Former President Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson are publicly clashing over potential U.S. military involvement in the Israel-Iran conflict.
Their disagreement has spread throughout the MAGA movement, creating unusual divides among typically unified supporters, which was highlighted late Tuesday with an explosive shouting match between Carlson and Sen. Ted Cruz, R-T.X.
Carlson confronted Senator Ted Cruz about his support for military action against Iran.
“How many people live in Iran, by the way?” Carlson asked.
“I don’t know the population at all… I don’t know the population,” Cruz replied.
“You don’t know the population in the country you seek to topple?” Carlson asked. He then said that Iran currently has an estimated population of 92 million. “How could you not know that?”
“I don’t sit around memorizing population tables,” Cruz responded.
“Well, it’s kind of relevant, because you’re calling for the overthrow of the government,” Carlson shot back.
It quickly devolved into a shouting match between the two. Take a look —
Ted Cruz on Iran. Full interview tomorrow. pic.twitter.com/hJNwAHAnxZ
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) June 18, 2025
Tucker Carlson has publicly accused Trump of being “complicit in the act of war” following Israel’s missile strikes against Iranian nuclear facilities. Carlson warned that what happens next “will define Donald Trump’s presidency.”
Trump himself responded directly on Truth Social, writing: “Somebody please explain to kooky Tucker Carlson that IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!”
Steve Bannon, Trump’s former chief strategist, has sided with Carlson. “This is exactly the same pitch as the Iraq war,” Bannon said on Carlson’s show on X.
Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, R-G.A., also defended Carlson on social media Tuesday: “Americans want cheap gas, groceries, bills, and housing. They want affordable insurance, safe communities, and good education for their children. They want a government that works on these issues,” Greene posted. “Not going into another foreign war.”
Senator Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., leads the faction supporting military action.
Graham called for Trump to be “all in,” whether that meant providing bombs to Israel, flying joint operations with the Israeli military, or even replacing Iranian leadership.
“Four presidents have promised to make sure Iran doesn’t have a nuclear weapon. It will be Donald J. Trump who delivers on that promise very soon,” Graham said Tuesday.
Fox News host Mark Levin wrote in a New York Post op-ed: “There’s nothing new or good about isolationism, which, in a word, is appeasement. The isolationists tell us that to oppose this is to be a warmonger and anti-MAGA. No, they’re not MAGA.”
According to multiple reports, Trump is considering deploying America’s deadly B-2 bomber fleet to help destroy Iran’s nuclear enrichment facilities, which are buried underground.
The Israeli Air Force reportedly lacks the proper munitions to effectively penetrate and destroy facilities that heavily bunkered — but it is something that the American Air Force could manage.
In a recent Truth Social post, Trump wrote: “AMERICA FIRST means many GREAT things, including the fact that, IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON. MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!!!”
Vice President J.D. Vance expressed support for whatever Trump decides in a Tuesday social media post.
“He may decide he needs to take further action to end Iranian enrichment. That decision ultimately belongs to the president. And of course, people are right to be worried about foreign entanglement after the last 25 years of idiotic foreign policy,” Vance wrote. “But I believe the president has earned some trust on this issue.”
Charlie Kirk, founder of Turning Point USA, defended Trump on Fox News Monday night.
“He is not an isolationist. He is willing to use violent and precise force against our enemies…if and when necessary,” Kirk told Fox News star Jesse Waters. “President Trump understands his base extraordinarily well. He knows that his base does not want another Iraq, does not want Libya, does not want a civil war or bedlam where the United States is left carrying the bag.”