Last Updated on January 9, 2020
Reports indicate that President Donald Trump’s position on Iran was informed by anti-war hosts on Fox News, including Tucker Carlson.
According to reports published Wednesday night, President Trump watched Tucker Carlson Tonight and other Fox News programs that were critical of a new ground war with the Islamic Republic of Iran, and used the information presented to inform his decision.
Buzzfeed reports that “Carlson has become an increasingly influential voice for anti-interventionism on the right and is very popular among the Trump base.”
“And according to a source with knowledge of the conversations, Trump told people that he had watched Carlson’s show and it had affected his view on the Iran situation,” Buzzfeed adds.
Carlson launched a series of fierce criticisms of the Trump administration, though usually avoiding mentioning President Trump by name, for its hawkish stance on Iran.
As tensions escalated and President Trump issued the order to strike General Qasem Soleimani, Carlson slammed those pushing for war as “liars.”
Firebrand Tucker Carlson, who has vociferously condemned neocon-led foreign entanglements while being the most prominent mainstream voice in reporting on the US-Mexico border crisis, has now slammed Iran’s Quds Force General Qasem Soleimani’s assassination after he was blown up in an airstrike near Baghdad’s airport.
Many have expressed concerns at the prospect of a third World War, along with retaliatory attacks including acts of terrorism targeting American citizens.
He said: “The very people demanding action against Iran tonight…are the very same ones demanding that you ignore the invasion of America now in progress from the South.
“They’re liars, they don’t care about you, they don’t care about your kids.”
The Daily Caller founder turned Fox News host also cautioned the president and American people not to trust information provided by the intelligence community, noting that the same intelligence community was wrong on Iraq and Russia.
“Keep in mind these were the people who invented excuses to spy on the Trump campaign purely because they didn’t like Donald Trump’s foreign policy views,” Carlson continued, “and they’re the ones who pretended he was a Russian agent to try to keep him from governing, remember that?”
Carlson also said, “These were the same people who lied about Iraq’s weapons of mass destruction back in 2002, and by doing that got us into an utterly pointless war that tremendously weakened our country.”
“The people pushing for conflict with Iran are the same people who did that,” the Fox host stated. “It seems about twenty minutes ago we were denouncing these people as the ‘Deep State,’ and pledging never to trust them again without verification.”
Adding credence to the source claiming President Trump watched Carlson’s criticisms, and to the idea that Carlson is becoming influential in the Trump base, are the massive viewership numbers Carlson drew during his sharp criticisms of military action.
As the country seemed to rapidly approach a massive invasion of Iran on Tuesday, Carlson drew 5.6 million viewers, and was statistically tied in viewership with pro-war Republican stalwart Sean Hannity.
