Latest news with #TuckerCarlson
The Guardian
10 hours ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
Tucker Carlson channels Maga rage over Epstein files – and opens rift with Trump
As Donald Trump tries to contain an ugly rift with his own supporters about the Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking scandal, influential media personalities in the Maga movement face a tricky dilemma. Should they close ranks with the US president – who has denounced demands for more information on Epstein as a 'waste [of] Time and Energy' about 'somebody that nobody cares about' – or pick at a political wound that the Trump administration desperately wants to scab over? While some conservative pundits, such as Steve Bannon and Ben Shapiro, seem to be trying to move on, Tucker Carlson has become a persistent gadfly of the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein controversy, among other points of contention. At a political conference in Florida earlier this month, Carlson devoted much of a 45-minute speech to criticizing the Trump administration and the conservative establishment from the right – for being too close to Israel; for the strike on Iran, which Carlson called a less deadly threat to Americans than the drug epidemic; and for failing to give the Maga movement satisfying answers to their questions about Epstein's influence and connections. Carlson's speech, at a Turning Point USA event in Tampa, did not criticize Trump directly. Carlson did not generally even mention him by name, except to note that in the last election he publicly supported Trump, whom he 'love[s] personally' and campaigned 'with and for the president'. But he compared the White House's dismissive attitude to the Epstein story to what he described as the sneering liberal establishment that Trump campaigned against. The left 'would dismiss [critics] out of hand – 'You are not worth listening to,' 'Be quiet,'' Carlson told a receptive audience of young rightwing activists. Now the Trump administration was doing the same, he argued. 'And I think that's really at the heart of why the Epstein thing is so distressing,' he said – 'the fact that the US government, the one that I voted for, refused to take my question seriously, and instead said: 'Case closed; shut up, conspiracy theorist,' was too much for me. And I don't think the rest of us should be satisfied with that.' Carlson returned to the Epstein controversy again on Friday. In a nearly three-hour interview with Darryl Cooper, a popular podcaster who has been criticized for making misleading historical claims, he and Cooper speculated about the sources of Epstein's wealth and power and suggested he might have been protected by powerful people. Many in Trump's political base believe that Epstein, who died of apparent suicide in 2019 after being charged with sexually trafficking minors, was killed so that he couldn't reveal a 'client list' implicating other powerful men. Trump has fanned the theory in the past by insinuating that the Clintons were linked to Epstein's death. The current furor began when the US Department of Justice and FBI seemed to say, earlier this month, that they consider the Epstein saga closed – enraging Maga fans and sparking an unusually strong challenge to Trump's control of the movement he founded. The controversy took another turn when, this Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump contributed a winking letter, including a doodle of a nude woman, to a Festschrift of sorts that Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's girlfriend, compiled in 2003 for Epstein's 50th birthday. Trump denied the story and, on Friday, said that he was suing the Wall Street Journal's publisher for libel. In the short term, the Wall Street Journal development actually seems to have rebounded slightly to Trump's advantage: he has been able to frame the story, to conservatives, as evidence of a media smear campaign against him. Yet that may not be enough for Carlson. In a way, his ire over the handling of Epstein has opened the door to harsher critiques writ large. In his Turning Point speech, Carlson argued that the rightwing establishment was more invested in battles over cultural questions, such as the inclusion of transgender athletes in women's sports, than in the bread-and-butter material realities that concern average Americans. Disparaging the idea that GDP is a good indicator of a country's wellbeing, he said that visiting Tokyo was 'the single most radicalizing experience you'll ever have', because the city is 'so nice' even though Japan has a weaker economy, on paper, than the US does. Like Bannon and others in the populist wing of the Maga movement, Carlson has often been at odds with the traditional Republican coalition's lingering preference for free markets, free trade and hawkish foreign policies. His personal measure of national prosperity, he said, was if his adult children can afford to buy houses – with their incomes from full-time jobs, and without parental assistance. Yet even '35-year-olds with really good jobs can't afford a house unless they stretch and go deep into debt,' he said. 'And I just think that's a total disaster.' He argued that part of the reason that young Americans are attracted to socialism is because they no longer have any stake in the capitalist system. The difficulty of buying a house is also contributing to falling birth rates, he argued. Political observers have often speculated that Carlson might eventually run for president as a successor to Trump. Conservative analysts have said that he would have an extremely strong shot of securing the Republican nomination. Yet Carlson himself has not shown any strong indications that he wishes to do so, and has often described himself as lazy and as viscerally repulsed by the idea of holding office. 'I have zero ambition, not just politically but in life,' he told Semafor in 2022. 'My ambition is to write my script by 8pm – and I'm not just saying that, ask anyone who works with me or knows me … I don't want power, I've never wanted power. I'm annoyed by things and I want them to change. But I've never been motivated by a desire to control people.' This March, he said on a podcast that he viewed JD Vance as the best hope for post-Trump conservatism. The US vice-president, he said, was the 'only person in the entire Republican party, from my position, who's capable of carrying on the Trump legacy and expanding it, making it what it should fully be'.
