Tucker Carlson apologizes for endorsing Trump for president

[0:00] Can we talk about Tucker Carlson? Because the breakup between he and the president has now [0:05] reached another level. Let's watch what Tucker said on his show yesterday. It's not enough to [0:13] say, well, I changed my mind or like, oh, this is bad. I'm out. It's like in very small ways, [0:20] but in real ways, you and me and millions of people like us are the reason this is happening [0:25] right now. We'll be tormented by it for a long time. I will be. And I want to say I'm sorry for [0:31] misleading people. It was not intentional. That's all I'll say. [0:36] He's talking about his support for President Trump, which he effectively is saying he regrets. [0:42] Yeah. I mean, it's an interesting turnabout from the Republican National Convention when he was [0:48] a primetime speaker and delivered like a 45 minute off the cuff. Again, no notes just about how this [0:54] was the greatest option that anybody and any voter could want. And he has a very significant following [1:00] that is vigorous in their support for him. And that support overlapped pretty directly with [1:06] President Trump during the campaign. And I think Trump campaign officials would acknowledge that [1:09] that certainly wasn't hurtful in any way, shape or form. That was only helpful. I think the big [1:13] question that I've had throughout kind of the splits through various parts of the MAGA universe, [1:18] sometimes they could be overstated. Sometimes we try and read too much into them. But on Tucker Carlson [1:22] specifically is the number of times they've kind of toggled back and forth between, I'm kind of out of the [1:28] circle now. No, now I'm back in it. And then all of a sudden he shows up at the White House for an [1:31] oil executive event and he's standing right next to him. Well, he was just there like five days [1:34] before the war started. Yeah. And so like, I don't necessarily read that much into it because [1:37] for whatever reason, whatever he says publicly, he can still eventually get the president on the [1:41] phone. I think the biggest question right now is the frustration that Josh was alluding to [1:45] nationally with the war, the frustration for younger voters who the idea, many of them very [1:52] shaped by the experience of experiences in Iraq and Afghanistan, thinking we were lied to or we [1:58] were misled and what the kind of, I guess, durability of that frustration or disappointment will be [2:04] coming into electoral seasons ahead. Do you think he's a wrestling with his conscience? [2:10] I think that Tucker had plenty of time to be, to un-torment himself between January 6, 2021 [2:16] and election day of 2024. He had plenty of time to, to, to torment himself and say, [2:22] I give up on this man. Instead, he embraced him. He helped propel him to this historic election win. [2:30] I think that Tucker can't, by being sorry now, run away or rewrite history. Nor can I. [2:37] He had nothing to do with this election, in my opinion. I mean, Trump is like a singularly [2:41] talented campaigner who made it through all these historic, like chaotic periods, uh, disasters. [2:51] And, you know, Kamala Harris made Trump president. Joe Biden made Trump president. Tucker's acting as [2:57] if like he went out and he gave the endorsement and that rallied all these people. Like this guy [3:03] was going to win anyway. I had nothing to do with him. I mean, maybe, maybe so. But Tucker did [3:07] absolutely boost Trump. He did absolutely support Trump. And he did it despite, um, you know, [3:15] we know, uh, privately saying totally different things. And to Geraldo's point, back in these text [3:22] messages that were released in the Dominion defamation lawsuit, here's what, uh, Tucker said back [3:27] around that time. Uh, Trump has a pretty low success rate in his business ventures, is his, [3:34] what his producer says. He says, that's for sure. All of them fail. What's, what he's good at [3:38] is destroying things. He's the undisputed world champion of that. Tucker then says, [3:42] we are very close to being able to ignore Trump most nights. I truly can't wait. I hate him [3:47] passionately. Another Tucker, uh, message that that's the last four years. We're all pretending [3:54] we've got to, uh, we've got a lot to show for it, but admitting what a disaster it's been is too tough [4:00] to digest. But come on, this isn't really an upside to Trump. This is, this is somebody who has [4:07] profited off of talking out of both sides of his mouth. So, I mean, no surprise that today he is [4:15] crying some, you know, whatever, crocodiles. And you're gonna get a lot of apologists and things [4:20] like that, but the consequences are real. Uh, and again, if you look in our district, we have 55,000 [4:25] units of housing that are necessary. Half of our kids are in poverty. We are actually struggling [4:29] because of the decisions, the policies, the programs that this administration has pushed. And there has [4:33] been nothing to actually adequately address that. And so the fact that he's failing in the polls is [4:38] because this administration is failing. It's failing to actually protect our country. Nobody feels [4:43] more safe in the United States of America after seven weeks of a disastrous war that we're having [4:47] in Iran. We are living the consequences of