Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson’s relationship has gone back and forth over the years. They were nominally allies during Trump’s first term, when Carlson was still on Fox News, but their relationship frayed around the time of Carlson’s departure from Fox News, and when emails surfaced in which Carlson declared that he “hates” Trump, with “a passion.”
The two later made up, with Carlson even speaking at the 2024 Republican convention. But in Trump’s second term, they have sometimes clashed, especially with Carlson’s strong opposition to the Iran war. Carlson has long been even more willing to engage in conspiracy thinking than even Trump, including many statements that critics say have veered towards antisemitism.
Per the New York Post, Trump appears to have formally kicked Carlson out of the MAGA movement.
In a lengthy conversation just now, President Trump hit back at Tucker Carlson who called the Iran war “absolutely disgusting and evil.”
“Tucker has lost his way,” Trump told me. “I knew that a long time ago, and he’s not MAGA. MAGA is saving our country. MAGA is making our…
— Jonathan Karl (@jonkarl) March 5, 2026
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“Tucker has lost his way,” Trump told ABC News’ Jonathan Karl on Thursday. “I knew that a long time ago, and he’s not MAGA. MAGA is saving our country. MAGA is making our country great again. MAGA is America first, and Tucker is none of those things. And Tucker is really not smart enough to understand that.”
1. ME IN JANUARY: Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon are not pro-Trump and are in fact seeking to supplant him and reshape the party in their own image.
2. TRUMP TODAY: https://t.co/OCC5rYx18S pic.twitter.com/lF3w9I3ygx— Yair Rosenberg (@Yair_Rosenberg) March 5, 2026
Earlier in the week, Trump had posted an article to Truth Social, which had been critical of a coterie of “ex-MAGA influencers,” who include Carlson, former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene and racist podcaster Nick Fuentes.
In a lengthy phone interview, President Trump marveled at the success of the military operation against Iran and expressed no concern about what comes next.
“I hope you are impressed,” he said to me. “How do you like the performance? I mean, Venezuela is obvious. This might be…
— Jonathan Karl (@jonkarl) March 5, 2026
In the interview with ABC’s Karl, Trump also bragged about what he called the early success of the operation.
“I hope you are impressed,” Trump told the journalist. “How do you like the performance? I mean, Venezuela is obvious. This might be even better. How do you like the performance?”
Photo courtesy of the Political Tribune media library.
