"He's Weak": Tucker Carlson on How Trump Failed America

Tucker Carlson spent years defending Donald Trump, campaigned for him, and spoke at the Republican National Convention. Then came February 28th, when the United States launched a full-scale war against Iran. Carlson, who had been arguing privately and publicly against exactly this outcome, broke with the president he helped re-elect. In this conversation with Mishal Husain, he explains why — and what he thinks it reveals about American democracy itself.

The Break

Carlson says he warned Trump repeatedly that Israel was pushing the US into a regime-change war against Iran under the cover of targeting nuclear facilities. "I flat out told him that a bunch of times," Carlson says. "And he's like, no, no, no, that's not true. But it was true. And it turned out to be provably true now."

When the war began, Carlson stopped speaking to Trump. He hasn't spoken to him since late February. The rupture was personal and painful. "I was in agony when I criticized Trump," he says. "I like Trump. I didn't want to." But he felt he had no choice. "Trump allowed the US government to be completely steered by this tiny little country in the Middle East, Israel, to our great detriment."