Conservative broadcaster Tucker Carlson has criticized President Donald Trump over his expletive-laden social media broadside against Iran on Easter Sunday, asking: “Who do you think you are?”
Ahead of his late Tuesday deadline for Tehran to reopen the Strait of Hormuz, the closure of which during the war has caused global oil prices to spike, Trump warned on Truth Social that the U.S. military will bomb the country’s bridges, power plants, and other civilian infrastructure unless action is taken.
“Open the F***in’ Strait, you crazy b*****ds, or you’ll be living in Hell – JUST WATCH! Praise be to Allah,” the president wrote.
Reacting on The Tucker Carlson Show Monday, the host – who has long been opposed to military intervention against Iran – addressed the president directly, asking: “Who do you think you are? You’re tweeting out the f-word on Easter morning?
“So, obviously you’re mocking the religion of Iran. OK. If you seek a religious war, that’s a good idea. But by the way, no decent person mocks other people’s religions. You may have a problem with the theology. Presumably, you do if it’s not your religion, and you can explain what that is.
“But to mock other people’s faith is to mock the idea of faith itself. And we should never mock that because at its core is the acknowledgement that we are not in charge of the universe. We did not build it. We won’t be here at the end of it. We can destroy life. We cannot create it because we are not God.”
Carlson continued: “The message of all faith at the biggest picture level is the message in our Bible, which is you are not God. And only if you think you are, do you talk this way.
“But it’s not just mockery of Islam. And no president should mock Islam. That’s not your job. This is not a theocracy. We don’t go to war with other theocracies to find out which theocracy is more effective. We are not a theocracy. And God willing, we never will be because theocracies corrupt the religion.”
In the same episode, the host also suggested the war might amount to “a very stealthy, yet incredibly effective attack on what, from a Christian perspective, is the true faith, belief in Jesus,” a take conservative pundit Meghan McCain succinctly labelled “psychoville.”
Trump and Carlson have been close allies in the past, but appeared to have a split over last summer’s Operation Midnight Hammer strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities, about which the former Fox News host expressed strong disapproval and clashed with Republican hawks like Texas Sen. Ted Cruz.
The president has since said Carlson has “lost his way”, while the latter has called the current war “absolutely disgusting and evil”.
Former Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene was among the first on the right to express her disapproval of Trump’s post, writing on X (Twitter): “On Easter morning, this is what President Trump posted.
“Everyone in his administration that claims to be a Christian needs to fall on their knees and beg forgiveness from God and stop worshipping the president and intervene in Trump’s madness.
“I know all of you and him and he has gone insane, and all of you are complicit.”
House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries also reacted on X Sunday afternoon, commenting: “Disgusting and unhinged Easter message from Donald Trump. Something is really wrong with this guy.”
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