After the attacks on the regime in Tehran, sharp criticism was also voiced among the president’s supporters. What does this have to do with the Israeli Prime Minister?
03/01/2026, 06:2203/01/2026, 06:22
The reaction didn’t take long to arrive. Leading Democrats reacted Saturday to President Donald Trump’s decision to attack Iran with strong criticism. “This is a war that is not compelling and whose strategic goal is not known,” said senior Rep. Jim Hines. Meanwhile, his party colleagues complained that Trump had bypassed Congress even though it had to declare war on other countries.
Tucker Carlson is not happy about the US attack on Iran.Image: keystone
This criticism was to be expected. Many Democrats have complained in recent weeks that the president has not publicly explained why he is sending so much American war material to the Middle East. The overthrow of foreign governments, no matter how brutal they may be, has also been frowned upon since President George W. Bush’s traumatic Iraq adventure.
The current developments surrounding the Iran war in the ticker:
What is more interesting is the reaction in the right-wing camp, where Trump’s leading mouthpieces are also skeptical about the intervention. This threatens to weaken the popular movement MAGA (“Make America Great Again”), which the president has previously been able to rely on even in times of crisis. And Trump is threatening to shrink from being a tribune to a normal politician.
Charlie Kirk also warned against Iran intervention
The unofficial leader of the anti-interventionists is Tucker Carlson. On Saturday, when the rockets were flying in the Middle East, he criticized the attack on Iran in a conversation with journalists as “absolutely disgusting and evil”.
This fits with Carlson’s statements made in recent days. “From the American perspective, a war with Iran would be potentially catastrophic,” the commentator warned in a video he published on Thursday. He also asked the rhetorical question: “Do we really want to ruin our economy and risk American lives” because Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu believes a war would be good for his political career? In any case, this has little in common with “America First”, Trump’s motto.
However, despite repeated visits to the White House, Carlson was unable to convince the President of this position. He follows a tradition of right-wing commentators who warn Trump against foreign policy moves in the Middle East. Last year, a few months before his murder, Charlie Kirk spoke out against the violent overthrow of the regime in Tehran and warned of the “chaotic” consequences of such a step.
Trump himself repeatedly presents himself to the American public as a “peace president”. For example, he claims that he has already ended eight armed conflicts in his first year in office. One of these wars: the exchange of blows between Israel and Iran, which he clearly could not draw a line under.
His core voters seem to be largely unconcerned about this contradiction. They apparently forgive him for forgetting his promise not to start new wars during his term in office. Or they believe Trump when he says that the attack on Iran is important to bring peace to the Middle East forever.
Israel has lost sympathy in the USA
But in the background, the struggle for Trump’s successor has long since begun – and it is obvious that figures like Carlson believe that there is (plenty) room for anti-Israel tones in the president’s “Make America Great Again” movement.
Because criticism of the close bond between the USA and Israel is ultimately the glue that binds right-wing Trump critics. If necessary, they dig deep into the box of anti-Semitic prejudices. They argue that long-time Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu managed to manipulate Trump. Last week, in a conversation with the US ambassador to Jerusalem, Carlson also rather blatantly claimed that the Jewish state was a parasite.
It is no longer completely out of the question whether such slogans can be used to win national elections in the USA. During the Gaza War, the American population’s traditional sympathies for Israel turned negative. Recently, a (relative) majority of the American population also says that they have more compassion for the Palestinians than for the people of Israel. This was recently discovered by the Gallup research institute.
Now such snapshots should be viewed with caution. Trump also still has a number of influential commentators who defend him or even encourage him. Voices like Sean Hannity or Mark Levin, who may not be known in Switzerland, but entertain an audience of millions every day in the USA.
Hannity said on “Fox News” on Friday evening, a few hours before the attack on Iran began, that the time for diplomacy was now up. And in the same broadcast, Levin compared the regime in Tehran to Adolf Hitler. “How can some people be so ignorant,” the commentator said of people like Tucker Carlson. (aargauerzeitung.ch)