OPINION:
The mask is off Tucker Carlson. What remains is not principled dissent, “America First” skepticism or journalism. It is delusion, sabotage and a pattern of behavior that actively undermines President Trump, the conservative movement and America’s allies.
Mr. Carlson’s latest claim should end any lingering debate about who he is and what he is doing. He now alleges that Mr. Trump potentially ordered the arrest of Nicolas Maduro so that gay marriage could become legal in Venezuela. This is conspiracy-mongering untethered from reality.
Mr. Trump moved against Mr. Maduro because Mr. Maduro is the leader of a narco cartel masquerading as a government. His regime flooded the hemisphere with drugs, destroyed a once-prosperous nation and forced millions to flee. Mr. Trump’s action was about restoring deterrence, defending America’s backyard and standing with an oppressed people. Twisting that reality into a cartoonish culture war fantasy is dishonest and corrosive.
This is a pattern. Mr. Carlson has positioned himself not as a conservative critic acting in good faith but rather as a wrecking ball aimed inward. He does not debate policy; he advances narratives that weaken American leadership and fracture the coalition that wins elections and governs.
The pattern includes giving a friendly platform to Nick Fuentes, one of the most notorious Holocaust deniers in the country. There is no defensible reason to legitimize someone who denies the murder of more than 6 million Jews.
It also includes Mr. Carlson’s interview with the sitting president of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism, released over the 2025 July 4 Independence Day weekend. While Americans honored the sacrifices made to defeat tyranny, Mr. Carlson amplified the voice of a regime that chants “Death to America,” funds Hamas and Hezbollah, and brutalizes its own people.
Mr. Carlson’s defenders insist he is just asking questions. That excuse no longer holds. There’s a difference between skepticism and sabotage, and Mr. Carlson crossed that line long ago.
The mask is off. Conservatives should believe what they are seeing and act accordingly. Tucker Carlson is not a misunderstood truth teller. He is a destabilizing force. The movement and the country are both stronger without him.
BRYAN E. LEIB
Boca Raton, Florida
Please read our comment policy before commenting.