President Trump has directly addressed the likes of Tucker Carlson, and by extension, other “conservatives” who claim Operation Epic Fury is not in the interest of the United States or its people, and that Israel is driving the president’s foreign policy strategy in the Middle East.
"Tucker has lost his way,” Trump said, according to Jonathan Karl, ABC News' Chief Washington Correspondent. “I knew that a long time ago, and he's not MAGA. MAGA is saving our country. MAGA is making our country great again. MAGA is America first, and Tucker is none of those things. And Tucker is really not smart enough to understand that."
In a lengthy conversation just now, President Trump hit back at Tucker Carlson who called the Iran war “absolutely disgusting and evil.”
— Jonathan Karl (@jonkarl) March 5, 2026
"Tucker has lost his way,” Trump told me. “I knew that a long time ago, and he's not MAGA. MAGA is saving our country. MAGA is making our…
Since his departure from Fox News, Carlson has embraced the freedom to indulge his favorite conspiracy theories. Not the kind many conservatives gravitate toward, those questioning whether the government truly acts in the public’s best interest or whether the political class is hiding information, but a different breed entirely.
Carlson now tends to promote and explore theories that obscure rather than clarify major issues, often serving as a vehicle for his own brand of propaganda, one that conveniently aligns with the interests of those who send him money like Qatar.
In recent years, Carlson has made a spectacle of attacking Israel, not over specific policy disagreements in the war in Gaza, but under the sweeping claim that he simply opposes foreign policy decisions that lead to people dying. It’s a worldview that is naïve at best, reducing complex geopolitical realities to the moral instincts of a college freshman. In the process, Carlson has helped push a more isolationist wing of the MAGA movement toward the belief that no conflict is worth American involvement unless it is purely defensive, while dismissing the idea that decisive action can sometimes prevent far greater bloodshed later.
Carlson has also leaned heavily into conspiratorial claims. He has accused President Trump of covering up the Epstein files, despite the fact that the documents released so far have not revealed the sweeping criminal revelations many predicted.
At the same time, he has toured the Middle East promoting the claim that Muslims treat Christians better than Jews do in Israel, a sweeping assertion that quickly collapses under even basic scrutiny.
The Trump administration has firmly rejected claims that Operation Epic Fury was driven by Israeli pressure, arguing instead that the confrontation with Iran had long been inevitable. For nearly five decades, Iran has been a central threat to U.S. interests in the region, funding terrorist groups, destabilizing neighboring countries, and openly chanting “Death to America.”
Marco Rubio to reporters: "Let me explain to you guys this in simple English, okay? Iran is run by LUNATICS, religious fanatic lunatics. They have an ambition to have nuclear weapons."
— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) March 3, 2026
"The world will be a safer place when these radical clerics no longer have access to these… pic.twitter.com/pHNoXA63b5
Far from being forced by Israel, the administration says the operation is a bold strategic decision, and one that could reshape the Middle East.
If the campaign proves successful in the coming weeks, Iran could emerge no longer as the region’s central power but as a weakened state increasingly influenced by American allies, not only Israel, but also the United Arab Emirates and Saudi Arabia. For the United States, the potential payoff is significant: a Middle East less aligned with China, greater energy stability, stronger regional partnerships, and increased leverage over both adversaries and allies.
Operation Epic Fury is the definition of America First.