Key Points – Tucker Carlson has publicly blasted President Donald Trump over Israel’s recent air assault on Iran, accusing Trump of being “complicit in the act of war” due to long-standing US military support for Israel.
-In his June 13th newsletter, Carlson argued that “America First” politicians cannot disavow involvement in the attack.
-Trump, in a subsequent interview with The Atlantic, dismissed Carlson’s criticism, asserting his ownership of the “America First” slogan and arguing that “you can’t have peace if Iran has a nuclear weapon.”
-This public disagreement highlights a significant rift over foreign policy within the American right.
Tucker Carlson vs. Donald Trump
Tucker Carlson has been identified as a conservative, but he’s had something of a unique political evolution over the years, as well as changing views on how he feels about Donald Trump.
In the 1990s and early 2000s, he worked for The Weekly Standard, a magazine much associated with the Republican Party’s neoconservative wing, which was ascendant during the presidency of George W. Bush.
During the Bush Administration, Carlson was one of the occupants of the conservative seat on CNN’s Crossfire, leading to Jon Stewart’s famous “you’re hurting America” speech in 2004. Carlson later soured on the Iraq War, and following a stint working for MSNBC, he flirted in 2008 with running for president with the Libertarian Party.
Carlson joined Fox News during the Obama Administration, becoming one of the few individuals to host shows on all three major cable news networks, and eventually ascended to Fox’s 8 p.m. host. Carlson rose along with the Trump Administration a decade ago, with Carlson’s views going in a direction that some critics described as white nationalist.
Carlson was also less of a partisan Republican than some on Fox, most notably his colleague Sean Hannity. Carlson was suddenly fired from Fox in early 2023, following the network’s nine-figure settlement in the Dominion Voting Systems lawsuit.
The lawsuit exposed numerous embarrassing texts and other messages from Carlson, from shots at his bosses to what The Guardian called “a penchant for demeaning women and minorities,” to a declaration that he hated Trump “passionately.” The two later appeared to make up, with Trump appearing on Carlson’s show, and Carlson sitting with Trump at the Republican convention in 2024.
The X Era
Now hosting a version of his show on X, Carlson has gotten into a bitter disagreement with Trump over Israel’s attack on Iran.
In his morning newsletter on June 13, which had the headline “This Could Be the Final Newsletter Before All-Out War,” Carlson accused Trump of being “complicit in the act of war.” The administration has said different things, at different times, about exactly how involved it was in Israel’s attack on Iran’s nuclear facilities, which reportedly killed several military leaders and nuclear scientists.
“While the American military may not have physically perpetrated the assault, years of funding and sending weapons to Israel, which Donald Trump just bragged about on Truth Social, undeniably place the U.S. at the center of last night’s event,” Carlson added.
“Politicians purporting to be America First can’t now credibly turn around and say they had nothing to do with it.” In social media posts, Carlson criticized several of his former Fox colleagues, including Hannity, for encouraging the Iran attack.
“What happens next will define Donald Trump’s presidency,” Carlson added in the newsletter.
Trump Responds
The president responded to Carlson’s criticisms in an interview with The Atlantic that was published over the weekend.
“Well, considering that I’m the one that developed ‘America First,’ and considering that the term wasn’t used until I came along, I think I’m the one that decides that,” Trump told Atlantic reporter Michael Scherer in a phone interview.
The slogan “America First” has a long history in America that long predates Trump, from World War II-era nativists to the 1990s presidential campaigns of Pat Buchanan.
“For those people who say they want peace, you can’t have peace if Iran has a nuclear weapon. So for all of those wonderful people who don’t want to do anything about Iran having a nuclear weapon—that’s not peace,” the president said in the interview.
Trump also told The Atlantic that he had not been aware of Carlson’s comments, but that he “dismissed” them.
The Atlantic also reported that the president stepped away from their conversation to take a call from Russian President Vladimir Putin, who he later said had called to convey birthday wishes, as well as to discuss both the situations in Ukraine and the Middle East.
About the Author: Stephen Silver
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
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doyle-2
June 16, 2025 at 10:50 pm
Carlson is totally correct and trump is the big biggie fool.
What did trump tell Carlson in 2018. Perhaps trump, now in his very truly advanced years, has completely and totally forgotten.
In july 2018, trump told tucker in an interview, ‘those are…..very aggressive people, may get really aggressive, and congratulations, you’re in world war three.’
Today, the people led by Benjamin netanyahu are very aggressive people, very, very aggressive and terribly bloodthirsty, most likely to open the gates of Megiddo today and bring about the dreaded apocalypse.
Yet trump is now totally behind them. What gives really.
Trump is a fool now, having failed to deliver on his pre-election declaration he would end the Ukraine war in a day.
That war is still rolling and frolicking today, thanks to his growing stupidity AND glaring inability.
Trump is a failure, a clear cut failure, and he better listen more to voices of people like tucker Carlson.
Remember the deep state.
America is a country under the controlling thumb of deep state.