Tucker Carlson says Iran war is the end of Trump and MAGA has ‘no future’

Tucker Carlson believes the war in Iran will be “the end” of Donald Trump as a force in American politics, with the unpopular conflict continuing to weigh on the president’s popularity.

The firebrand conservative commentator, who this week formally broke from the Republican party, told Sky News he warned Trump at the start of the conflict it could damage his reputation.

“Of course it’s the end … and I said this to him in February,” Carlson said. “I said what he already knew. I mean Trump is smart and I didn’t tell Trump anything that he didn’t know and understand… He understands big picture politics as well.”

Asked what the conflict meant for the future of the MAGA movement itself, Carlson said that was “over” too.

“There is no future of the MAGA movement,” he said, assessing the war will ultimately kill it off.

An Economist/YouGov poll placed Trump’s approval rating at just 37 per cent this week. Nearly 60 per cent now disapprove of the president as the party braces for the November midterm elections. Just five per cent are yet undecided.

Inflation and rising energy prices linked to the war have tracked with a decline in support for the administration.

Carlson said he warned Trump that his legacy would be the Iran war, pointing to how the 2003 invasion of Iraq and the 2008 financial collapse hung over George W. Bush despite his various programmes since forgotten.

“What’s the Bush presidency about?” Carlson said. “It’s about the Iraq war and the financial collapse of 2008. Those are its defining facts.

“And that will be you. It doesn’t matter what else … you’re the Iran war guy if you do this. He knew that. Boy, did he know that. But he did it anyways.”

Earlier this week, Carlson distanced himself from the GOP itself, saying there was “no chance” he would support the party ahead of the midterms.

The pundit, who still commands a vast online following since his departure from Fox News in 2023, insisted he would not support the Democratic party either in comments on the podcast “Can’t Be Censored”.

Carlson supported Trump in 2024, but after the Iran war began, he apologized for backing Trump and “misleading people”, saying it wasn’t intentional.

He’s repeatedly criticized the war as being at the behest of Israel at the expense of Americans, and attacked the party for failing to represent its own voters, citizens and nation.

“They are making decisions on the basis of other criteria, what’s best for this company, what’s best for Israel, what’s best for our donors,” Carlson told the podcast earlier this week.

“That’s not just, like, they are off in the wrong direction, like, that is unacceptable, that’s treasonous, it’s immoral, it can’t continue.

“I’ve been a consistent defender for 35 years of the Republican Party, I mean very consistent defender, but there’s no defending this. So no, I’m out. And if I’m out, then I think a lot of other people are out.”