Asked what he thought of Carlson’s theory, Blake quickly pivoted to an attack on the controversial host himself.

“She’s not running,” he said. “But the core question is why the hell does Tucker Carlson still have a job here in the first place? The reality is, this is someone who said white supremacy is a hoax, and why does Fox allow him to be here in the first place?”

Micheal Blake stuns Fox News anchor: "Why the hell does Tucker Carlson still have a job here?" https://t.co/XRVoPsI8GF pic.twitter.com/h3KTT6QPu1 — Media Matters (@mmfa) November 26, 2019

Hemmer tried to steer the conversation back to Carlson’s comments, but Blake rebuffed him, saying, “I think the core question is he shouldn't be on here at all,” prompting Hemmer to put his foot down.

“I got it,” he responded, adding: “We didn’t bring you on to talk about Tucker Carlson, I brought you on to talk about the Democratic field.”

Blake backed off, but answered another question about the Democratic field with a small dig accusing Trump and Fox of “ignoring the truth.”

The tension flared again when Blake asserted that Fox News, whose opinion hosts are fierce defenders of President Donald Trump, plays a role in heightening Democrats’ urgency to defeat the president next year.

“Ignoring the truth and what we’re seeing on the other side is the reason why everyone is deciding to jump in. People are sick and tired of the noise out of D.C., Bill. This cannot continue in any way,” Blake argued. “And so, regardless of the number of candidates in the field, we’re talking about jobs while Trump is ignoring the truth. We're talking about health care while he’s ignoring the truth and the question must be, for Donald Trump, for Fox News, for other entities—”

“Listen I didn't bring you on to bash our network,” Hemmer interjected. “So with all due respect, why don't we just keep it on topic.” The anchor rejected Blake’s assertion that his arguments were relevant to the discussion and said his criticism “is not relevant to the conversation we're having,” telling him to “save it for later.”

The dust-up came as Trump has stepped up his attacks on the network he live-tweets on a near-daily basis, focusing on Fox News recently providing Democrats with more airtime.

Submit a question for the next debate We're hosting the sixth Democratic debate on Dec. 19, and we want your input. What would you ask the candidates? Tell us by Dec. 13.

Earlier this year, the conservative-leaning network began hosting televised town halls with those Democratic presidential candidates who were willing to appear. The town halls were ratings successes and became targets for Trump. The network also brought on former DNC interim Chairwoman Donna Brazile as a contributor, and has given airtime to Democratic lawmakers and DNC officials, as most news channels do.

Trump also has railed against the network’s bipartisan polling team when its findings bring bad news for his presidency and has begun to boost other right-leaning cable news channels.

Carlson, who is a big Trump booster, received blowback this week after saying during his broadcast Monday night that he is rooting for Russia in its ongoing conflict with Ukraine.

However, as social media began tearing into Carlson for the comment, he wrapped up his show by saying, “Of course I’m joking.”

