Inside the Carlson-Cruz Blowup That Exposed a MAGA Divide

“You’re a senator who’s calling for the overthrow of a government, and you don’t know anything about the country?” Tucker Carlson retorted, while speaking to Republican Senator Ted Cruz. 

Carlson — a former Fox news host, a conservative political commentator, a MAGA supporter and a staunch advocate of America First — has been criticising the involvement of the United States in the rapidly escalating tensions between Israel-Iran.

He has been the host of multiple prime time TV shows and now in his YouTube show, Carlson has raised questions on how America’s involvement in foreign escalations may affect MAGA. 

Trump’s usual ally on Monday in The War Room podcast said, “I am really afraid that my country is going to be further weakened by this.” 

“I think we are going to see the end of American empire.”

The podcast is hosted by ex-White House chief strategist Steve Bannon, who also appeared on Carlson’s YouTube show, discussing ‘Israel’s War on Iran and How It Could Destroy MAGA Forever.’ 

The two have maintained that the U.S. should not be getting involved in foreign wars, particularly in the Middle East.

They discussed that the U.S’ priority should be deporting “illegal alien invaders”, and stop the “potential civil wars” in the biggest U.S. cities. 

“If we don’t do that, we don’t have a country,” Bannon stated.

Bannon — who mentioned that he is the defender of Israel — continued to say that as deportations and sealing of borders pursued, “out of nowhere” came “ a war with Persia.”

While the U.S. President Donald Trump on June 17 said on Truth Social,  “Somebody please explain to kooky Tucker Carlson that, ‘IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!'” Carlson released a snippet of an episode that he hosts on YouTube.

He engages in a blistering back-and-forth with Cruz — who was sworn into the United States Senate in 2013. He also cosponsored legislation to bolster U.S. assistance to Israel in the past.

Carlson questioned Cruz on his understanding of Iran’s demographics and broader context, given Cruz’s stance that Trump’s posture in the Israel-Iran conflict is warranted.

“How many people live in Iran, by the way?” Carlson asked.

“I don’t know the population,” Cruz said. 

When Cruz failed to answer, Carlson countered “You don’t know the population in the country you seek to topple?” 

When Cruz asked the same question, Carlson was quick to state “92 million,” adding, “How could you not know that?” 

Cruz shot back, saying he does not sit around memorizing population tables, to which Carlson said, it is “kind of relevant because you’re calling for the overthrow of the government.”

The two progressively descended into a shouting match. Carlson asked, “What’s the ethnic mix of Iran?” Cruz responded that the country is Persian and “predominantly Shia.” At that point, Carlson cut in, asking, “What percent?” 

From there, the two men began shouting over each other. The full episode will be released on June 19.

Trump on Tuesday, called for Iran’s “UNCONDITIONAL SURRENDER” as the six-day Israel-Iran conflict continues to escalate.