On June 18, Tucker Carlson went on the Can’t Be Censored podcast, openly declaring war on the Republican Party and the Trump administration.
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He announced he would not support Republicans in the November midterms, stating flatly, “I would not support the Republican Party, there’s no chance.” Carlson questioned how any American could back a party “not loyal to the United States” and insisted it was “not possible to vote for people like that.”
He admitted his long record of defending the GOP, but concluded there was “no defending this because it’s immoral.” Then came the harshest blow: he is “out,” and he believes many others will follow.
Carlson centered his attack on the Trump administration’s military campaign in Iran. He accused the administration and the entire GOP of putting foreign interests, especially Israel and big donors, above American citizens. He called this “exactly the opposite” of what the party should stand for. Most damning, he labeled these actions “immoral” and outright “treasonous,” declaring, “You can’t have a government that calls itself a democratic republic…that is representing interests outside the country.”
He claimed true America First had been ditched for what benefits Israel and donors instead of American families.
Carlson’s break with President Donald J. Trump hardly comes as a surprise.
In April, Trump publicly denounced him on Truth Social and in a New York Post interview. The president called Carlson a “low-IQ person” with “absolutely no idea what’s going on,” a “broken man” fired from Fox News who never finished college. Trump labeled him and others “nut jobs” and “losers” pushing the opposite of MAGA by opposing strong action against Iran, the world’s top sponsor of terror.
Yet Carlson still carries weight, disturbingly with Vice President JD Vance.
Carlson mentored Vance from the beginning. In the 2022 Ohio Senate race, he gave Vance more airtime on his top-rated Fox News show than any other candidate, praising him as the authentic voice of working-class Americans fighting endless wars and elites. Carlson personally called Trump to vouch for Vance and secure the decisive endorsement. Vance thanked him publicly that night.
Into 2024, Carlson pushed hard for Vance as Trump’s running mate. That relationship helped turn Vance from author of Hillbilly Elegy into U.S. senator and then vice president.
On June 16, just two days before Carlson’s podcast screed, Vance appeared on SiriusXM’s The Megyn Kelly Show. Under any circumstances, this was unsettling, as she was among those who Trump castigated on Truth Social. Vance listed Carlson as a key part of the coalition that elected Trump and himself, right alongside Joe Rogan and Mark Levin.
Vance said the party must welcome disagreement and compared Carlson’s disappointment to other critics. He insisted you cannot quit politics just because you dislike one decision.
That soft approach has proven itself shameful and unacceptable.
Carlson has not offered loyal criticism. He has declared himself an enemy of the GOP, the Trump administration, and the Make America Great Again agenda voters endorsed. Vance should man up immediately. He ought to publicly, forcefully, and unequivocally denounce Carlson by name. No careful words. No appeals to big-tent unity. Straight condemnation of a man who calls the president’s necessary defense of American security “treasonous.”
Silence or equivocation at this point downgrades Vance’s standing among loyal Republicans who expect backbone from their leaders.
Carlson’s rage did not start with Iran.
For years he has nursed an obsessive focus on Israel laced with ugly conspiracy theories. Watchdog groups documented this pattern long before 2026. He interviewed figures who portrayed Israel as hostile to Christianity, blowing up churches and targeting Christians.
Carlson repeatedly claimed Israel manipulates U.S. policy through donors and lobbies like AIPAC. He revived old USS Liberty attack conspiracies. Even more disgustingly, he suggested Israel withheld warnings about 9/11. Perhaps most reprehensibly, he pushed ideas that Israel orchestrates wars to flood the West with refugees while protecting itself as an ethnostate.
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As if all that were not enough, Carlson has railed against Christian Zionists as suffering from a “brain virus” and platformed a Holocaust denier. There is much more to add, but far from enough time.
What can be said is that Carlson does not have mere policy disagreements. He oozes odious, destructive politics that deserve total rebuke. Fortunately, Republicans reject his poison. Israel enjoys strong support inside the GOP. Gallup polling from February found 69 percent of Republicans view Israel favorably. Seventy percent sympathize more with Israelis than Palestinians. Republicans remain the most pro-Israel group in America by a wide margin.
Key donors feel even stronger.
They proved it in the 2026 Kentucky GOP primary against Rep. Thomas Massie, who Carlson endorsed and adores. Pro-Israel groups and major Republican contributors spent a record amount, over $32 million, to defeat a candidate who showboated his animus toward Israel. AIPAC’s political arm, the Republican Jewish Coalition, Paul Singer, Miriam Adelson, and others poured in millions. They made it crystal clear: insufficient support for Israel is political suicide in the Republican Party.
In this razor-tight midterm year, going Massie’s route is insane. A Forbes/HarrisX poll from May 20 to June 7 showed Democrats leading Republicans 46-45 on the generic ballot. Republicans are far better positioned than they were in 2018. Every lost big donor and alienated voter could flip control of Congress.
Carlson courts as much Republican infighting as possible.
During his June 18 podcast interview, he claimed that “every day I feel sorry for JD Vance” because “this president has completely betrayed his own voters,” placing Vance in an “impossible situation” as he cannot easily resign.
When asked for advice to Vance, Carlson stated: “I would march into the Oval Office and say to Trump, ‘Knock it off. This is ridiculous. This is the opposite of what we ran on. What are you doing? And you either stop doing it, or I’m going to give a press conference every single day from my house and explain to the world what you’re doing and why. I’m going to attack you. I don’t want to, but I’m going to.’”
Given Vance’s extensive history with Carlson, his ongoing silence screams from the mountaintop.
Now is the time for choosing. Vance’s future viability for any high office as a Republican pivots on this moment. Loyal Republicans are watching. The base that twice elected Trump demands leaders who stand with the president confronting terror sponsors, not with a viper who calls that fight treasonous and obsesses over conspiracies regarding Israel.
The Trump administration acts to protect American lives and interests. This comes after years of Democrat weakness under Biden-Harris, which Carlson ironically opposed. Defecating on what Trump, his administration, and the Republican Party have done is a disgrace of the highest order.
Vance should speak now.
Denounce Tucker Carlson without hesitation. Draw the line clearly: attacks on the President Trump’s security decisions, conspiracy rhetoric against Israel, and open calls to abandon the party have no place in the Republican coalition. Anything less betrays the voters who lifted both men to power and risks handing Democrats victory in November.
This is not the moment for weakness. It is the moment for decisive, righteous action. Loyal Republicans expect nothing less.
Whose side is Vice President Vance on?
Dr. Joseph Ford Cotto is the creator, host, and producer of News Sight, delivering sharp insights on the key events that shape our lives. He publishes Dr. Cotto’s Digest, sharing how business and the economy really impact us all. During the 2024 presidential race, he developed the Five-Point Forecast, which accurately predicted Donald Trump’s national victory and correctly called every swing state. Cotto holds a doctorate in business administration and is a Lean Six Sigma Certified Black Belt.
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