Tucker Carlson recently criticized Donald Trump for boasting about his popularity in Israel. The former Fox News host aired a video clip in which Trump confidently claimed he had a 99% approval rating in Israel, humorously suggesting he might consider running for prime minister.
Carlson, aged 57, did not hold back in his response, condemning Trump for focusing on his foreign popularity. He pointedly remarked on Trump’s domestic approval rating, saying, “Unmentioned is the fact that he’s at 35 percent in the United States.” Carlson emphasized that these are the people Trump vowed to represent and defend in both international and domestic matters.
Further, Carlson suggested that Trump’s fascination with his Israeli backing might be negatively affecting his standing at home. He implied that the focus on foreign approval could be contributing to a dip in Trump’s domestic approval ratings.
‘Unmentioned is the fact that he’s 35 percent in the United States,’ Carlson said. ‘The people he pledged to represent, to fight for, whose side he promised to take in every conflict, foreign and domestic.’
Carlson claimed it was Israel pulling Trump’s domestic approval ratings down.
‘The same country that got us into the war,’ he continued. Trump made the call to attack Iran alongside Israel in February following years of ‘America first’ policies.
Carlson – a former Trump supporter – has since made his opposition known.
‘The last year has not made America great again. The last year has diminished American power at a rate some of us thought was unimaginable,’ he said Wednesday, calling the perceived pivot a ‘cold-hearted globalist betrayal.’
Visibly furious, Tucker Carlson played a clip of the president on the Wednesday installment of his podcast
‘So maybe after I do this, I’ll go to Israel, run for prime minister,’ Trump told reporters in Maryland before attending the US Coast Guard Academy graduation in Connecticut
The jab was a quote from a 2020 speech Trump gave criticizing the Obama administration for ‘sen[ding] our youth to fight in these crazy, endless wars.’
‘That’s exactly what it was,’ Carlson said after playing the clip. ‘One cold-hearted globalist betrayal after another.’
‘Charlie Kirk was very upset about this. He was articulate in explaining why he was upset about it, and he sincerely believed that Trump would change it. Trump and people like Thomas Massie,’ Carlson continued.
Massie is an outgoing Kentucky Republican who lost a congressional reelection bid this week following repeated critiques of Israel.Â
Another Republican, Israel supporter Ed Gallrein, won the primary instead, with Trump’s endorsement.
‘It’s hard to imagine what [Kirk] would think about the remarks that Donald Trump – the same man that he voted for and campaigned for, went to pray for in the church the morning of the inauguration – what he would have thought of the Donald Trump on display yesterday,’ Carlson said.
Rabbi Pesach Wolicki, a supporter of Israel who worked with Kirk during his final college tour, told Semafor that the activist had been frustrated with the amount of Israel-related questions he encountered on college campuses before his death.
A Houthi soldier stands guard in front of a digital billboard featuring Trump and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, during a pro-Islamic procession in Yemen on Monday. The two countries began strikes on Iran in February, alienating conservatives like Carlson
‘He just wanted to talk about America,’ Wolicki continued at the time.
Former Fox News host Megyn Kelly, former Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Alex Jones have all split with the president as well due to his decision to go to war.
When asked about Carlson’s recent comments, a White House spokesperson said: ‘What matters most to the American people is having a Commander-in-Chief who takes decisive action to eliminate threats and keep them safe, which is exactly what President Trump did with the successful Operation Epic Fury.Â
‘President Trump campaigned proudly on his promise to deny the Iranian regime the ability to develop a nuclear weapon, which is what this noble operation accomplishes.
‘The president does not make these incredibly important national security decisions based on fluid opinion polls or podcast hosts, but on the best interest of the American people.’