The Fox News host Tucker Carlson on Wednesday praised the economic plans of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democratic contender for the presidency in 2020.

"Yesterday, Warren released what she called her 'Plan for Economic Patriotism.' Amazingly, that's pretty much what it is: economic patriotism," Carlson said in the opening monologue to his Wednesday-night show.

"She sounds like Donald Trump at his best," he added.

Warren's economic plan involves a focus on American manufacturing, signaling a break with recent Democratic presidents.

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In a shock opener to his Wednesday-night show, the Fox News host Tucker Carlson took time out from attacking liberals to offer uncharacteristic praise for one of the leading Democratic contenders for the presidency in 2020: Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts.

"Yesterday, Warren released what she called her 'Plan for Economic Patriotism,'" Carlson said in the opening monologue to his show, "Tucker Carlson Tonight."

"Amazingly, that's pretty much what it is: economic patriotism," Carlson said, adding that her policies made "obvious sense."

"She says the US government should buy American products when it can. And of course it should," Carlson said. "She says we need more workplace apprenticeship programs because four-year-college degrees aren't right for everyone. Well, that's true. She says that taxpayers ought to benefit from the research and development that they pay for."

Here's what Warren says in her plan, published Tuesday:

"'American' companies show only one real loyalty: to the short-term interests of their shareholders, a third of whom are foreign investors. If they can close up an American factory and ship jobs overseas to save a nickel, that's exactly what they will do — abandoning loyal American workers and hollowing out American cities along the way."

Carlson also noted approvingly that "there is not a word" about identity politics, gun control, or climate change in the document.

His characterization of Warren's plan as having no mention of climate change appeared misleading, however, because a central part of her economic policies involves a massive boost for federal government funding to expand green manufacturing and green energy.

Read more: Elizabeth Warren is running for president in 2020. Here's everything we know about the candidate and how she stacks up against the competition.

While running for president in 2020. Warren has slammed Fox News as a "hate for profit" organization. AP Photo/John Minchillo

Carlson even said Warren's embrace of American products echoed President Donald Trump's economic policies.

"She sounds like Donald Trump at his best," the Fox News host said, though he tempered the praise describing her as also a "race-hustling, gun-grabbing abortion extremist."

Trump's "America First" economic nationalism — involving a combination of tariffs and aggressive anti-immigrant policies — helped him seize traditionally Democratic Midwestern states in the 2016 presidential election.

Warren's ideas appear to show her moving away from free-trade policies embraced by recent Democratic presidents.

A Trump supporter with an "America First" sign at a rally in San Ysidro, California, in December. Agence France-Presse/Sandy Huffaker via Getty Images

It's likely that Warren may not welcome Carlson's praise, though, as the Democrat has been a fierce critic of Fox News.

In May she rejected an invitation to take part in a Fox News town-hall debate, describing the network as a "hate for profit" organization.

"I won't ask millions of Democratic primary voters to tune in to an outlet that profits from racism and hate in order to see our candidates — especially when Fox will make even more money adding our valuable audience to their ratings numbers," she said at the time.