an election that I God wish we had won, but the consequences [4:54] are really impacting everyday working class folks, uh, not those who are a politicos and talking heads [5:00] and things like that the most is really impacting people and a day-to-day life. [5:03] Scott Jennings, I mean, he was talking there to his, uh, brother, the former GOP, uh, Trump speech [5:09] writer, Buckley Carlson. What do you say of that? [5:12] I mean, is his preference that Kamala Harris had become the president of the United States? [5:17] That will come as a surprise to, I'm sure, a lot of people who used to view Tucker Carlson as a [5:22] conservative and someone who, you know, had certain kinds of values. And what's he sorry for? [5:27] That we got into an engagement here that might ultimately lead to taking away nuclear weapons. [5:32] We got into an engagement, Scott. That is quite a way to put it. [5:35] From, uh, from Iran. I mean, [5:37] We started a war. [5:37] I mean, is he, is he now claiming he had no idea that Donald Trump held the position that he would [5:41] never permit Iran to have nuclear weapons? If that's what he's saying today, he's kind of a [5:46] moron. I mean, I don't know how else to put it, or he's, he's willfully misleading people. [5:51] The president was clear. He'll never let them have nuclear weapons. We just saw on 60 Minutes on Sunday [5:56] night, a broad agreement among the experts. They have 970 pounds of enriched uranium enough to [6:03] make 10 or 11 nuclear bombs. This is not acceptable to the president. He was, had that position back [6:08] in 2024. He had that position back in the first term. He has that position today to say now that [6:14] you're sorry that you elected a president that wanted to take away nuclear weapons from this [6:18] terrorist regime. I don't get it. Tucker Carlson was also at the White House as recently as I think [6:24] February. I mean, a few weeks ago. So I, you know, I personally reported he was on the phone [6:28] with President Trump in the lead up to all of this. Yeah. I mean, so I, I, you know, I'm not [6:32] going to, I'm not going to go so far as to agree with Scott by any, by any, by any, by any, by any, [6:36] the best possible PR thing you could do. But I am going to say, I am going to say that the idea [6:40] that we're going to take Tucker Carlson at face value on this, like I, that's, I'm not somebody [6:44] personally who is going to, uh, to listen to Tucker Carlson say these things and, uh, and feel like [6:49] he has had a genuine change of heart. I think there's all sorts of, um, personal, uh, ambitions [6:54] at play here. We can set that. But, but, but I will say it is problematic for Trump's coalition. [7:00] And more importantly, even outside of the, the, uh, pod sphere, real Americans, actual voters, [7:06] including Republican voters are frustrated by this war. They don't understand why we're in it. [7:10] We're continuing to see what we've seen play out today is, you know, Donald Trump had his [7:14] vice president teed up on the tarmac to go and negotiate and then had to pull him back just [7:19] as a general rule. If you were trying to project strength and like you have your arms around the [7:22] situation, having to pull your vice president back from traveling to the negotiations, not a [7:27] great signal. So I think in addition to the fact that gas prices, oil prices, airplane tickets are [7:33] going up, Trump is also eroding on this, uh, on this sense that he is strong and in control. [7:38] So politically hugely problematic for him. So the president has called Tucker a low IQ person [7:43] because he is extremely upset with how he's reacting. My group chat is people either being [7:49] like the grift is strong or this reflects an actual sentiment. Who, where are we on the [7:55] spectrum? Oh my goodness. I mean, laugh out loud. Uh, look, he he's been upset before after, [8:01] after January 6th, you know, he was, you know, demonic force. He said all sorts, but they came [8:06] crawling back. I suspect he'll, he'll, he'll, he'll, he'll come back home because look, these guys [8:13] have monetized, they're making a lot of money off of this stuff. Uh, and I can't imagine he's going [8:18] to have a real permanent rupture with Trump, uh, because he'd probably lose market share and [8:23] audience. He'll be back. [8:24] Tamara, I got to ask you're a podcaster. What's the, what's the situation here with what he's doing? [8:30] Yeah. I just can't imagine that he is going to find market share in the, you know, Trump apostate [8:36] space. That's a pretty crowded space at this point. Uh, so it's not clear to me what is happening, [8:42] but a lot of people who listened to Tucker Carlson did say no forever wars. They really bought into [8:49] that. And now here he is. Tucker Carlson used all of his platforms for many years, [8:56] amplifying right-wing extreme hate, bigotry, uh, racism and anything else. So certainly we do not [9:03] take his commentary serious. And I think what the America first, um, crowd is figuring out that [9:09] there's no interest like self interest when it comes to Donald Trump. He is not a principled [9:13] man. He does not have a core and now they're figuring it out, but don't look for them. [9:17] Yeah. And don't look for them to embrace the Democrats. [9:20] You'll be able to be on Tucker's show apparently, but with comments, um, I.