Fox News host Tucker Carlson denounced Kevin McCarthy for sounding like "an MSNBC contributor" in private tapes in which the Republican Congressman supported the Silicon Valley censorship of his GOP colleagues.

       In a segment titled "The Left’s Meltdown" over Elon Musk’s Twitter takeover, Carlson said establishment Democratic and Republican party figures were united in their support of censorship for political ends.

       “Kevin McCarthy of California told his good friend Liz Cheney that he hopes the social media companies would censor more conservative Republicans in Congress,” Mr Carlson said.

       “Donald Trump, the sitting president, had already been silenced by those companies. But McCarthy wanted the tech oligarchs to do more. To force disobedient lawmakers off the internet.”

       Mr Carlson’s monologue came after recordings of private conversations leaked to The New York Times on Tuesday revealed McCarthy told Republican leaders on 10 January that colleagues Mo Brooks and Matt Gaetz were "putting people in jeopardy" by tweeting so recklessly.

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       Mr McCarthy expressed a wish that the big social media companies would ban more Republicans following the de-personing of then-president Donald Trump from almost all mainstream tech platforms, according to the Times.

       “Can’t they take their Twitter accounts away, too?” Mr McCarthy asked, according to reporting of the leaked tapes.

       Mr Carlson said that unless the GOP got its "act together", Mr McCarthy or "one of his liberal allies like Elise Stefanik" would likely be Speaker of the House if the DNC loses control of the House in the midterm elections.

       “And that would mean we will have a Republican Congress led by a puppet of the Democratic Party,” Mr Carlson said.

       “Those are the tape-recorded words of Kevin McCarthy, a man who in private turns out sounds like an MSNBC contributor,” he added.

       "And you wouldn’t know any of this unless it was leaked, and you can start to see why the people in charge oppose transparency and fervently support censorship, on both sides.

       "Because the more you know about them, the less satisfied you’re likely to become with their leadership."