Right-wing pundit Tucker Carlson suggested that the US should contemplate nuking Iran if allegations are true that the theocratic regime has been conspiring to assassinate President Trump, during a fiery two-hour debate with Sen. Ted Cruz.
Carlson scoffed at Cruz (R-Texas) for confirming to him that Tehran has conspired to kill Trump and argued in disbelief that if those accusations are real, the US needs to respond with military force.
“This just seems like a huge headline and you’re acting like everyone knows this. I didn’t know that,” responded Carlson after having needled the Texas Republican for not knowing how many people live in Iran.
Iran-linked assassination plots against the president were widely reported last year during the 2024 election — including a murder-for-hire scheme in retaliation for Trump’s killing of Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Major Gen. Qassem Soleimani in 2020 that was thwarted by the feds.
“I’ve never heard evidence that there are hit men in the United States trying to kill Trump right now. We should have a nationwide dragnet on this and we should attack Iran immediately,” Carlson added.
“Why aren’t we at war with them? Why don’t we just nuke Tehran if they’re trying to murder our president? There’s nothing you could do that would be worse for the United States than murdering Trump.”
The former primetime Fox News anchor sounded deeply skeptical that Iran actually tried to kill Trump and took steps beyond a mock video of the regime striking the real estate mogul on a golf course.
Cruz told Carlson that someone had been arrested in an assassination scheme against Trump, but the conservative personality was indignant and grilled him about why he wouldn’t back nuking Iran.
Last year, it emerged that the feds foiled a potential plot to kill Trump. The scheme allegedly involved the hiring of Asif Merchant, a Pakistani man who claimed to have dealt with an Iranian handler who pushed him to hire a hit man, according to a proffer agreement released last year.
Carlson has been one of the leading MAGA world voices demanding that the Trump administration stay out of the Israel-Iran conflict that broke out last week.
Shortly after Israel’s preemptive strikes on Iran, Carlson contended that the US was “complicit in the act of war” and argued, “politicians purporting to be America First can’t now credibly turn around and say they had nothing to do with it.” Trump later brushed off his criticisms, calling Carlson “kooky.”
Cruz, a former debate champion who has been one of the most outspoken supporters of Israel, agreed to an interview with Carlson that quickly devolved into an epic battle of ideas over the Middle East.
After filming the interview on Tuesday, the “Tucker Carlson Network” quickly mocked Cruz by posting a preview clip of their exchange in which the Texas senator didn’t know the exact population of Iran, which Carlson harped on and used to belittle his credibility on the subject.
But the full interview revealed that early on, Carlson didn’t know key details about the conflict either, such as the annual aid the US gives to Israel.
Cruz has since mounted a full-blown social media offensive against Carlson over their epic faceoff.
Both men had impugned the other’s motives at times in the fiery showdown. Carlson had grilled Cruz about his ties to the American Israel Public Affairs Committee (AIPAC), which later prompted the senator to express bewilderment at his fixation with Israel controlling US foreign policy.
“By the way, Tucker, it’s a very weird thing, the obsession with Israel. We’re talking about foreign countries. You’re not talking about Chinese,” Cruz fired back at one point. “You’re asking, ‘Why are the Jews controlling our foreign policy?’”
“You called me a sleazy feline,” the Lone Star State Republican vented at another point.
A visibly frustrated Carlson was incensed and furiously sniped at Cruz, “You called me an antisemite.”
“Be less snarky,” Cruz gasped at a different point in the exchange after being bombarded with Carlson’s flippancy.
Despite the heated war of words, Cruz and Carlson sprinkled in some words of affirmation for one another throughout the two-hour clash, concluding that they agreed on about 80% of the issues.
Cruz recounted Carlson’s anti-lockdown monologues during the thick of the COVID-19 pandemic and likened them to a “crack injection” — while carefully caveating that he doesn’t know what crack is like. Carlson also noted that he backed Cruz in his last election.
But the senator sought to impress upon Carlson that he had lurched too far in the isolationist direction after concluding he had wrongfully backed the 2003 US invasion of Iraq. Cruz, who harked back to his opposition to the Iraq War, described himself as an “isolationist hawk” who has charted out a middle ground between neocons and complete doves.
Early on in their rhetorical showdown, Carlson seemed aghast that Cruz would back regime change in Iran and asked whether there are any examples of that going well, given the overseas quagmires that have ensnared the US in the past.
“Sure, defeating the Soviet Union and the Soviet Union collapsing, winning the Cold War,” Cruz replied as they sat below a portrait of Ronald Reagan giving his famous Berlin Wall speech. “That was the most consequential step for US national security interests of our lifetimes.”
Carlson later argued that the US is too “focused on being our adversaries abroad” and suggested that life in America has deteriorated since winning the Cold War.
“What is victory worth if our country becomes what it is now, and maybe we’re spending a little too much time focused abroad and not enough time focused on the people sleeping outside Union Station,” Carlson bemoaned.
“Why don’t we do a regime change here?” he quipped at another point.
During their long-winded verbal bout, Cruz revealed that his religious convictions color his perspective on Israel, but stressed that his staunch support for the Jewish state is due to his belief that it is important for US interests.
“As a Christian, growing up in Sunday school, I was taught from the Bible, those who bless Israel will be blessed. And those who curse Israel will be cursed. And from my perspective, I wanna be on the blessing side of things,” Cruz explained, eliciting Carlson’s signature look of bewilderment.
“We’re commanded to support Israel.”
Carlson, a proud Christian, pressed Cruz on that and suggested that the Israel in the Bible described in Genesis is different than the modern-day country run by Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Trump, who has not publicly decided whether or not to join Israel’s war efforts on Iran, has stood by his backing of Israel’s attacks on Tehran and rejected the MAGA world critics like Carlson.
“My supporters are for me. Tucker is a nice guy. He called and apologized the other day,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office Wednesday.
