Tucker Carlson Has Turned on Trump. Forgive Me If I Don’t Suddenly Trust Him.

Well, this is awkward.

I recently found myself listening to Tucker Carlson and thinking:

Dammit. I agree with Tucker Carlson.

Again.

And if that sentence doesn’t make you question whether we accidentally slipped into the wrong timeline somewhere around 2016, I don’t know what will.

Tucker Carlson’s recent interview with NPR’s Steve Inskeep is getting attention because Carlson, once one of Donald Trump’s most influential media cheerleaders, has very publicly turned against him. Carlson now says Trump should be removed from office and has sharply criticized him over the war with Iran.

But the part that really caught my attention was Carlson’s description of a private conversation with Trump before the war began.

According to Carlson, he went to Trump with serious concerns about where this was heading. Carlson says Trump acknowledged what he was saying but ultimately responded with the sentiment that, in the end, we all die anyway.

Carlson told NPR he was shocked by what he described as “nihilism.”

Well, Tucker, welcome to the party.

Some of us have been standing over here waving giant red flags for years.

But I Have Questions

My first question when I heard this was simple:

When did this conversation happen?

We now have an answer. Carlson says it occurred shortly before the war with Iran began.

Which leads me to a much bigger question:

Why are we hearing the full story now?

If Carlson believed the president of the United States had expressed something that disturbing about war, death, and future generations, why wasn’t he screaming it from every available rooftop immediately?

Carlson has one of the largest political megaphones in America. Use it.

Because if you’re going to tell the country afterward that you witnessed something profoundly disturbing behind closed doors, I think it’s perfectly reasonable for Americans to ask why you didn’t tell us everything you knew when it happened.

And that brings us to my biggest problem.

I Still Don’t Trust Tucker Carlson

I’m glad Tucker has apparently had his come-to-Jesus moment with the Mango Mussolini.

Really.

But I’m not handing him a Resistance membership card and friendship bracelet just yet.

He will probably always be Tucker “Fucker” Carlson in my head because some things become permanently etched into the Gen X hard drive.

More importantly, one political breakup does not erase years of history.

Carlson wasn’t some innocent bystander who accidentally wandered into MAGA while looking for the bathroom.

He supported Trump.

He spoke at the 2024 Republican National Convention, where he told the crowd that Trump’s survival of an assassination attempt had transformed him and the country.

That’s why Carlson’s current criticism matters. But it’s also why his motives deserve scrutiny.

You don’t get to spend years helping build the roller coaster and then act shocked when everybody realizes the brakes are missing.

Remember Tucker’s Russia Field Trip?

My skepticism didn’t magically appear yesterday. Remember Carlson’s bizarre trip to Russia in 2024?

He went grocery shopping in Moscow and marveled at how inexpensive everything appeared compared with the United States. His shopping cart reportedly cost about $104, and Carlson said a comparable haul in America might cost around $400.

The problem with those kinds of comparisons is that prices don’t exist in a vacuum. What people earn matters. Purchasing power matters. Cost of living matters.

You can’t simply convert rubles into dollars, announce that groceries are cheaper, and call it meaningful economic analysis.

It’s like walking into a restaurant in another country, discovering dinner costs five American dollars and declaring you’ve discovered economic paradise without bothering to ask what the average worker makes.

Context, Tucker. It’s kind of important.

And Then There Was Hungary

Before Russia, there was Hungary.

In 2021, Carlson spent a week broadcasting from Budapest and interviewing Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. Carlson praised aspects of Orbán’s Hungary and portrayed the country as an alternative to American liberal governance.

This wasn’t something critics imagined. Carlson’s own Fox broadcasts from Hungary documented his admiration for Orbán’s approach to borders, nationalism, and government.

So when I’m told Tucker Carlson has suddenly “seen the light,” you’ll forgive me if I keep one eyebrow raised.

Actually, both eyebrows.

And possibly one middle finger.

A MAGA Civil War Isn’t Necessarily a Political Awakening

And this is where I think people need to be careful.

I’ve also found myself agreeing with Marjorie Taylor Greene on certain issues lately. Yes. I know. Somewhere a portal has opened.

