There’s a small but vocal contingent of people who call themselves conservatives but are calling out President Donald Trump for his support of Israel in its strikes against Iran. Chief among them is Tucker Carlson, who posted this on X on Friday:
The real divide isn’t between people who support Israel and people who support Iran or the Palestinians. The real divide is between those who casually encourage violence, and those who seek to prevent it — between warmongers and peacemakers. Who are the warmongers? They would include anyone who’s calling Donald Trump today to demand air strikes and other direct US military involvement in a war with Iran. On that list: Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Rupert Murdoch, Ike Perlmutter and Miriam Adelson. At some point they will all have to answer for this, but you should know their names now.
As my PJ Media colleague Scott Pinsker put it, “Carlson’s enemies are all ‘warmongers,’ and he, of course, is a ‘peacemaker.’ (So brave and noble.) He just so happens to be a ‘peacemaker’ who strongly objects to the dismantlement of Iran’s nuclear WMD program.”
Side note: plenty of genuine conservatives are blasting Carlson in the comments as a “fraud.” Good on them.
Trump is firing back at those who say that supporting Israel doesn’t necessarily serve American interests and is thus not “America First.” He explained it all to The Atlantic’s Michael Scherer, who asked the president a question about the views of people like Carlson.
“Well, considering that I’m the one that developed ‘America First,’ and considering that the term wasn’t used until I came along, I think I’m the one that decides that,” Trump told Scherer. “For those people who say they want peace — you can’t have peace if Iran has a nuclear weapon. So for all of those wonderful people who don’t want to do anything about Iran having a nuclear weapon—that’s not peace.”
Related: President Trump Speaks Out About Israeli Air Strikes on Iran
Scherer continued:
Trump told me he had not heard Carlson’s comments, and then dismissed them. He argued that the U.S. has a vital national-security interest in preventing Iran from getting a nuclear weapon. For months before Israel’s attacks this week, Trump had privately and publicly urged Israel to give time for negotiations with Iran and not launch any attacks.
“Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb, very simple. Regardless—Israel or not Israel—Iran cannot have a nuclear bomb,” Trump told me.
“Indeed,” commented my friend and Hot Air colleague Ed Morrissey. “Does anyone doubt that the ‘Great Satan’ would be off the Iranian hit list if they had a nuke?”
President Trump understands the threat of a nuclear Iran, as does anybody who is paying attention to what’s going on in the world. He’s also aware of the value of the U.S. relationship with Israel.
Our G7 allies agree:
BREAKING 🔴🔴
— Open Source Intel (@Osint613) June 16, 2025
G7 affirms Israel’s right to self-defense and declares Iran must never obtain a nuclear weapon.
Very good. pic.twitter.com/2CvZT2DbiU
A rogue nation with nukes that has its eyes set on destroying Western civilization is worth targeting. If supporting actions that protect America from a dire threat isn’t “America First,” I don’t know what is.
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