The Tucker Carlson Show
The Tucker Carlson Show

Impeachment Looms Over Trump After the Pentagon’s Leaked Nuclear Plans. Joe Kent on What Comes Next.

August 28, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

The Unthinkable Is Being Discussed at the Pentagon

In August 2026, the United States is waging two major wars—against Iran in the Middle East and against Russia via a proxy campaign in Ukraine—while its military leadership has formally debated using nuclear weapons offensively for the first time in 80 years. Tucker Carlson opens the episode with a blunt claim: slide decks inside the Pentagon have explicitly presented the option of launching tactical nuclear strikes against targets inside Iran. His guest, Joe Kent, former head of the Counter-Terrorism Center under Trump, confirms that such discussions have taken place and argues that the logic of America's current strategic position makes a first-use nuclear strike increasingly plausible.

How the United States Arrived at Nuclear Consideration

The central mechanism driving toward nuclear escalation, according to both Carlson and Kent, is a mismatch between American war aims and available military means. The Trump administration initially demanded "total surrender" from Iran and regime change in Tehran. That objective, Kent explains, cannot be achieved through sanctions or the limited air campaign the U.S. has conducted. A ground invasion of Iran is not feasible—the country is too large, the terrain too difficult, and there is no political will for another occupation and insurgency.

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What you'll learn

  • 1 (00:04) **The Unthinkable Becomes Thinkable** - Tucker Carlson opens by describing the human tendency to deny catastrophe as it unfolds, then asks whether this denial is blinding Americans to the mounting risk of nuclear war.
  • 2 (06:20) **Trump’s Public Nuclear Threats** - Carlson asserts that President Trump has repeatedly threatened the "total destruction" of Iran, which can only be achieved with nuclear weapons.
  • 3 (07:22) **The Russia-Ukraine War Is Accelerating** - Carlson explains that the war in Russia is intensifying, with NATO and the U.S. hitting civilian and energy targets deep inside Russia.
  • 4 (10:55) **Historical Hubris: Napoleon and Hitler** - Carlson draws a parallel between current Western leaders and Napoleon and Hitler, both of whom believed they could conquer Russia and were destroyed.
  • 5 (12:41) **A Russian Official’s Warning** - Carlson shares a clip from an interview with Leonid Slutsky, a Russian political leader, who says Russia will only use nuclear weapons if NATO sends nukes to Ukraine.
  • 6 (14:47) **The U.S. Is Running the War Against Russia** - Carlson argues that the U.S. is in charge of the war against Russia, not Ukraine, and that the goal is to separate Russia from Ukraine to prevent it from becoming a superpower.
  • 7 (18:28) **Weakness Makes Nations Dangerous** - Carlson explains that the U.S., having failed to defeat Iran conventionally, is now cornered and considering nuclear options.

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Guests on this episode

Show Notes

How close are we to nuclear war? According to Joe Kent, a lot closer than you think.
(00:00) Monologue

(23:19) Are We Heading Toward Nuclear War?

(36:24) Israel's Escalation Into Lebanon and America's Response

(51:39) Ukraine Drafting Women Into the War

(56:19) What Was the CIA Director Doing in Moscow?


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