Former Fox News host and one-time Trump booster Tucker Carlson declared Friday that President Donald Trump should be removed from office “immediately” over nuclear policy in the Iran conflict.
Carlson made the explosive declaration Friday during a lengthy interview with Joe Kent, the former director of the National Counterterrorism Center, who resigned from the Trump administration in protest of the war with Iran.
The episode was ominously titled, “LEAKED: Pentagon Nuclear Plans Prove the US Is Out of Options,” with an entire chapter labeled, “Should Trump Be Impeached?”
Carlson said he had been “strongly opposed” to both of Trump’s first-term impeachments and called those efforts “absurd.” Then he drew a new line.
“The second any president actively considers first use of nuclear weapons, that person should be removed from office immediately, because that’s got to be the red line, destroying all of humanity with a nuclear strike,” Carlson said. “So why isn’t there an attempt to remove him from office, like, immediately?”
He added that “any leader of any country who suggests first use of nuclear weapons has forfeited his right to lead” and that “anyone who would even tolerate that kind of talk from any of his subordinates or employees is by definition unfit.”
WATCH:
Carlson argued that Trump’s public warnings of Iran’s “total destruction” amount to an implicit nuclear threat because, in his view, that level of devastation could not be achieved with conventional weapons. He also cited reported Pentagon discussions about tactical nuclear options.
But there is an important fact Carlson conveniently glossed over: The administration has not announced that President Trump authorized, or is preparing, a first nuclear strike against Iran.
During an August 5 appearance at the United States Strategic Command Deterrence Symposium, Under Secretary of War for Policy Elbridge Colby explicitly said there was no announced change to America’s declaratory nuclear policy.
Colby said the administration’s objective was to provide the president with “credible, rational nuclear options” that would strengthen deterrence and prevent war.
In other words, the Pentagon is conducting contingency planning—the exact type of planning Americans expect the military to undertake as Russia and China expand their nuclear arsenals.
Carlson, however, leaped from strategic planning and Trump’s hardline warnings to Iran to demanding that the duly elected president be thrown out of office.
Carlson argued that Trump’s previous warnings about the “total destruction” of Iran amounted to an implied nuclear threat because, in Carlson’s view, such devastation could not be accomplished with conventional weapons.
That remains Carlson’s interpretation, not an announced White House policy or evidence that Trump has ordered preparations for a nuclear first strike.
Kent similarly claimed that the administration could eventually turn to nuclear weapons if its conventional options against Iran failed.
As The Gateway Pundit previously reported, Kent resigned from the administration in March, claiming Iran posed no imminent threat to the United States and accusing Israel and its American supporters of driving the conflict.
This is hardly Carlson’s first attempt to turn his foreign-policy feud with Trump into a campaign to remove the president.
In April, The Gateway Pundit reported that Carlson and his brother discussed using the 25th Amendment against Trump. Carlson also apologized for helping elect Trump and claimed he would be “tormented” by his role in the president’s political rise.
Carlson later announced he was abandoning the Republican Party, calling continued support for the GOP “immoral.”
The feud erupted after Carlson labeled Trump’s military campaign against Iran “disgusting and evil.”
President Trump responded by declaring that Carlson had “lost his way” and was no longer MAGA. Trump later blasted Carlson and several other anti-war commentators as “Low IQ” troublemakers seeking cheap publicity.
Ad block users: Some site features may not work correctly while an ad blocker is enabled, because they break scripts and content this website depends on. If you can’t see comments below, for example, please disable your ad blocker.