Trump Slaps Back at Tucker Carlson for Suggesting He’s Betrayed ‘America First’ for Israel: ‘I’m the One That Decides That’
Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson via Tucker on X
President Donald Trump hit back at MAGA media star Tucker Carlson on the suggestion that Trump is abandoning “America First” principles by supporting Israel’s military strikes on Iran.
In an interview with writer Michael Scherer of The Atlantic published on his 79th birthday, Trump said that, he’s “the one that developed ‘America First,'” and therefore he is “the one that decides” what it means, not Carlson.
Earlier this week, Israel launched the first of a series of attacks on Iranian military infrastructure. Tehran fired back at Israeli cities.
The US military was not directly involved in the strikes on Iran but did assist in shooting down Iranian missiles. The US also provided Israel with intelligence and arms.
Carlson criticized Trump in a newsletter, writing, “While the American military may not have physically perpetrated the assault, years of funding and sending weapons to Israel, which Donald Trump just bragged about on Truth Social, undeniably place the U.S. at the center of last night’s event.”
The former Fox News host added, “Politicians purporting to be America First can’t now credibly turn around and say they had nothing to do with it.”
Carlson doubled down on social media and blasted his former colleagues Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, and Rupert Murdoch as “warmongers.”
When asked directly about Carlson’s critique during an interview with Scherer, Trump dismissed the charge and defended his approach to foreign policy.
“Well, considering that I’m the one that developed ‘America First,’ and considering that the term wasn’t used until I came along, I think I’m the one that decides that,” Trump told Scherer. “For those people who say they want peace – you can’t have peace if Iran has a nuclear weapon. So for all of those wonderful people who don’t want to do anything about Iran having a nuclear weapon – that’s not peace.”
Trump later said, “Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb, very simple. Regardless – Israel or not Israel – Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb.”