The Guardian
a day ago
- Politics
- The Guardian
A Maga influencer's dilemma: press for Epstein files or side with Trump?
As Donald Trump tries to contain an ugly rift with his own supporters about the Jeffrey Epstein sex-trafficking scandal, influential media personalities in the Maga movement face a tricky dilemma. Should they close ranks with the US president – who has denounced demands for more information on Epstein as a 'waste [of] Time and Energy' about 'somebody that nobody cares about' – or pick at a political wound that the Trump administration desperately wants to scab over? While some conservative pundits, such as Steve Bannon and Ben Shapiro, seem to be trying to move on, Tucker Carlson has become a persistent gadfly of the Trump administration's handling of the Epstein controversy, among other points of contention. At a political conference in Florida earlier this month, Carlson devoted much of a 45-minute speech to criticizing the Trump administration and the conservative establishment from the right – for being too close to Israel; for the strike on Iran, which Carlson called a less deadly threat to Americans than the drug epidemic; and for failing to give the Maga movement satisfying answers to their questions about Epstein's influence and connections. Carlson's speech, at a Turning Point USA event in Tampa, did not criticize Trump directly. Carlson did not generally even mention him by name, except to note that in the last election he publicly supported Trump, whom he 'love[s] personally' and campaigned 'with and for the president'. But he compared the White House's dismissive attitude to the Epstein story with what he described as the sneering liberal establishment that Trump campaigned against. The left 'would dismiss [critics] out of hand – 'You are not worth listening to,' 'Be quiet,'' Carlson told a receptive audience of young rightwing activists. Now the Trump administration was doing the same, he argued. 'And I think that's really at the heart of why the Epstein thing is so distressing,' he said – 'the fact that the US government, the one that I voted for, refused to take my question seriously, and instead said: 'Case closed; shut up, conspiracy theorist,' was too much for me. And I don't think the rest of us should be satisfied with that.' Carlson returned to the Epstein controversy again on Friday. In a nearly three-hour interview with Darryl Cooper, a popular podcaster who has been criticized for making misleading historical claims, he and Cooper speculated about the sources of Epstein's wealth and power and suggested he might have been protected by powerful people. Many in Trump's political base believe that Epstein, who died of apparent suicide in 2019 after being charged with sexually trafficking minors, was killed so that he couldn't reveal a 'client list' implicating other powerful men. Trump has fanned the theory in the past by insinuating that the Clinton's were linked to Epstein's death. The current furor began when the US Department of Justice and FBI seemed to say, earlier this month, that they consider the Epstein saga closed – enraging Maga fans and sparking an unusually strong challenge to Trump's control of the movement he founded. The controversy took another turn when, this Thursday, the Wall Street Journal reported that Trump contributed a winking letter, including a doodle of a nude woman, to a Festschrift of sorts that Ghislaine Maxwell, Epstein's girlfriend, compiled in 2003 for Epstein's 50th birthday. Trump denied the story and, on Friday, said that he is suing the Wall Street Journal's publisher for libel. In the short term, the Wall Street Journal development actually seems to have rebounded slightly to Trump's advantage: he has been able to frame the story, to conservatives, as evidence of a media smear campaign against him. Yet that may not be enough for Carlson. In a way, his ire over the handling of Epstein has opened the door to harsher critiques writ large. In his Turning Point speech, Carlson argued that the rightwing establishment is more invested in battles over cultural questions, such as the inclusion of transgender athletes in women's sports, than in the bread-and-butter material realities that concern average Americans. Disparaging the idea that GDP is a good indicator of a country's wellbeing, he said that visiting Tokyo is 'the single most radicalizing experience you'll ever have', because the city is 'so nice' even though Japan has a weaker economy, on paper, than the US does. Like Bannon and others in the populist wing of the Maga movement, Carlson has often been at odds with the traditional Republican coalition's lingering preference for free markets, free trade and hawkish foreign policies. His personal measure of national prosperity, he said, is if his adult children can afford to buy houses – with their incomes from full-time jobs, and without parental assistance. Yet even '35-year-olds with really good jobs can't afford a house unless they stretch and go deep into debt,' he said. 