Tucker Carlson says he is ‘tormented’ by his past support for Trump

Media

“I want to say I’m sorry for misleading people,” said the conservative commentator, who has broken sharply with the president over the war with Iran.

FILE — Tucker Carlson speaks with former President Donald Trump on the first day of the Republican National Convention at the Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, July 15, 2024. Kenny Holston/The New York Times

By Tim Balk, New York Times Service

April 22, 2026 | 4:26 PM

2 minutes to read

Tucker Carlson, who was often at Donald Trump’s side during the 2024 presidential campaign, is now expressing remorse for that support, saying he will long be “tormented” by his role helping Trump return to the White House.

Carlson, a titan of conservative media who has broken sharply with Trump over the war with Iran, acknowledged that he was part of the “reason this is happening right now,” referring to the conflict.

“It’s not enough to say, well, I changed my mind — or like, oh, this is bad, I’m out,” Carlson said in an episode of his podcast released Monday.

“It’s a moment to wrestle with our own consciences,” Carlson said on the podcast, speaking with his brother, Buckley, a former speechwriter for Trump. “We’ll be tormented by it for a long time. I will be. And I want to say I’m sorry for misleading people.”

Carlson, a former Fox News host and a longtime opponent of American foreign interventions, has feuded with Trump and his allies for weeks over the war, which most Americans oppose, according to opinion polls.

He appeared particularly appalled by a threat Trump made to Iran on social media on Easter Sunday that the country would be “living in hell” if it did not open the Strait of Hormuz, the vital shipping route that has been clogged during the war. After the post, Carlson urged White House officials to stand up to the president, saying that Trump’s behavior was “evil.”

Trump fired back at Carlson and other conservative critics of the war in a lengthy Truth Social post two weeks ago, describing them as “Fools” and suggesting that Carlson should “see a good psychiatrist.” In the post, Trump said that Carlson, who was dismissed by Fox News in 2023, had “never been the same” after he left the network.

Asked for comment on Carlson’s remarks, the White House pointed to Trump’s social media commentary.

On Friday, Trump continued to lob insults at Carlson on social media, writing that “Tucker is a Low IQ person — Always easy to beat, and highly overrated.”

One of the president’s allies, the far-right activist Laura Loomer, wrote on social media Monday that Carlson was “trying to hand our country over to the Democrats.”

Carlson, a right-wing brawler prone to spreading conspiratorial views, was once Fox News’ most popular prime-time host, and his TV program was all but mandatory for many conservatives during Trump’s first term.

But he was ousted by Fox News after it agreed to pay $787.5 million to resolve a lawsuit filed by Dominion Voting Systems over the network’s promotion of 2020 election misinformation. The case exposed instances in which Carlson denigrated colleagues and privately attacked Trump. In a text from Jan. 4, 2021, that the case surfaced, Carlson wrote of Trump, “I hate him passionately.”

By 2024, Carlson had reemerged as a popular podcaster and smoothed out tensions with Trump. Carlson was among those who lobbied Trump to choose JD Vance as his running mate.

When Trump made a dramatic appearance at the Republican National Convention in July 2024, days after he was shot in the ear at a rally in Butler, Pennsylvaniaa, Carlson was the first person to greet him.

Cameras later captured the two chuckling together in Trump’s box at the convention in Milwaukee. From the stage of the convention, Carlson described Trump as “the funniest person I have ever met in my life.”

“He’s a wonderful person,” Carlson said. “I know him well.”

This article originally appeared in The New York Times.

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