One of Donald Trump's most prominent former media allies has escalated his break with the president, saying Trump's own Cabinet should have removed him from office over what Carlson characterizes as threats of nuclear war against Iran.
For years, Tucker Carlson was one of Donald Trump's most influential defenders.
He spoke at Trump events.
He interviewed him.
He supported Trump's return to the White House in 2024.
And his enormous conservative audience helped shape many of the political arguments that became central to the MAGA movement.
Now Carlson says Trump's own Cabinet should have removed him from the presidency.
Not through an election.
Not through impeachment.
Through the 25th Amendment.
During a lengthy interview with NPR's Steve Inskeep, Carlson was asked whether Trump should face consequences for the war with Iran.
Carlson went considerably further than criticizing the war.
He said Trump should no longer be president.
“He should have been removed from office immediately,” Carlson said.
Inskeep specifically asked whether Carlson meant the 25th Amendment—the constitutional mechanism allowing the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet to declare that a president is unable to discharge the powers and duties of the office.
Carlson confirmed that was exactly what he meant.
Then he added:
“He should have been bundled up and taken out.”
Carlson Says Trump's Iran Rhetoric Crossed a Line
Carlson's argument centers on Trump's increasingly aggressive rhetoric toward Iran.
Trump has threatened to “annihilate” Iran if the conflict continues and has used extraordinarily destructive language when discussing the country's future.
Carlson interprets those statements as threats to use nuclear weapons.
There is an important distinction.
Trump has not explicitly said that he intends to launch a nuclear weapon against Iran.
Carlson is interpreting Trump's threats of annihilation as implying a potential first-use nuclear strike.
But Carlson says that interpretation alone is enough to justify removing Trump from office.
“There’s no greater crime than that,” Carlson told NPR.
Carlson portrayed the possibility of initiating nuclear war as a red line that should transcend partisan loyalty.
And this isn't the first time he has made that argument.
Carlson previously said that any president seriously considering the first use of nuclear weapons should immediately be removed from office.
Now he is applying that standard to Trump.
This Isn't Coming From MSNBC
That is what makes Carlson's comments politically notable.
Criticism of Trump from Democrats is routine.
Calls to impeach or remove Trump from Democratic lawmakers aren't particularly surprising.
Tucker Carlson is different.
Carlson spent years helping construct the political movement that returned Trump to power.
His Fox News program became one of the most influential conservative television shows in America.
After leaving Fox, Carlson built an independent media operation while remaining an enormously influential figure on the populist right.
He interviewed Trump during the 2024 campaign and appeared alongside him shortly before Election Day.
Their political relationship was never completely uncomplicated.
But Carlson was unquestionably one of the most powerful media figures associated with Trump's movement.
That relationship has now fractured dramatically over Iran.
Carlson Says He Warned Trump Before the War
Carlson also revealed an extraordinary conversation he says occurred inside the Oval Office shortly before the Iran war began.
According to Carlson, he personally warned Trump that going to war with Iran would damage the United States, destroy Trump's legacy and hurt the Republican Party.
Carlson says Trump responded:
“Yes, you're right. But in the end, we all die anyway. So it doesn't matter.”
That account comes entirely from Carlson.
Trump has not independently confirmed the conversation.
But Carlson said the exchange profoundly disturbed him.
He characterized Trump's alleged response as nihilistic and argued that no national leader responsible for the lives of millions of people should approach war that way.
Carlson's criticism is particularly striking because he says he isn't personally angry with Trump.
He says he feels sorry for him.
But politically, Carlson's conclusion is unmistakable:
Trump should not still be president.
The 25th Amendment Isn't Impeachment
Carlson isn't merely calling for Congress to impeach Trump.
The process he is advocating is fundamentally different.
Section 4 of the 25th Amendment allows the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet to declare that the president is “unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office.”
The vice president would then immediately assume the powers of the presidency as acting president.
If the president disputed that declaration, the dispute could ultimately go to Congress, where extraordinarily large majorities would be required to keep the vice president in control.
Section 4 has never been successfully used to remove a president.
And Carlson's interpretation—that threatening catastrophic military action should itself trigger the amendment—is politically and constitutionally contested.
The amendment was created primarily to address presidential inability, not as an alternative mechanism for removing a president because officials strongly disagree with his decisions.
But Carlson isn't making a subtle constitutional argument.
He is making a moral one.
He believes Trump's conduct crossed a line so serious that the people surrounding the president should have acted.
The MAGA Coalition Is Fracturing Over Iran
Carlson's break with Trump also illustrates something larger happening inside the political movement that helped return Trump to office.
For years, Trump attacked America's military interventions abroad.
He condemned the Iraq War.
He criticized “endless wars.”
He argued that American leaders had spent trillions of dollars fighting overseas while neglecting problems at home.
That message appealed strongly to the populist wing of the Republican Party.
Carlson became one of its most prominent advocates.
The Iran war has now created a fundamental split.
Trump argues the conflict is necessary for American security.
Carlson believes it represents a betrayal of the foreign-policy principles Trump campaigned on.
Their disagreement is no longer merely about strategy.
Carlson is now questioning whether Trump should remain president at all.
‘Bundled Up and Taken Out’
Those words would have been remarkable coming from practically any prominent conservative commentator.
Coming from Tucker Carlson, they carry considerably more weight.
This is someone who helped normalize Trump within conservative media.
Someone who supported his return to power.
Someone who personally advised him.
Someone whose audience overlaps substantially with Trump's political base.
And now Carlson isn't merely criticizing Donald Trump.
He isn't merely saying the Iran war was a mistake.
He isn't merely suggesting Congress investigate.
He is saying Trump's own vice president and Cabinet should have used the Constitution to take presidential power away from him.
Donald Trump has lost plenty of former allies over the years.
Few were as influential as Tucker Carlson.
And few have gone this far.
One of the media figures who helped build the political movement that returned Trump to the White House is now publicly arguing that the people inside that White House should have removed him from it.