'And I just think that's a total disaster.' He argued that part of the reason that young Americans are attracted to socialism is because they no longer have any stake in the capitalist system. The difficulty of buying a house is also contributing to falling birth rates, he argued. Political observers have often speculated that Carlson might eventually run for president as a successor to Trump. Conservative analysts have said that he would have an extremely strong shot of securing the Republican nomination. Yet Carlson himself has not shown any strong indications that he wishes to do so, and has often described himself as lazy and as viscerally repulsed by the idea of holding office. 'I have zero ambition, not just politically but in life,' he told Semafor in 2022. 'My ambition is to write my script by 8pm – and I'm not just saying that, ask anyone who works with me or knows me … I don't want power, I've never wanted power. I'm annoyed by things and I want them to change. But I've never been motivated by a desire to control people.' This March, he said on a podcast that he views JD Vance as the best hope for post-Trump conservatism. The US vice-president, he said, is the 'only person in the entire Republican party, from my position, who's capable of carrying on the Trump legacy and expanding it, making it what it should fully be'.
Time of India
a day ago
- Health
- Time of India
'Invisible enemy' kills over 450 at Area 51 after exposure to top-secret project; victims say his brain is 'dying'
Area 51 has captured the imagination of everyone from UFO hunters to meme makers, and the truth might just be stranger than fiction. Among all the shocking stories from the place, the most recent report reveals that multiple staff at Area 51 have reportedly died or suffered from a similar deadly disease after being exposed to a 'top secret' project. Area 51 is highly classified as a US Air Force facility situated near the Nevada desert that has long been linked to controversy and strange goings-on, with many aliens and UFO sightings also being reported close to the base over many years, reported Lad Bible. Not only this, but even Google Maps believes that they have spotted otherworldly activities close to the base, with alien conspiracy theories. I found this little tidbit of info quite interesting and revealing. During the recent Tucker Carlson interview with Rob O'Neil, he talked about his experience at Area 51 while preparing for the Bin Laden raid. For those that don't know, Rob was the Seal Team 6 operator that… Multiple staff members at Area 51 died of severe illness According to the Lad Bible, some US Air Force veterans and security guards claim that they were handed a death sentence by the government due to the presence of a mysterious and invisible killer at the location. David Crete, a former Air Force sergeant who worked at the Nevada Training and Testing Range (NTTR) between 1983 and 1987, said that the left side of his brain was 'dying' due to atrophy (the decrease in size or wasting away of a body part, cell, tissue, or organ) while speaking at the House of Veterans Affairs Committee in early 2025. Around 490 people died of severe diseases like cancer at Area 51 Crete is voicing himself to seek help for denied healthcare in the US because none of the surviving veterans can prove they were exposed to radiation near Area 51, and their work was so 'top secret' that there were no records of anyone being there. While Sergeant Crete made bold claims that nearly 490 of his former colleagues have died of severe diseases, including cancer, since the time they served at the former nuclear site, due to the radiation risks. "My wife had three miscarriages. One of the guys that I worked with, his wife had seven," he quoted in the report. He added that all four of his children were born with birth defects or significant health problems, and it is not their fault. Scarred lungs and cysts in the liver Apart from this, Crete also suffers from scarred lungs and has cysts in his liver. "My wife had three miscarriages. One of the guys that I worked with, his wife had seven," he added.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
The pair fell out over Donald Trump's stance on backing Israel by bombing Iran. The president claimed Carlson later apologized for his public dissent.
