Instead of admitting he was wrong to smear Sen. Tammy Duckworth, who lost both legs while serving in Iraq, as anti-American, Tucker Carlson doubled down on attacking her this time calling her "a coward" and "a fraud."

First, Carlson smeared Duckworth as hating America. It didn’t go well for him.

On Monday night, Carlson called Duckworth “deeply silly and unimpressive” and went on to claim, “the conclusion can't be avoided. These people actually hate America. There's no longer a question about that.”

Duckworth fired back that evening:

Does @TuckerCarlson want to walk a mile in my legs and then tell me whether or not I love America?

— Tammy Duckworth (@SenDuckworth) July 7, 2020

She got sympathetic attention. Tucker not so much.

Carlson ratcheted up smears of Duckworth’s patriotism with lies about her comments on Confederate statues and George Washington.

Rather than man up, white nationalist Carlson embellished his attacks on Duckworth with lies about his basis for going after her.

We didn't bring it up yesterday, but in his original attack on Duckworth, Carlson accused her of “telling us it's time to get rid of George Washington.” In fact, what she said in the same clip played by Carlson was that “we should start off by having a national dialogue” on the removal of statues and monuments honoring slave owners. She did not say it’s “time to get rid” of anyone.

Carlson expanded on his deceit last night:

CARLSON: Senator Tammy Duckworth of Illinois watched Trump's speech or claimed she did. Her summary of it, quote, "He spent all of his time talking about dead traitors." George Washington, Clara Barton, Jackie Robinson -- they are all, according to Tammy Duckworth, dead traitors. Pretty shocking.

In case you think we're being unfair here, in the same interview, Senator Duckworth was asked if we should tear down statues of George Washington. Sure, she responded, let's talk about it.

We played that tape for you last night and we noted how grotesque it was. Only someone who hates the country would suggest ripping down monuments to its founder.

FACT CHECK: Duckworth was clearly referring to Confederates when she said “dead traitors.” In reality, she specifically exempted George Washington from that group. And that was immediately prior to her “national dialogue” discussion.

Here is what Duckworth actually said on Sunday’s State of the Union that Carlson keeps lying about:

DUCKWORTH: What really struck me about this speech that the president gave at Mount Rushmore was that he spent more time worried about honoring dead Confederates than he did talking about the lives of our American -- 130,000 Americans who lost their lives to COVID-19, or by warning Russia off of the bounty they're putting on Americans' heads. 

I mean, his priorities are all wrong here. He should be talking about what we're going to do to overcome this pandemic. What are we going to do to push Russia back? And, instead, he had no time for that. He spent all his time talking about dead traitors. 

DANA BASH [HOST]: So, that might be -- be true, but George Washington, I don't think anybody would call him a traitor. And there are...

DUCKWORTH: No.

BASH: ... moves by some to remove statues of him. Is that a good idea? 

DUCKWORTH: I think we should listen to everybody. I think we should listen to the argument there. 

All this from the guy who claims to be the “sworn enemy of lying.”

After smearing Duckworth, Carlson held himself up as the real victim – and he threw in some race baiting for extra hate mongering.

CARLSON: Apparently, Tammy Duckworth saw what we said. She didn't disagree with it exactly. Instead, she questioned our right to criticize her at all since she was once injured while serving in the Illinois Army National Guard.

That's what passes for an argument in modern identity politics. They don't address the points that you make, they question your right to make them at all.

The irony, of course, is that George Washington himself, the dead traitor Tammy Duckworth has such contempt for, also served in the military.

Yet Carlson had the nerve to attack Duckworth – with outright race baiting - for refusing to come on his show unless he apologized to her.

CARLSON: Let's tear down his statues, rename our capital city Sharpton or Mandela and let the revolution continue.

But hold on, not so fast. Changes that profound deserve a debate, not some fake national conversation where they scream commands at you and you get to obey, but a vigorous, reasoned exchange between adults.

We wanted to have an exchange like that with Tammy Duckworth tonight. So, we called her office and we invited her on the show. Her flack informed us that before even considering our request, we must first issue a public apology for criticizing Tammy Duckworth.

In other words, I will not debate you until first you admit you're completely wrong.

Carlson’s finale of Duckworth smears: accusing her of being “a coward,” “a fraud” and a “vandal.”

As despicable as all that was, it got even worse:

CARLSON: Keep in mind, Tammy Duckworth is not a child. At least not technically, she is a sitting United States Senator, who is often described as a hero, yet Duckworth is too afraid to defend her own statements on a cable TV show. What a coward.

Carlson also called Duckworth a “fraud” over this story which he couldn’t be bothered to delve into beyond lobbing accusations that she refused to help whistleblowers alleging mistreatment of VA patients while she was in Congress.

CARLSON: Tammy Duckworth is also a fraud. … This is the person lecturing the rest of us about her moral authority as a veteran. Spare us. Tammy Duckworth is a callous hack who ignored the suffering of actual veterans when it actually mattered. She has no moral authority. She is just a politician like the rest of them. She works for us. This is a democracy. She has an obligation to explain herself and answer our question. And our first question would be how can you lead a country you despise? And that's not something we would ask only to Tammy Duckworth, by the way. Hating America is a major theme in the Democratic Party right now. It's everywhere. Turn on the TV. 

Before long, Carlson moved on to attack another woman of color in Congress (Duckworth is of Asian descent), one of his long-time scapegoats, Rep, Ilhan Omar, this time accusing her of not being “grateful” to America.

CARLSON: When vandals like Tammy Duckworth and Ilhan Omar tell us that we're not allowed to question their patriotism, even as they scream about how horrible America is, we have every right to laugh in their faces -- and we should.

You can watch Carlson project what is clearly his own hatred for America onto Duckworth and Omar below, from the July 7, 2020 Tucker Carlson Tonight.