A choir of centrist-aligned voices within conservative media have sought to fire back at Tucker Carlson after a segment from his show about the self-interested and disloyal nature of the American ruling class caught on and inspired conversation throughout right-leaning circles.

In the segment, Tucker touched upon failed Presidential candidate Mitt Romney, bringing him up as an example of the corrupt and untrustworthy political class lacking in any sense of loyalty or obligation to the broader American people. The accusation was particularly applicable towards the Utah Senator, who made millions of dollars in his corporate career through firing American workers and outsourcing their jobs to India and China.

Tucker went on to take the ruling class to task for a deeply flawed definition of “prosperity” pervading through American political life, in which the importation of cheap consumer goods and GDP growth were the sole arbiters of national health, with mass drug addiction and declining life expectancy a tertiary concern at best.

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The viral monologue became the topic of debate and discussion, and several prominent voices sought to defend the plutocratic elites Tucker targeted. Among them included National Review’s David French, Ben Shapiro, and the New York Times’ Bret Stephens.

The hand-wringing of anti-populist “conservatives” seeking to counter Tucker’s set of points took a predictable tone. According to them, the American people who choose to reboot the system with a wild card in the form of Donald Trump’s shock victory in 2016 are whiners. They’re ungrateful of all the incredible gifts elites have supposedly provided them- drug addiction, economic decline, declining familial prospects for young Americans, and lowered wages be damned.

If you think that “government” should take any role in improving the fundamental life prospects of Americans, you’re unappreciative, according to the apologists for the plutocratic establishment Tucker thoroughly took to task.