Tucker Carlson has blown up President Donald Trump's claim that he reached out to apologize to him for publicly slating his administration at the height of a MAGA civil war. Carlson was one of the biggest names to call out his former ally over his hawkish approach to the burgeoning Israel-Iran conflict last month. Trump backed Israel striking Iran and eventually made the call to bomb Iranian nuclear sites, in support of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu. This further rankled his America First voters, eliciting strong condemnation from Carlson and other MAGA figures like Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. Trump later claimed that Carlson was so strong in his rebuke that he actually phoned up the president to say sorry. 'He called and apologized the other day because he thought he had said things that were a little bit too strong, and I appreciate that,' he told reporters in the Oval Office on June 18.
Yahoo
2 days ago
- Politics
- Yahoo
Tucker Carlson Spits Out 2-Word Response To Trump's Claim That He Called The President To Apologize
Tucker Carlson is disputing Donald Trump's claim that he apologized for accusing the president of being 'complicit' in Israel's military attacks on Iran last month. Just days after the former Fox News host made the comments in a June 13 newsletter posted on his website, the POTUS alleged to reporters in the Oval Office that the conservative pundit reached out to him to bury the hatchet. 'He called and apologized the other day because he thought he had said things that were a little bit too strong, and I appreciate that,' Trump said on June 18. Trump also referred to Carlson as 'kooky' in a pointed June 16 post on his social platform Truth Social. 'Somebody please explain to kooky Tucker Carlson that, 'IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!'' he wrote. In a new interview with German newspaper Bild, Carlson denied that the call ever took place. After the outlet's editor-in-chief, Paul Ronzheimer, asked Carlson if Trump's claims about the phone call were true, he replied, 'Okay... no.' 'No? It's not true?' Ronzheimer questioned again. 'No, I will say this … I don't care. I really like Trump. I campaigned for Trump. I just, to say it again, I agree with Trump, I have agreed with Trump on the issues,' Carlson said in the interview released Sunday. The political commentator went on to say that despite Trump's statement about the call not being factual, he would be 'happy to apologize' to the president. 'I'd be happy … I am the first to apologize because I am most mindful of my limits, and my own absurdities and the nonsense that I have spouted over the years,' Carlson said. 'Like, I don't think I'm God, and so I'm happy to apologize. And you can ask anyone who knows me, I'm an apologizer.' Ronzheimer then doubled down, asking Carlson, 'So you're apologizing now, publicly? Do I understand right?' Carlson responded: 'I don't know what I'd apologize for. I didn't attack Trump then. I disagreed with him … I don't think anything [was said] that would warrant an apology.' White House officials didn't immediately respond to HuffPost's requests for comment. The day after Carlson's newsletter published, Trump denied the U.S. had any involvement in Israel's attack on Iran in a June 13 post on Truth Social. 'The U.S. had nothing to do with the attack on Iran, tonight,' Trump wrote. 'If we are attacked in any way, shape or form by Iran, the full strength and might of the U.S. Armed Forces will come down on you at levels never seen before.' On June 21, U.S. forces struck three Iranian nuclear sites in a 'very successful attack,' Trump said in a televised Oval Office address. He added that Tehran's nuclear program had been wiped out. Watch Carlson's interview below. Related... Tucker Carlson Says These Companies Are Creating 'Race Hate' — And It's Not What You'd Expect Tucker Carlson Just Made A Shocking Claim About Fox News Tucker Carlson Unleashes Bizarre Theories On Why Pam Bondi Is Hiding Epstein List
