© Youtube screenshot Provocative regret was expressed on the broadcast.
A conservative, Ukraine-skeptic broadcaster, Tucker Carlson, has revealed that he is “haunted” by his former backing of US President Donald Trump. He has provided an unusually candid apology and called on individuals to “assess their own principles,” as reported by The Guardian.
Carlson shared this during a dialogue with his sibling, Buckley Carlson, a previous speechwriter for Trump, on The Tucker Carlson Show on Monday. Their discussion centered on how conventional conservative standards have been marginalized within the Republican Party, which now operates under the president’s sway.
“This will undoubtedly linger with us for quite some time — it certainly will for me,” Tucker Carlson admitted. “And I want to express my regret for having misled individuals. It was unintentional — that’s the extent of what I can say.”
Though Carlson labeled Trump “the most revolting individual on the planet” in 1999, he stood out as one of the initial voices urging that he be considered seriously prior to his triumph in the 2016 election.
Subsequently, during Trump’s pursuit of a second term in 2024, Carlson offered him unwavering support throughout the campaign, even appearing at a campaign gathering just five days before the election.
However, the broadcaster is now at odds with the president concerning US backing for Israel and the conflict against Iran that commenced in late February. Carlson has described Trump’s pronouncements on Iran as “offensive on all fronts” and holds himself partially responsible for his resurgence to power.
“You, me, and all those who rallied behind him — you crafted his speeches, I advocated for him — we all share in this,” Carlson stated. “Simply declaring, ‘I’ve had a change of heart,’ or ‘This is deplorable — I’m resigning,’ is inadequate.”
He further remarked: “On a modest yet tangible scale, you, I, and countless others like us are the catalysts for the present situation.”
Carlson’s pronouncements surfaced not long after Trump issued sharp criticism of him and other right-leaning media figures tied to the Make America Great Again movement.
Trump recently posted on social media that Carlson is “an individual with limited intelligence who is consistently defeated and excessively praised,” while also threatening to unveil a “catalog of commendable, objectionable, and passable” MAGA adherents.
Carlson’s shift in stance follows years of open endorsement for Trump.
During the 2016 electoral race, while employed by Fox News, he commented on the candidate’s “peculiar magnetism.”
By 2020, Carlson had openly embraced the “America First” strategy and even disseminated Trump’s unfounded assertions about a “manipulated” election favoring Joe Biden.
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In 2024, he backed the MAGA movement, campaigned with Trump in Arizona, and hailed him as a “national figure” at the Republican convention.
Nevertheless, during the 2023 Dominion Voting Systems v. Fox News lawsuit, evidence surfaced indicating that Carlson privately deemed Trump’s initial presidency a “catastrophe.”
“We are nearing a point where we largely ignore Trump on a nightly basis. I eagerly anticipate it,” he penned. “I genuinely loathe him… I can no longer endure it.”
Following the settlement, which burdened Fox News with $787 million, Carlson was dismissed from the network.
In April of this year, he communicated to Newsmax: “I’ve invariably liked Trump, and I still sympathize with him — akin to all captives. He’s ensnared by external influences and lacks the autonomy to make his own judgments.”
Subsequently, on his podcast, Carlson even questioned whether Trump was the “antichrist” after he attacked Pope Leo XIV.
“He’s ridiculing Jesus. He’s ridiculing Christianity,” Carlson asserted. “Could he potentially be the antichrist? Who knows? But that’s the inference I draw.”
In his most recent statements, Carlson once more censured the war with Iran, emphasizing that Trump “lacks a definitive strategy, was not passionate about this conflict, grasped the dangers, and understood that it contradicted his pledges over the past decade — yet he pursued it regardless.”
Carlson is notorious for spreading fabricated narratives regarding exaggerated Ukrainian losses in the war initiated by Russia, extending an invitation to Donald Trump for an interview where he propagated his spurious theories, and consistently disparaging Ukraine and, notably, Zelensky, whom he branded as “Biden’s puppet.” Consequently, Tucker Carlson has become a favorite among Russian propagandists – his Ukraine-skeptic remarks have been dissected into quotations.
Furthermore, he orchestrated a sequence of contentious dialogues, including one with Russian dictator Vladimir Putin. Throughout the two-hour exchange, the former Fox News anchor, despite promising “challenging inquiries,” never interrogated Putin about the widespread brutalities committed by the Russian military, the maltreatment of Ukrainian civilians in occupied regions, the ICC warrant, or the kidnapping of Ukrainian children. Instead, Putin offered a series of declarations in his interview with Carlson that conflict with reality and factual data.