The exchange between Col. Ralph Peters and Tucker Carlson begins at the 5:20 mark

The Fox News personality Tucker Carlson got into a heated debate with the news analyst and retired US Army Lt. Col. Ralph Peters on Tuesday after Peters suggested Carlson was sympathetic to 1930s Nazi Germany.

While discussing Russian President Vladimir Putin's veiled campaign against ISIS, which experts largely believe is focused on keeping the government of Russia's ally Syria in power, Carlson said: "I'm not vouching for Putin's character. He seems like a shady guy, a strongman for sure.

"Hard to see why he's a threat to us," he continued. "Why not just accept that people who are bad people share our interest and side with them?"

"You sound like Charles Lindbergh in 1938 saying, 'Hitler hasn't attacked us,'" Peters said.

Although Lindbergh warned the US of Germany's advancement in aviation technology in the 1930s, he received criticism after he was honored by the Nazi government and suggested the US ought to negotiate a neutrality pact.

"I beg your pardon," Carlson said. "Hey, slow down, colonel. You cannot compare me to someone who can make apologies for Hitler. And I don't think Putin is comparable to Hitler."

"I think Putin is," Peters replied.

"I think it's a grotesque overstatement, actually," Carlson said. "I think it's insane."

"Fine, you can think it's insane all you want," Peters said.

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"You just compared me to a Nazi apologist because I asked a simple question," Carlson said. "Which is: Why does it contravene American interests to make common cause with a group that's trying to kill ISIS?"

"Because he invaded his neighbors, broken the long peace in Europe," Peters said of Putin. "He assassinates dissidents and journalists. He bombs women and children on purpose in Syria. He is as bad as Hitler."

The US has imposed sanctions on Russia for its invasion of Crimea in 2014. Putin has been accused of ordering the killings of people who have criticized the Russian government, and Russia has been accused of targeting Syrian civilians in its bombing campaign in the country last year.

"And I'm sorry, if you don't like the Charles Lindbergh thing, I will retract that," Peters said. "But let's just say you sound like someone in 1938 saying, 'What's Hitler done to us?'

"Putin is the equivalent of Hitler," he continued.

"I would hate to go back and read your columns assuring America that taking out Saddam Hussein will make the region calmer, more peaceful, and America safer when, in fact, it has done exactly the opposite, and it has empowered Russia and Iran, the two countries you say you fear most," Carlson said, referring to Peters' opinion columns in support of the US's invasion of Iraq in 2003.

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"Let's just be totally honest here: We don't always know the outcomes," Carlson continued. "So maybe we should lower the moral tone a little bit, rather than calling people 'accomodationists.'"

"You made your career being an American conservative patriot, and now you're suddenly cheering for Vladimir Putin?" Peters said.

"I'm not in any sense cheering for Vladimir Putin," Carlson said. "I am cheering for America as always. Our interests ought to come first. And to the extent that making temporary alliances with other countries serve our interests, I am in favor of that. Making sweeping moral claims, grotesque ones, comparing people to Hitler, advances the ball not one inch."

"Vladimir Putin is comparable," Peters said. "He hates America. He wants to hurt us. And I'm sorry, all this suddenly 'Vladimir Putin is a good guy, Russia's OK' — not it's not. Russia is evil. Russia is our enemy."