Tucker Carlson says Trump heard his warning about the Iran war, agreed with it, then dismissed the future.
Tucker Carlson says he sat alone with President Trump in the Oval Office four days before the Iran war began. He warned that the United States would be pushed out of the Gulf, Trump’s legacy and party would be wrecked, and people would die.
Carlson says Trump agreed — then said none of it mattered because “we all die anyway.”
The YouTube short captures Carlson recounting the exchange in his Sept. 24 NPR interview.
Carlson said he warned Trump that war would push the United States out of the Gulf, wreck his legacy and party, and kill people. He said Trump looked at him and agreed.
CARLSON: And think it was– I thought it was true then, and I think it’s been proven true now. The goal was to get the US out, to diminish the GCC, and, obviously, to take Iran off the map and sink it into permanent internal strife, into civil war, sectarian strife. And he said, it doesn’t matter because in the end, we’re all dead anyway. And I was shocked by that because that’s nihilism, and that’s the last thing any leader should display or any person should display. It does matter. Who lives or dies does matter. The future does matter. I believe that. I have four children.
Carlson told NPR that he answered, “But what about our kids, and our grandkids, and our country?” He said Trump made an “ugh” sound and offered no answer. Carlson called the exchange “verbatim” and said the remark displayed nihilism.
The NPR report said the White House did not directly address Carlson’s account when asked for comment. It instead sent NPR to a Trump post calling Carlson and other critics “stupid people” who want Iran to have a nuclear weapon.
Carlson’s account puts a brutal question before Trump’s coalition: what is an America First foreign policy worth if the president, after accepting the warning, answers that the country’s future does not matter?
Watch Tucker’s exchange with NPR:
