It was 11 days ago that President Trump and Elon Musk had a very public falling out over the Big Beautiful Bill. Things got pretty ugly before eventually calming down. And since then Musk has said he regrets some of his posts on X and Trump seems to be over it, at least publicly.
There’s another spat taking place this week which has been escalating as Israel and Iran trade missile barrages. President Trump and Tucker Carlson are now trading barbs. Here’s Trump earlier today when he was asked about some of Carlson’s recent comments.
Reporter: “Do you have any response to Tucker Carlson criticizing you and saying you that were complicit in the war?”
Trump: “I don’t know what Tucker Carlson is saying. Let him go get a television network and say it so that people listen.” pic.twitter.com/NO9r6F0whc
— TheBlaze (@theblaze) June 16, 2025
And then this afternoon, Trump took the gloves off.
Trump is officially done with kooky Tucker 🤣 pic.twitter.com/goySY4Rdlt
— Avi Yemini (@OzraeliAvi) June 16, 2025
The backstory here is that Tucker Carlson has been very upset about Israel’s attack on Iran and has said Trump was “complicit” in that attack. Here’s what Tucker wrote three days ago in his newsletter.
“This Could Be the Final Newsletter Before All-Out War,” Carlson’s newsletter declared before running down Israel’s strikes, which hit Iran’s top nuclear facility and multiple military bases.
“On Thursday, Iran’s president threatened to ‘destroy’ any country that eliminates his government’s nuclear facilities. Now, the world will learn what that looks like,” the newsletter reads.”…
“While the American military may not have physically perpetrated the assault, years of funding and sending weapons to Israel, which Donald Trump just bragged about on Truth Social, undeniably place the U.S. at the center of last night’s events. Washington knew these attacks would happen. They aided Israel in carrying them out. Politicians purporting to be America First can’t now credibly turn around and say they had nothing to do with it. Our country is in deep,” the newsletter reads.
Carlson then called the president “complicit.”
Trump clearly didn’t like the suggestion that he wasn’t really America First. Yesterday he directly rebutted the idea that peace is possible if Iran has nuclear weapons.
Trump said he wasn’t familiar with Carlson’s critique but contended that, as a pioneer of the modern America First movement, he’s the final arbiter of what it means to put the US first.
“Well, considering that I’m the one that developed ‘America First,’ and considering that the term wasn’t used until I came along, I think I’m the one that decides that,” Trump told The Atlantic in response.
“For those people who say they want peace—you can’t have peace if Iran has a nuclear weapon. So for all of those wonderful people who don’t want to do anything about Iran having a nuclear weapon—that’s not peace.”
And that’s where Trump’s comments abotu “kooky Tucker Carlson” come from. Trump doesn’t believe an Iran with nukes is good for America or the world and Carlson believes the attacks by Israel on Iran could lead to some kind of massive war.
The battle over the topic goes back to earlier this month when Carlson unleashed an attack on Mark Levin who he framed as a neocon chickenhawk. He also denied Iran had any nuclear weapons program aimed at building a bomb.
Mark Levin was at the White House today, lobbying for war with Iran. To be clear, Levin has no plans to fight in this or any other war. He’s demanding that American troops do it. We need to stop Iran from building nuclear weapons, he and likeminded ideologues in Washington are now arguing. They’re just weeks away.
If this sounds familiar, it’s because the same people have been making the same claim since at least the 1990s. 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.
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.
The whole thing is here:
Mark Levin was at the White House today, lobbying for war with Iran. To be clear, Levin has no plans to fight in this or any other war. He’s demanding that American troops do it. We need to stop Iran from building nuclear weapons, he and likeminded ideologues in Washington are…
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) June 5, 2025
I’m not sure where this is headed but it’s likely that Israel isn’t done with Iran and it’s still unclear if the US could get involved directly in the conflict. President Trump issued this warning today.
“Iran should have signed the “deal” I told them to sign. What a shame, and waste of human life. Simply stated, IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. I said it over and over again! Everyone should immediately evacuate Tehran!” –President Donald J. Trump pic.twitter.com/oniUSgsMWA
— The White House (@WhiteHouse) June 16, 2025
Tucker Carlson isn’t the only MAGA friendly person who is upset by this. Steve Bannon recently appeared on Carlson’s show to discuss his concerns with it. And I noticed today that Comic Dave Smith has completely turned on Trump and is now calling for his impeachment.
Here is Dave Smith apologizing for voting for Trump and calling for his impeachment
The Woke Right is the fusion of an intel op with useful idiots
— Shaun Maguire (@shaunmmaguire) June 16, 2025
I don’t think Tucker will go that far, but what exactly is his endgame here. If Musk couldn’t push Trump (and he owns X and has a lot more visibility) I don’t think Carlson has much chance.
This is the downside of seeking Trump’s attention. You might get it.
