US Politics
Long-time Trump ally and MAGA stalwart Tucker Carlson says Iran strikes are ‘disgusting and evil’: report
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Tucker Carlson has described Donald Trump’s airstrikes in Iran as “disgusting and evil,” according to a new report.
The former Fox News host and close ally of the president made the remarks to ABC White House correspondent Jonathan Karl, who said he had reached out to several “prominent” Trump supporters to get their reaction to Saturday’s military operations.
“I just heard back from Tucker Carlson,” Karl said. “Tucker Carlson, of course, spoke at the President’s convention in 2024 and he’s been a frequent visitor at the White House. In fact, he was at the White House just last week.
“He told me the president’s decision is, quote, absolutely disgusting and evil.”
The Independent has attempted to contact Carlson for confirmation on the remarks, as he has not yet spoken publicly about the strikes in Iran, which were carried out early Saturday alongside Israeli military forces.
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However, he has previously been highly critical of U.S. foreign intervention in the Middle East and has been extremely vocal in his criticism of the Israeli government, describing escalating conflicts with Iran as a “reckless” effort to serve the interests of Tel Aviv.
Following the previous U.S. strike on Iran in June last year, Carlson wrote in his newsletter that Trump was “complicit” in such efforts by Israel and warned that getting further involved would be “suicidal.”
Shortly after, Carlson went viral for an interview with Texas Senator Ted Cruz in which he accused him of not knowing enough about Iran to comment on the situation. Cruz had called the overthrow of the Iranian government but was unable to answer basic questions about the nation such as its population.
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Carlson also later received backlash for a separate interview with Iranian President Masoud Pezeshkian, with critics alleging that he provided a platform for regime propaganda without sufficient pushback.
Karl suggested that the strong reaction from Carlson, as a MAGA stalwart, was significant and that the action in Iran was “a momentous and potentially defining, or maybe redefining, move for President Trump.”
Many critics of Trump’s actions in Iran have pointed to the fact that he campaigned largely on his “America First” policy, which included the pledge to end so-called “Forever Wars” such as Afghanistan and Iraq.
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The president vowed to not involve the U.S. further in foreign conflict, seemingly at complete odds with Saturday’s strikes and the potential for a major conflict going forward.
Carlson has been critical of Trump at other times in the past, once referring to him as “a demonic force, a destroyer.”
“I’ve been thinking about this every day for four years,” Carlson told a Fox News producer on November 13 2020 in a text message that emerged as part of the high-profile defamation lawsuit between the broadcaster and Dominion Voting Systems.
“He’s only good at destroying.”
