MMA FIGHTER CONOR McGregor this week hosted US media figure Tucker Carlson in his Dublin bar, The Black Forge, ahead of a one-hour interview aired on Friday night, where the pair discussed a wide range of topics, from running for president to immigration.

McGregor, as coherent as he was factual, was given free rein to parrot far-right talking points and outright disinformation.

His interviewer, Carlson, was happy to facilitate.

Carlson was fired by Fox News in April 2023 – amid claims of sexism, a hostile work environment and Rupert Murdoch’s apparent concerns about Carlson’s view that the 6 January 2021 attack on Congress was instigated by the US government.

He is one of the most recognisable conservative TV personalities in the US and he’s close with president Donald Trump, who is also a fan of McGregor’s.

Carlson sat down with McGregor in the Freemasons’ Hall in Dublin this week for a health check on Irish society and democracy, unchallenged by inconvenient facts or figures.

Birds of a feather

McGregor made a controversial visit to the White House on St Patrick’s Day this year, a few months after a jury found he was liable for sexually assaulting Nikita Hand. 

Despite McGregor’s claims that the government seeks to unfairly “tarnish” his reputation, the fighter is still very popular among the far-right.

He told Carlson that he thinks Donald Trump – who has also been found liable for sexual violence offences – is “doing very well” as president.

On his own presidential aspirations, McGregor said he is “going to allow the democratic process to play out” and “see where it falls”.

The criteria to become a presidential candidate in Ireland is fairly straightforward: one must be an Irish citizen over the age of 35, and must obtain the nominations of either four local authorities, or twenty members of the Oireachtas. 

A survey conducted by Sky News saw 134 members of the Oireachtas – which is made up of 174 TDs in the Dáil and 60 senators in the Seanad (234 members total) – say that they will not be nominating McGregor. 

McGregor said that if he is not nominated “it will become more evident… that we are not a democratic country”.

‘Propaganda campaign’

McGregor said Ireland, as well as other countries in the Western sphere, are being governed by people “with ill-intent”.

Carlson, from his few days in Dublin, claimed “not one advertisement on any public place has Irish people on it”.

He called this a “propaganda campaign” that seeks to “make white people hate themselves”.

McGregor said it’s because in recent years politicians “take their orders from above”. He did not explain what or who is “above”.

“They are being ordered and the orders are coming down on the people, and the people have no say.”

Both men repeated baseless claims that Irish people are being “replaced” and that there is a “war on Christianity”.

Carlson compared national broadcaster RTÉ to North Korea’s state-run media.