The Escalating Feud Between Trump, Tucker Carlson, Ted Cruz

As the active conflict between Israel and Iran rages on, and with the latter issuing new grave warnings to the United States, divides are starting to show across the political spectrum as to what U.S. President Donald Trump should do next. Trump’s openness to a possible U.S. involvement has led to schisms within the Republican community and beyond, and has notably impacted his allyship with a certain former Fox News host.

Tucker Carlson—who was fired from Fox News in 2023 and has since gone on to host his own podcast, The Tucker Carlson Show—has shared a friendly relationship with Trump over the years. Trump sat down with Carlson for an exclusive interview during the 2024 election, and they even hit the campaign trail together.

But on June 13, Carlson made it clear that he opposed any potential U.S. military intervention in the Israel-Iran conflict, and has since gone on to make several statements affirming his stance. Trump responded, and the disagreement soon turned personal, playing out in the public forum.

While Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Wednesday that Carlson had since called to “apologize” over his “strong” words, the two still appear to have opposing views over any U.S. involvement in the Israel-Iran conflict.

In Carlson’s initial social media post about the Middle East conflict, shared on June 13, he argued that the “real divide” is between “those who casually encourage violence, and those who seek to prevent it—between warmongers and peacemakers.” He went on to ask: “Who are the warmongers? They would include anyone who’s calling Donald Trump today to demand air strikes and other direct U.S. military involvement in a war with Iran.”

The podcast personality listed several Republicans and high-profile businesspeople and media persons, including Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Rupert Murdoch, Ike Perlmutter, and Miriam Adelson. “At some point they will all have to answer for this, but you should know their names now,” Carlson signed off.

Trump was dismissive of Carlson’s viewpoint when reporters asked him to comment during the 2025 G7 Summit on Monday.

“I don’t know what Tucker Carlson is saying. Let him go get a television network and say it so that people listen,” the President said as the disagreement took a personal turn.

Later that same day, Trump took to Truth Social to take another jab at Carlson.

“Somebody please explain to kooky Tucker Carlson that IRAN CANNOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON,” he urged.

Read More: Iran’s Supreme Leader Calls Out Trump, Threatens ‘Irreparable Damage’ If U.S. Joins Israeli Conflict

But the feud seemed to have thawed a little by Wednesday, as Trump told reporters in the Oval Office that “Tucker is a nice guy” and said the podcast host had called him to make amends. “He called and apologized the other day because he thought he said things that were a little bit too strong, and I appreciated that,” Trump said.

Trump went on to say that he doesn’t think Carlson wants Iran to have a nuclear weapon and that, by default, may mean a fight of some sort will have to take place.

“They [critics] don’t want them [Iran] to have nuclear, but then they say, ‘Well, we don’t want to fight.’ Well, you’re going to have to make a choice, because it’s possible that you are going to have to fight for them not to have nuclear,” Trump said. “It’s interesting, because I did ask Tucker, I said, ‘Well, are you OK with nuclear weapons being in the hands of Iran?’ And he sort of didn’t like that… And I said, ‘If it’s OK with you, then you and I do have a difference. But it’s really not OK with him. Therefore, you may have to fight, and maybe it will end, maybe it will end very quickly.”

Meanwhile, other Republican commentators and lawmakers—those who have typically supported Trump’s “America First” policies—have backed Carlson’s stance, including Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene from Georgia.

Greene said that Carlson is one of her “favorite people” and he “unapologetically believes the same things” she does.

“Foreign wars/intervention/regime change put America last, kill innocent people, are making us broke, and will ultimately lead to our destruction,” Greene said on Monday. “That’s not kooky. That’s what millions of Americans voted for. It’s what we believe is America First.”

Read More: The 5 Groups Hoping to Sway Trump on Iran

Carlson doubled down on his stance on fellow right-wing commentator Steve Bannon’s podcast, The War Room, on Monday, in which he warned that involvement in the Middle East could “weaken” the U.S. “I think we’re going to see the end of the American empire,” he said.

Bannon, who served as the White House’s chief strategist during the first few months of Trump’s first term, has also called for the U.S. to stay out of conflict in the Middle East.

But Carlson has broken away from other Republicans over the Israel-Iran argument.

Notably, he and Texas Sen. Ted Cruz rowed over the Senator’s knowledge of Iran during an interview on his podcast, released in full on Wednesday.

“How could you not know that?” Carlson asked in disbelief, after Cruz was unable to answer when asked to list the population of Iran (something Carlson identified as around 92 million).

After Cruz said that he does not “sit around and memorize population tables,” Carlson replied: “Well, it’s kind of relevant, because you’re calling for the overthrow of the government.”

The two continued to argue over about their respective knowledge of the Middle Eastern country, the alleged Iranian Trump assassination plot, and the level of potential U.S. involvement in the current conflict and how that might look.

Read More: Iran, Trump, and the Third Assassination Plot

“We’re carrying out military strikes today,” Cruz said. Carlson then pointed out that Cruz and other U.S. officials had stated that the strikes were being carried out by Israel, making Cruz’s “we” a curious choice of wording. Cruz clarified: “With our help. I said ‘we.’ Israel is leading, but we’re supporting them.”