Tucker Carlson Says Trump Is Slave To Israel

Tucker Carlson has said Donald Trump is a “slave” to Israel over his decision to go to war in Iran.

The right-wing podcaster’s comments came as talks between the US and Tehran aimed at ending the conflict broke down without agreement.

Carlson, a former close ally of Trump, said the war was “the single biggest mistake that any American president in my lifetime has made”.

The US president, alongside Israel, launched military action against Iran on February 28.

Despite declaring victory on numerous occasions since then, the regime in Tehran remains in place, and has triggered a global economic crisis by effectively blockading the Strait of Hormuz.

On BBC 1′s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme, Carlson said: “The whole thing is a fantasy. The United States went to war in Iran in order to effect regime change, to throw out the people who run the country and collapse it, at the behest and then the demand of Israel, and that’s a demand the Israelis have made of the US government for decades.

“President Trump fell for it, did it, and I think he recognised immediately that it was a mistake and that it is very difficult to extricate yourself from a war like this once it has begun.

“I think the net effect, and I think the president himself has said this, is at best to leave the regime in place, give that regime control over commodities that flow through the Strait [of Hormuz], in effect to make Iran more powerful than it was on February 27.”

Asked by presenter Victoria Derbyshire what his relationship is like with Trump now, Carlson said: “I feel sorry for him, as I do for all slaves. He is not free in this moment at all to do what is best for himself or his country.

“He’s not free and we learned that yesterday when Donald Trump announced a ceasefire, clearly with relief, and made its terms public and then that ceasefire ended within two hours because Israel potentially violated the terms by attacking not just southern Lebanon but the city of Beirut.”

Derbyshire then asked him: “Are you saying he’s a slave to Benjamin Netanyahu?”

Carlson replied: “I don’t think it’s as simple as he’s under the control of Netanyahu, but you could summarise it that way and you wouldn’t be totally inaccurate.

“We know this because the single biggest mistake that Trump or any American president in my lifetime has made was going to war with Iran in an effort to change its regime.”

Elsewhere in the interview, Carlson also denied that he is an anti-semite.

He said: “Unlike the UK, we have a first amendment. So if I was an anti-semite I guess I would just say so at this point, I don’t know why I would lie about it.

“But I have opposed it in public consistently for my entire public life.”

Carlson added: “Doubtless there are anti-semites who don’t like Israel. I’m not an anti-semite, I don’t hate Israel.

“The Israeli government steered the United States into a war that hurts the United States and the world. I’m offended by that, I didn’t want it and I’m mad about it now.

“I have every right to feel that way, that does not make me an anti-semite.”

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