But agreeing with Tucker Carlson or MTG about individual issues does not mean I suddenly believe they’ve become liberals, progressives, or Democratic Socialists.

People can reach the same conclusion for completely different reasons.

And I have a nagging feeling that what we’re watching isn’t necessarily former MAGA influencers abandoning the underlying ideology. It may be MAGA splintering into competing factions.

Carlson has openly talked about the possibility of a third-party movement, although he told NPR he isn’t the person to organize it. That’s why I’m watching all of this with skepticism.

Maybe Tucker Carlson really has reevaluated some things. People change. People learn. People realize they were wrong. Great.

But I’m not going to confuse turning against Donald Trump with rejecting everything that made Trumpism possible.

Those are two very different things.

Nobody Has All the Answers

Here’s where I’m going to say something that probably annoys people on both sides.

No political party and no political ideology has all the answers.

Not Democrats.

Not Republicans.

Not Democratic Socialists.

Not Libertarians.

Not Independents.

Nobody.

Democracy is supposed to involve debate, negotiation, consensus, and compromise.

We have somehow turned compromise into a dirty word, as though changing your mind after hearing evidence makes you weak. It doesn’t. That’s how representative government is supposed to function.

A healthy democracy also requires something else we’ve neglected for decades:

People need enough economic security to participate in it.

People need education. They need healthcare. They need housing they can afford. They need wages that allow them to actually live rather than spend every waking hour figuring out which bill they can postpone until next payday.

Democracy doesn’t function particularly well when millions of people are exhausted, financially terrified, and furious.

And while we’re fixing things, can we finally talk seriously about money in politics?

Get Big Money Out of Our Elections

The 2010 Citizens United v. FEC decision struck down restrictions on independent political expenditures by corporations and labor organizations. It did not legalize direct corporate contributions to candidates, which remain prohibited, but it dramatically changed the landscape for independent political spending.

Whatever your political affiliation, Americans should be able to have a serious conversation about how much influence wealthy individuals, corporations, and outside organizations should wield over elections.

I don’t want billionaires buying disproportionate political influence. I don’t particularly care whether they’re Republican billionaires or Democratic billionaires.

Government should answer to voters.

Not whoever can write the biggest check. Citizens United needs to be overturned or effectively countered through constitutional and legislative reforms that survive judicial review.

That shouldn’t be a left-versus-right issue.

It should be a democracy issue.

Tucker, You Have a Megaphone. Use It.

And that’s ultimately what I would say to Tucker Carlson.

If you truly believe Donald Trump has become dangerous…

If you genuinely believe you helped empower someone who should no longer hold the presidency…

If you’ve truly realized that some of what you supported helped bring America to this point…

Then don’t just sit in a studio and talk about it.

Do something.

Speak.

Organize.

Use television.

Use social media.

Go stand in front of people who still trust you and tell them exactly what you saw and exactly why you changed your mind. You have access to an audience most ordinary Americans could never dream of reaching.

With power comes responsibility.

Yes, I just went Uncle Ben on Tucker Carlson. That’s where we are now.

But if Carlson genuinely believes what he’s saying, then he has a responsibility to use the influence he spent decades building. You helped put gas in this machine, Tucker.

If you finally believe it’s headed toward a cliff, help hit the brakes.

I’ll Listen. But I’m Still Watching.

I’m willing to listen when someone I profoundly disagree with makes a valid point.

Actually, I think we need more of that.

We should be able to say, “I disagree with this person on 90% of everything, but they’re right about this.” That’s not betrayal. That’s thinking.

But listening isn’t the same as trusting.

And Tucker Carlson has a hell of a lot of history to overcome before I’m willing to believe this transformation is anything more than another political repositioning.

Maybe he’s genuinely changed. Maybe he’s trying to remain relevant. Maybe we’re watching the beginning of a new America First movement that keeps much of the old MAGA ideology while simply removing Donald Trump from the center of it.

I don’t know yet.

And that’s exactly why I’m paying attention.

Because sometimes the most dangerous political mistake we can make is assuming that because someone has turned against our opponent, they’ve suddenly joined our side. Politics doesn’t work that way. Neither does trust.

And Tucker Carlson has a very, very long way to go before he earns mine.