Donald Trump’s decision to enter into war with Iran was “connected to a series of seemingly disconnected events, all of which revolve around violence,” Tucker Carlson told The New York Times in an interview published Saturday. He added that he believes the president “more a hostage” to the desires of a “constellation of influencers.”
“This was not a normal decision-making process,” Carlson said in the lengthy and wide-ranging interview. “And my strong impression was that Trump was more a hostage than a sovereign decision-maker in this.”
That group includes Ruper Murdoch, as well as Mark Levin and Sean Hannity. The group were “pushing the president to do this and telling him that you will be a figure out of history, you will save and redeem Israel or something.” The Times noted Hannity and Levin denied Carlson’s claim, while Murdoch did not respond to requests for comment.
Elsewhere in the interview Carlson insisted he’s been speaking to Trump about the push from some to enter into a war with Iran for a decade, “because there was enormous pressure on him, as there has been on many presidents, to regime-change Iran.”
“We know, based on our experience with a much smaller country, Iraq, that that’s a tall order, it doesn’t necessarily lead to a place you want to go, and it’s not good for the United States,” he continued. “Trump knew that.”
Carlson said he was “baffled” and “very upset” by the decision to start the war, a matter which he cites as his reason for expressing regret over his support of Trump’s 2024 campaign. “Not because I have allegiance to Iran, but because I thought it would be terrible for the United States, as it has been, worse even than I imagined. But I could see exactly where this was going.”
Carlson says he spoke with the president “a lot” last June.
“He embarked on this effort to take out Iran’s nuclear program, which is really just the opening salvo in a regime-change effort. He knew that. I told him that,” Carlson said. “Charlie Kirk told him that. We did it, we got out, and then it became clear in January that we were moving toward this thing that we’re in now, and I was absolutely panicked about it.”
The president also “made no effort” to convince Carlson to change his own position on the war.
The United States and Israel launched strikes against Iran in February that killed former supreme leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, military and intelligence officers, and over 100 people (most of whom were children) at an elementary school. The two sides continue to argue over the Strait of Hormuz as fuel prices in the United States are soaring.
