WATCH: Tucker Carlson says he's '100 percent mad' at 'well-educated white liberals' after leftist media tries to paint him as racist

Former Buzzfeed editor-in-chief Ben Smith interviewed Tucker Carlson in advance of the launch of new digital media company Semafor, of which Smith is co-founder and editor-in-chief. Tucker Carlson Tonight is the highest rated show on cable news. Smith endeavored to show Carlson as a racist, but Carlson's responses that he believes fully in American principles of equality dashed those attempts.

Based on the innocuous title of the event, "The Future of News: Trust and Polarization," and Semafor's stated goal of "tackl[ing] the lack of trust in media," one might assume that a fair and balanced discussion would prevail over the political mud-slinging we've all come to expect.

But these expectations were quickly dashed from the outset as Smith attempted to ambush Carlson for the entire 20-minute interview with a rapid patter of misrepresentations and loaded questions. During the heated exchange, the two repeatedly talked over each other, though a technical delay may have been a contributing factor, as Carlson appeared virtually from a remote location.

Smith began the interview by stating, "I'd rather not ask you about the labels but give you an opportunity to talk about what you believe." But the insincerity of this claim was quickly laid bare as Smith attempted a series of "gotcha" questions. As Carlson's answers fail to align with Smith's preconceived notions about him, every attempt to back Carlson into a rhetorical corner backfires miserably.

For his first question, Smith asked Carlson, "Do you believe white people are superior to other races?" As Tucker began to laugh and respond, "No of course not," Smith, realizing he isn't going to elicit the response he came looking for, cuts him off to rephrase the question to, "Do you think white people have more of a claim over America?"

"Of course not," Carlson reasserts himself, and describes his view that everybody has equal value. Carlson made his views unequivocally clear, stating that "If you were to look at my texts or listen to my personal conversations or read my mind, you would find no instance that I'm like 'I'm mad at Black people.' One-hundred percent of the people that I'm mad at are well-educated white liberals."

When Smith was unable to extract an admission of racist beliefs from Carlson, he played an 8-second clip from Tucker Carlson Tonight, where Carlson says "In political terms, this policy is called the Great Replacement. The replacement of legacy Americans with more obedient people from far away countries."

"So Tucker, what's a 'legacy American'?" Ben smirks, as though he's finally got him.

"People who were born here," Tucker answers frankly, as the smirk fades from Ben's face. "Black people, white people, Hispanic people, Asian people, people who are citizens," Tucker continues. He then went on to articulate that "The center of the Democrat electoral strategy going forward…is to bring in new people who will vote for them." Tucker is talking about a political strategy, not a white supremacist manifesto, as left-wing media has tried to say.

Unsatisfied with Carlson's response, Smith asks, "Do you have any empathy for somebody who sees that clip?"

Tucker replies candidly, "I have no empathy for people who derive their judgments about anything from 30-second clips on Media Matters. I do an hour live every single night. If you want to know what I think, I don't know that there's anybody who's more transparent about it than I am."

Next, Smith baselessly accused Carlson of employing known white supremacists. "Why have you been flypaper for these racists?" he asks. Carlson replies, "I've never had a white supremacist work for me. I don't think I've ever talked to a white supremacist."

Toward the end of the interview, Smith returned to the subject of Great Replacement theory, intentionally misrepresenting Carlson's views, saying that "The language of replacement theory, which you popularized, is specifically the language used by neo-Nazis to recruit people to their cause…it is a phrase that has been used by mass shooters. I wonder if you don't have any compunction or regret about popularizing that?"

Seeing the futility in attempting to achieve an honest exchange with Smith, Carlson fired back: "This is why you are considered, correctly, a propagandist and not a journalist, because I just explained—in detail, with total sincerity—what I believed, and you ignored it and invoked mass shooters."