Accusations that President Donald Trump’s support for Israel was “anathema to the ‘America First’ way” were met with an assertion at odds with Tucker Carlson.
Even before Israel launched Operation Rising Lion against Iran with a focus on the Islamist regime’s nuclear weapons development, opposition to U.S. involvement in another Middle East conflict stirred disputes on social media. Commentator and longtime supporter Tucker Carlson was among the leading voices arguing that support for Israel contradicted the America First agenda.
The remark was reported by journalist Michael Scherer of The Atlantic after speaking with the president by phone Saturday. Trump was prompted to respond to critics opposed to America’s support for Israel which was deemed “an anathema to the ‘America First’ way of doing things,” to which he said, “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.”
“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,” added the commander-in-chief.
Taking to Truth Social Sunday, the president reaffirmed that peace was the outcome he sought and wrote, “Iran and Israel should make a deal, and will make a deal, just like I got India and Pakistan to make, in that case by using TRADE with the United States to bring reason, cohesion, and sanity into the talks with two excellent leaders who were able to quickly make a decision and STOP!”
Trump went on to tout negotiations between Serbia and Kosovo as well as Egypt and Ethiopia before stating, “There is peace, at least for now, because of my intervention, and it will stay that way! Likewise, we will have PEACE, soon, between Israel and Iran!”
The administration maintained that it had no involvement in the strikes against Iran as Carlson’s Friday newsletter called the president “complicit in the act of war” over Israel’s actions and contended, “What happens next will define Donald Trump’s presidency.”
Meanwhile, the former Fox News host continued to draw the ire of supporters and advisers to the president, including syndicated radio host Mark Levin, who was appointed as a member of Trump’s Homeland Security Advisory Council in April.
After Carlson had named him alongside Miriam Adelson, Sean Hannity, Rupert Murdoch, and Ike Perlmutter as “warmongers” demanding direct “US military involvement in a war with Iran,” Levin responded, “More insanity from Chatsworth Qatarlson.”
“Hey thug. I never said to the President that American forces should bomb Iran. The leaker who is feeding you is a liar. As are you,” continued Levin. “So why do you keep lying and smearing people? Now, Sean and others. You’re a reckless and deceitful propagandist, and that’s the best I can say. You promote antisemitism and conspiracy nuts. You slobber all over some of the most evil people on earth. It doesn’t occur to you that your supposed sources are disloyal to POTUS. You and they are undermining him, and you just declared your break from the President. You don’t give a damn about our armed forces. Instead, you give aid and comfort to our enemies with your act.”
Native of Brooklyn, NY, Kevin Haggerty is a graduate of Hunter College where he studied Cultural Anthropology and Geography. An avid reader and truth seeker, he currently resides in Texas with his wife and their dog and, when he isn't researching current events and their impacts, you'll find him spending time with friends and family or working on his next novel.
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