US Politics
Tucker Carlson’s son leaves JD Vance’s team amid his dad’s growing feud with Trump, report says
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Tucker Carlson’s son has reportedly left his job at the Trump administration, amid the ongoing feud between the president and the conservative commentator over the Iran war.
Buckley Carlson had served as Vice President JD Vance’s deputy press secretary. He is leaving to start a political consulting firm, Politico reports.
Carlson’s exit plans predate the Iran war.
“Buckley first informed the VP’s office of his intention to depart in December, but stayed on for several months to ensure a smooth transition,” a Vance official told Politico’s Playbook newsletter.
The Independent has contacted Buckley Carlson for comment.
Buckley Carlson previously served as communications director for Rep. Jim Banks of Indiana, and is leaving the administration to start his own “political consulting firm,” Politico reports.
Tucker Carlson, who often backed Trump and Vance during his time as a leading Fox News anchor, has clashed with the president in recent weeks over the Iran war.
More recently, Carlson took issue with the president’s profane Easter Sunday threats to obliterate much of Iranian society, accusing Trump of playing God.
“Who do you think you are?” Carlson said on his show. “You’re tweeting out the f-word on Easter morning?”
“That’s not your job,” he continued. “This is not a theocracy. We don’t go to war with other theocracies to find out which theocracy is more effective. We are not a theocracy. And God willing, we never will be because theocracies corrupt the religion.”
The president soon fired back, name-checking Carlson and others who have criticized the war.
“They think it is wonderful for Iran, the Number One State Sponsor of Terror, to have a Nuclear Weapon — Because they have one thing in common, Low IQs,” Trump wrote on Truth Social last Friday.
The feud didn’t end there though.
Carlson soon began selling baseball caps with the phrase “LOW IQ.”
The podcaster also went on Newsmax and compared Trump to a slave.
“I’ve always liked Trump and still feel sorry for him, as I do for all slaves,” Carlson said. “He’s hemmed in by other forces. He can’t make his own decisions. It’s awful to watch.”
Carlson’s estrangement from the Republican party has been building for months.
Last year, he caused an uproar in- and outside the GOP for holding a friendly interview with white nationalist Nick Fuentes.
Carlson brushed off critics, taking aim at the Republican Party instead, alleging it had sold out Trump’s populist promises in service of wealthy donors.
“On the Republican Party, which is almost to the point where it’s just useless, and I’m going to have to oppose it because I hate them too much, because they’re such betrayers,” Carlson told podcaster Shawn Ryan.
The Iran war has provoked criticism in some corners of the conservative media, given Trump’s campaign promises to avoid unnecessary foreign wars.