Tucker Carlson Says Donald Trump's Iran War Will Get Republicans 'Crushed'
The conservative host said he talked to Donald Trump dozens of times before the war, and called himself "an idiot" for believing it would never start.
Tucker Carlson predicted that Republicans will "get crushed" in Tuesday's midterm elections because of President Donald Trump's war with Iran. He said he will not reward the party for the war, and that he was "an idiot" for believing Trump would never launch it.
The former Fox News host made the remarks in an Ask Tucker listener-questions episode of The Tucker Carlson Show. Carlson said he introduced Trump on stage at the Republican National Convention. He has criticized the war, which he said began on February 28.
"Yeah, they're going to get crushed," Carlson said. "This is the most unpopular war in American history and was from the first day. So why would voters reward that? They're not going to."
Tucker Carlson Refuses to Reward Republicans
A listener told Carlson he planned to give Republicans "one last chance" rather than help the Democratic Socialists of America. Carlson said he understood the reluctance. He criticized the DSA at length, then said the war outweighed it.
"There are certain things you can't support and getting pushed by Israel into a war with Iran that destroys the American empire is high on that list," Carlson said. "So no, I'm not rewarding that." That is Carlson's own account of how the war began.
He also said the war was not the only drag on Republicans. "It's not just this war. The Epstein stuff hurt a lot," he said. Carlson argued that the files tied to the late sex offender Jeffrey Epstein belong to the public, not the government. "Those files belong to us," he said, adding that in his view millions of them remain unreleased.
'I'm an Idiot for That'
Another listener asked whether Carlson could have done more to talk Trump out of the war. Carlson said he talked to the president "dozens of times last winter, meaning in December, January, and February about Iran and about Venezuela at great length." He added that he had visited Israel, Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Qatar and Jordan in the weeks before the strikes.
His failure, he said, was in his own judgment.
"What I didn't do was admit to myself that the war was actually coming. I couldn't believe it, I couldn't accept it," Carlson said. "Up until I woke up the morning the war started, February 28th, I continued to believe he wouldn't do it. And I'm an idiot for that."
He said he made the same mistake before the Iraq invasion. "I felt that way about the Iraq war, by the way, in March of 2003," he said, adding that if he had been certain, "I would have just sounded the alarm publicly more than I did."
How Unpopular Is the Iran War?
Polls back up the claim that the war has been unpopular from the start. Comparing it with Vietnam or Korea is harder, because those polls asked different questions in a very different era.
Gallup found that 34 percent of Americans approved of the military action against Iran in a survey conducted June 1-15. Gallup said that even the roughly 40 percent support Quinnipiac measured in early March would put the war "among the least favored at the outset" of the U.S. military actions it has tracked since the 1980s. A Quinnipiac University poll released July 29 found 60 percent of voters opposed it and 34 percent supported it.
The sharpest comparison comes from the question of whether a war was a mistake. An ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll published May 1 found 61 percent called the Iran war a mistake. Early in earlier conflicts, 20 percent said so of Korea, 24 percent of Vietnam and 26 percent of Iraq.
Historical figures for Korea, Vietnam, the Gulf War, Afghanistan and Iraq are as compiled in the ABC News article and are labeled by when each survey was taken. The Iran figure is from the ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll and is labeled by its publication date, May 1, 2026, not its field dates. Pollsters, wording and timing differ.
Source: ABC News
That speed is what stands out, not the peak. Sixty-four percent called the Iraq war a mistake in January 2007, nearly four years after the invasion. Whether Iran is the "most unpopular" war overall remains Carlson's own characterization.
What the Midterm Polling Shows
The broader numbers match Carlson's forecast in direction, if not in scale. Democrats lead PolitiKool's generic ballot polling average 49.7 percent to 41.2 percent. Trump's approval stands at 37.6 percent in PolitiKool's polling average.
The Senate is closer. PolitiKool's Senate polling average rates control a toss-up, with eight races in that category. Carlson is not alone on the right in sounding the alarm: Steve Bannon called several of those races "on the razor's edge" on Thursday, and Joe Rogan said the war let down Trump voters who wanted "no more war."
Whether those voters stay home, switch sides or come back to the GOP will be settled Tuesday.
Sources
- Approval of Iran War in Historical Context (Gallup, June 2026) — 34% approval in a June 1-15 survey; Gallup says early support, including the roughly 40% Quinnipiac found in early March, makes Iran among the least-favored U.S. military actions at the outset since the 1980s.
- Quinnipiac University National Poll, July 29, 2026 — 60% of voters oppose U.S. military action in Iran, 34% support.
- ABC News/Washington Post/Ipsos poll: most say using U.S. military against Iran was a mistake — Published May 1, 2026: 61% call the Iran war a mistake; historical 'mistake' figures for Korea, Vietnam, Gulf War, Afghanistan and Iraq.