Tucker Carlson delivered a profanity-laced rebuke of Donald Trump as his criticism of the administration’s handling of the Iran conflict continues to deepen tensions with the White House.
The former Fox News host has emerged as one of the most prominent conservative voices challenging Trump’s foreign policy, with his objections intensifying after the strikes on Tehran.
Speaking on the Jack Neel Podcast, Carlson accused Trump of trying to project toughness through repeated threats against Iran as the war dragged on.
“He tried to posture his way out of it,” Carlson said of the president, referring to the aftermath of the initial killing of Ayatollah Khomeini, which he said failed to bring about Iran’s surrender.
“And after like the 400th Truth Social, they reached the same conclusion that everyone on the globe reached, which is this guy’s not strong, he’s weak,” Carlson said.
“Strong people don’t brag about how strong they are,” he added. “They just punch you in the face and end the conversation.”
Carlson went on to liken Trump to a boxer who talks and taunts but ultimately does not inspire fear when making threats, before delivering a sharply worded message.
“Shut up, b****. I don’t take you seriously. I’m not being mean but like, come on,” Carlson said, directing the remark at Trump.
Tucker Carlson ordered Donald Trump to ‘shut up, b****’ over his ’empty threats’ on the Iran War
The former Fox News anchor has been one of the most public critics from the right of Trump’s foreign policy, coming to a head with the strikes on Tehran
Despite his complaints about the war, Carlson maintains that he still likes Trump as a person.
‘I don’t hate Trump. I’ve always liked Trump. I just am a shallow man. I like vulgar jokes. I’m easily entertained. I laugh easily like other people. I like almost everybody. He’s hardly the most evil person I like,’ Carlson said.
‘I just grieve for what his decisions in the Middle East have done to the country.’
Carlson has long supported Trump and even spoke at his infamous Madison Square Garden rally in support of his return to the White House in 2024.
However, Carlson appears to have defected from Trump in the months since the war began.
In an April 15 clip from the Tucker Carlson Show, which is the former Fox host’s popular independent podcast, Carlson became biblical in his criticism.
‘Here’s a leader who’s mocking the gods of his ancestors, mocking the god of gods, and exalting himself above them,’ Carlson said in the clip.
‘Could this be the Antichrist?’ he then said. ‘Well, who knows?’
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Despite his complaints about the war, Carlson maintains that he still likes Trump as a person
Carlson has long supported Trump and even spoke at his infamous Madison Square Garden rally in support of his return to the White House in 2024
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Has Tucker Carlson gone too far in publicly attacking Trump, or is he speaking uncomfortable truths?
Carlson even issued a groveling on-air apology to his fans for ever having supported Trump
‘I do think it’s, like, a moment to wrestle with our own consciences,’ Carlson said on his podcast.
‘We’ll be tormented by it for a long time,’ he lamented, his brow deeply furrowed. ‘I will be and I want to say I’m sorry for misleading people and it was not intentional. That’s all I’ll say.’
Amid the mudslinging, Carlson’s son Buckley, 29, stepped down as deputy press secretary to JD Vance, although the White House said the move had long been planned.
Trump lashed out at Carlson and several other right wing critics in a Truth Social post.
‘I know why Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens, and Alex Jones have all been fighting me for years,’ Trump wrote on Truth Social recently. ‘Because they have one thing in common, Low IQs.’
Carlson’s stark abandonment of Trump has poured kerosene on the fire already engulfing right-wing circles.
Conservative media titan Jeremy Boreing, co-founder of the Daily Wire, told the Daily Mail: ‘We already know what Tucker thinks of Trump. He told his colleagues he hated him “passionately,” then endorsed him anyway and helped staff the administration. He isn’t sorry. He’s a guy who made a bet that didn’t pay off and now wants his regret to be the story.’
That is a reference to messages Carlson sent to a Fox News colleague in 2021, saying he ‘hated’ Trump and that there ‘isn’t really an upside’ to him.
The Daily Mail has reached out to the White House for comment.
