded what a deeply silly and unimpressive person she is."

He added: "Well, it's long been considered out of bounds to question a person's patriotism. It's a very strong charge and we try not ever to make it. But in the face of all of this, the conclusion can't be avoided: These people actually hate America, there's no longer a question about that."

Duckworth appeared to reply in a tweet shortly afterward, "Does @TuckerCarlson want to walk a mile in my legs and then tell me whether or not I love America?"

Duckworth deployed to Iraq as a pilot in 2004, where she lost both her legs after her helicopter was struck by a rocket-propelled grenade. She went on to win a House seat in 2012 and was elected to the Senate in 2016.

On his program the next day, Carlson called Duckworth a "fraud" and claimed she was using her military background, "since she was once injured," to drown out his argument.

Carlson, who claimed to have reached out to Duckworth's staff, also called her a "coward" for refusing to accept his invitation to debate him on his show.