Tucker
Carlson Mocks Trump’s Approval Rating As Feud Escalates
BySiladitya
Ray,Forbes Staff.
Siladitya Ray is a New Delhi-based Forbes news
team reporter.
May 21,
2026, 07:49am EDTMay 21, 2026, 07:59am EDT
Topline
Right-wing
pundit Tucker Carlson attacked President Donald Trump for touting his supposed
“99%” approval rating in Israel on his podcast on Wednesday night, as the
former Fox News host and one-time Trump ally continued to escalate his feud
with the president and accused him of colluding with donors to oust Rep. Thomas
Massie, R-Ky.
Carlson
again bashed the president’s decision to go to war, saying on his podcast he
could not have imagined a year ago that Trump would be “cheerleading a regime
change war in the Middle East against Iran.”
The
former Fox host played a clip of Trump speaking to reporters earlier this week,
where the president claims he has a 99% approval rating in Israel and jokes:
“So, maybe after I do this, I’ll go to Israel and run for prime minister.”
Carlson
then called out the president for “bragging about his popularity” in a foreign
country, “the same country that got us into the war,” which was hurting his
popularity at home.
Carlson
also said Trump didn’t mention his approval rating has plummeted to “35% in the
United States.”
The
right-wing commentator accused Trump of spending the last year “looking outward
toward the approval of other nations.”
Trump’s
approval rating has slumped to near record second-term lows in recent weeks,
and the latest Reuters/Ipsos poll showed his approval rating was at 35% while
63% disapproved of his performance as president.
Crucial
Quote
“The last
year has not made America great again. The last year has diminished American
power at a rate some of us thought was unimaginable. We couldn’t have foreseen,
less than a year and a half ago… the damage that this administration – led by
that president, for whom we campaigned and liked personally – could do to this
country,” Carlson added.
Tangent
On his
show, Carlson also attacked billionaire GOP donors Miriam Adelson, Paul Singer
and John Paulson for financially backing Massie’s primary opponent and claimed
this was a result of the Kentucky Congressman’s opposition to U.S. military aid
for Israel. He claimed: “They colluded in effect to destroy Thomas Massie…Trump
colluded with three of his donors, including his biggest, Miriam Adelson, to
destroy Thomas Massie, and to end his career in Congress by beating him in the
Republican primary.” Earlier this month, Carlson accused Adelson and
billionaire media mogul Rupert Murdoch of pushing Trump into the Iran war.
Key
Background
Carlson
has been among a group of prominent right-wing MAGA figures who have publicly
split with Trump over various issues, including the handling of the Epstein
files and the ongoing war in Iran. On his podcast last month, Carlson said he
would be “tormented” by his support for Trump for a “long time.” At the time,
the former Fox host said, “And I want to say I’m sorry for misleading people.
It was not intentional, that’s all I’ll say.” The right-wing pundit was joined
by his brother and Trump’s former speechwriter, Buckley Carlson, on the podcast
and told him: “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.”
How Has
Trump Responded To Carlson’s Criticism?
While the
president has not responded to Carlson’s latest comments, he has attacked the
former Fox host and others, his ex-allies turned foes, by calling them “NUT
JOBS, TROUBLEMAKERS” in multiple Truth Social posts. Trump mocked Carlson,
claiming he was “thrown off Television” and dismissed his criticism as a bit to
gain “cheap publicity” for his podcast. He also called Carlson a “Low IQ person
- Always easy to beat, and highly overrated!!!”
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