The April 20, 2026, episode of “The Tucker Carlson Show” delivered a confession that has rattled American politics. Tucker Carlson, 56, sat down with his younger brother Buckley and publicly accepted blame for helping Donald Trump reclaim the White House in 2024, telling viewers he misled them and begging for their forgiveness.
“I want to say I’m sorry for misleading people. It was not intentional,” Carlson said during the broadcast. The combative broadcaster, once among Trump’s most powerful media supporters, now says the weight of his actions will haunt him for years.
“I do think it’s like a moment to wrestle with our own consciences,” Carlson said on the episode. “You know, we’ll be tormented by it for a long time.”
Buckley Carlson, whom the family calls “Uncle Buck,” served as a Trump speechwriter. During their conversation, both brothers acknowledged their respective contributions to Trump’s political ascent and took what they described as personal responsibility for the current state of the nation.
“You and I and everyone else who supported him, you wrote speeches for him, I campaigned for him, I mean, we’re implicated in this for sure,” Carlson told Buckley. “It’s not enough to say, ‘Well, I changed my mind,’ or like, ‘This is bad. I’m out.’ It’s like, in very small ways, but in real ways, you and me and millions of people like us are the reason this is happening right now.”
The former Fox News host admitted he and others overlooked troubling aspects of Trump’s personality. “Was this always the plan? You don’t want to be a conspiracy nut, but clearly, there were signs of low character,” he said. “We knew that. But there are tons of people of low character who outperform it.”
The catalyst for Carlson’s rupture with Trump centers on Operation Epic Fury, the U.S.-Israeli military assault on Iran that launched Feb. 28, 2026. The 38-day air campaign killed Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei and wiped out over 85 percent of Iran’s defense industrial base before a ceasefire on April 8.
Carlson branded the operation “absolutely disgusting and evil” and condemned it as a violation of promises Trump made to MAGA supporters about avoiding foreign military entanglements. “He described Trump’s April 5 social media post threatening Iran as “vile on every level” and accused the administration of waging the war exclusively to serve Israeli interests.
Buckley Carlson used even stronger language, labeling Trump an “out of control, megalomaniacal, destructive president” and floating the idea that Congress should “consider” invoking the 25th Amendment.
President Trump responded swiftly to the growing chorus of criticism from his former allies. In a 485-word Truth Social post dated April 9, the president attacked Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens, and Alex Jones as “stupid people” with “low IQs.” Trump specifically mocked Carlson as “a broken man” who “couldn’t even finish college” and was “never the same” after his Fox News termination, suggesting the broadcaster should “see a good psychiatrist.”
White House spokesperson Davis Ingle, when asked for comment on the podcast apology, simply replied with a link to that same Truth Social post. Trump continued his attacks on April 16, asking on social media, “Who’s dumber, Tucker Carlson or Joe Kent?” and calling Carlson a “loser” alongside Kent, Owens, and Kelly.
This is not the first time Carlson has privately expressed contempt for Trump. Text messages disclosed during the Dominion Voting Systems defamation case showed that two days before the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack, Carlson wrote “I hate him (Trump) passionately” and on the day of the riot called him “a demonic force, a destroyer.”
Fox News settled that lawsuit for $787.5 million. Days later, Carlson’s show was dropped from the network. He launched his own podcast and then, despite those private admissions, endorsed Trump for president in 2024 and campaigned for him.
The reaction from critics has been scathing. Hosts on The View showed no sympathy. Sara Haines said Carlson “will literally do, say anything for money, for clicks, for power. That man just needs to disappear.” Joy Behar quipped that Carlson has “what they call liar’s remorse.”
A UMass Lowell poll conducted in late March showed Carlson’s favorability among Republicans has dropped to 31 percent. The family’s break with the Trump administration extended beyond the airwaves. Carlson’s son, also named Buckley Carlson, departed his position as Vice President JD Vance’s deputy press secretary amid the fallout. Carlson is not alone in his break from Trump. Alex Jones, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Joe Rogan, and Candace Owens have all, in varying degrees, publicly criticized the president over the Iran war and other issues. But none have gone as far as Carlson in accepting personal blame for putting Trump back in power.
