Trump rips former ally Tucker Carlson as MAGA divide over Iran war grows

US President Donald Trump takes multiple swipes at his former ally, right-wing pundit Tucker Carlson, lambasting his position on Iran.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

US President Donald Trump took aim at one of his former allies on Monday, lambasting right-wing commentator Tucker Carlson over his criticism of Trump’s handling of the war between Israel and Iran.

Carlson, once a vocal promoter of Trump who used his audience on US broadcaster Fox News prior to his firing in 2023, had continued to back Trump via his independent podcast, with over 16 million followers on X and 4 million on YouTube.

However, following Israel’s preemptive strikes on Iran’s nuclear and ballistic missile programs last Friday morning, Carlson signaled his growing frustration with Trump in his newsletter, accusing him of being “complicit” in Israel’s war on Iran.

On Monday night, Carlson’s X account featured a 75-minute interview with Steve Bannon, a conservative political strategist who served as an advisor to Trump in 2017, during his first term in office.

In the interview, Bannon railed against American involvement in the Israel-Iran war, warning it could derail Trump’s agenda and foil efforts now underway in the US to deport illegal aliens.

“Former Trump chief strategist Steve Bannon on how the president’s enemies are working to destroy MAGA with the war on Iran,” reads the title of the interview on Carlson’s X account.

Trump pushed back on Carlson’s recent criticism and mocked him over his past denials of Iran’s nuclear ambitions.

When asked by a reporter at the Group of Seven (G7) summit in Alberta, Canada, on Monday to respond to Carlson’s claims that he is “complicit in the war” between Israel and Iran, Trump fired back that Carlson should “get a television network.”

“I don’t know what Tucker Carlson is saying. Let him go get a television network and say it so that people listen.”

Shortly afterwards, Trump ripped Carlson again, this time via his Truth Social account, calling the right-wing pundit “kooky.”

“Somebody please explain to kooky Tucker Carlson that, ‘IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!’”

“AMERICA FIRST means many GREAT things, including the fact that, IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”

Earlier this month, Carlson published a lengthy post to his X account lambasting Fox News host Mark Levin over his support for strikes on Iran’s nuclear program, denying Iran’s nuclear ambitions, while seemingly also justifying Iran’s efforts to acquire atomic weapons.

“It’s a lie. In fact, there is zero credible intelligence that suggests Iran is anywhere near building a bomb, or has plans to. None. Anyone who claims otherwise is ignorant or dishonest. If the US government knew Iran was weeks from possessing a nuclear weapon, we’d be at war already,” Carlson wrote.

“Iran knows this, which is why they aren’t building one. Iran also knows it’s unwise to give up its weapons program entirely. Muammar Gaddafi tried that and wound up sodomized with a bayonet. As soon as Gaddafi disarmed, NATO killed him. Iran’s leaders saw that happen. They learned the obvious lesson.”