Wednesday on Fox News Channel’s “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” host Tucker Carlson accused the left of using thousands of children that participated in a school walkout earlier in the day of exploiting those kids.

Carlson acknowledged a track record of the left exploiting children for political gain, and decried using children as a means to score a political advantage “moral blackmail.”

Transcript as follows:

If you’ve been watching TV today, you know that thousands of children walked out of school across America demanding the passage of new gun-control laws. This followed the mass shooting in Parkland, FL, of course. The walkout is being hailed as an act of moral bravery. But, of course, students do not act independently, brave as they may be. They can’t act independently. They’re under control of adults — in this case by definition, they’re in school. When he heard a 16-year-olds in school scream, “Hey NRA, how many people did you kill today?” you can guess about if they really know what they’re saying or if they really believe it. Some do. But you can be certain adults are behind it, and they are.

Today’s events were organized by the women’s march, supported by dozens of other groups, including Michael Bloomberg’s gun lobby, to Planned Parenthood. Celebrities, journalists, political elites cheered them on. A TV channel Nickelodeon went dark for 17 minutes to show support for “kids leading the way.”

In New York City, a student die-in was joined by the governor of the state, Andrew Cuomo. In Baltimore, that city spent more than $100,000 to transport students to anti-gun rallies. This in a city with one of the highest murder rates in the nation, a city that cannot afford trash cans or streetlights.

Meanwhile, in Alexandria, VA, 65 students walked out of an elementary school, as if kids under 10 can go anywhere by themselves. Now, whether you like the kids, like what they’re saying, and you may, but you should be opposed to this because kids should not be used to advance political agendas, anyone’s. Why? Because they’re children. They’re not old enough to have the perspective adults do. That’s why we don’t let them vote or a drink or, if the protesters have their way, buy guns.

That’s why it’s wrong to exploit them, which is exactly what is being done to them today, what the left is doing and has always done from Mao’s Red Guards to right now. The ANC in South Africa used kids as propaganda in the ’80s. Their cause was morally defensible. Causes usually are morally defensible. But in the process, an entire generation of kids grew up to learn that activism is more important than learning and a lot of them regret it now. They were exploited, and there being exploited here. No matter what they chant, remember the enemy of the adults behind this isn’t the NRA. It’s anyone who opposes their broader agenda.

That’s people who have no power at all. So, the message is simple, stand against us, and you’re against children, and therefore you’re a monster. And if you’re a monster, you deserve to be destroyed. It’s a kind of moral blackmail.