Donald Trump and cable news host-turned-MAGA-sphere player Tucker Carlson have entered an escalating confrontation, with the president calling his onetime Fox News star a “idiot” after the staunchly conservative commentator implied Trump is pushing the conflict with Iran toward nuclear war — and even suggested he could be the Antichrist.
In a recent call with the Recent York Post, Trump pushed back on Carlson after the pundit criticized the president’s profanity-laced and threatening Easter morning social media post, during which he warned he could level bridges and power plants in Iran and raged over the continuing closure of the Strait of Hormuz.
“Tucker’s a low-IQ one that has absolutely no idea what’s happening,” the president told the tabloid. “He calls me on a regular basis; I don’t reply to his calls. I don’t take care of him. I like coping with smart people, not fools.”
On Monday’s episode of his video podcast, Carlson — now a commanding voice in the net conservative media landscape, with 21 million followers across X and YouTube combined as of late 2025 — laid into Trump over the Easter post, chastising the president for using foul language and threatening mass violence on a day when Christians rejoice and reflect on the lifetime of Jesus Christ.
In his Truth Social post on Sunday morning, Trump repeated his threat to strike Iran’s energy infrastructure if the country doesn’t reopen the Strait of Hormuz, a key passage through which roughly 20 percent of the world’s oil supply passes.
“An entire civilization will die tonight, never to be brought back again. I don’t want that to occur, however it probably will,” the president wrote. “Nevertheless, now that we’ve complete and total regime change, where different, smarter, and fewer radicalized minds prevail, possibly something revolutionary can occur. Who knows?”
“We’ll discover tonight — some of the vital moments within the long and complicated history of the world. Forty-seven years of extortion, corruption, and death will finally end. God bless the nice people of Iran!” Trump added, before warning the country to “open the f—ing strait, you crazy bastards, otherwise you’ll be living in hell — just watch! Praise be to Allah.”
Carlson’s response on his popular web show was pointed and extensive. Calling the post “vile on every level,” he criticized each the substance and timing of Trump’s message, questioned the scope of presidential authority implied within the threat, and segued right into a dark theory that the president might be the Antichrist.
“How dare you speak that way on Easter morning to the country?” Carlson said. “Who do you think that you might be? You’re tweeting out that word on Easter morning.”
From there, Carlson’s critique of Trump’s language gave technique to a more speculative argument invoking Christian eschatology, during which the Antichrist is described as a deceptive political figure who ushers in global upheaval.
Carlson also urged White House staff and other government officials to resign fairly than perform orders they view as illegal or dangerous.
“Those people who find themselves in direct contact with the president have to say, ‘No, I’ll resign. I’ll do whatever I can legally to stop this, because that is insane. Should you give the order, I’m not carrying it out. Work out the codes on the football yourself,’” he said.
The religious framing echoes revelations from the Dominion Voting Systems defamation lawsuit against Fox News, during which filings showed Carlson privately texted in 2021 that he “passionately” hated Trump and described him as a “demonic force” — a glimpse of tensions that predated their current public rift.
The 2 appeared to reconcile in 2023, when Trump defended Carlson following his ouster from Fox News and selected to take a seat for an interview on Carlson’s web show fairly than take part in a primary debate.
More recently, Carlson has emerged as a contrarian voice throughout the MAGA sphere, at times breaking with Trump while aligning himself with figures comparable to Candace Owens and Megyn Kelly.
Speaking of Kelly, it looks as if Trump can a minimum of still count on her support, despite their very own on-off feuding. This week, she told her audience that there may be little the president could do to make her vote for a Democrat.
“I mean, truthfully, Trump could drop a nuke and I’d still vote Republican over those people,” Kelly quipped on her show.