Tucker Carlson: 'I Will Be Tormented' By Backing Trump — Apology and Reckoning

Tucker Carlson, the conservative podcaster and former Fox News host, said he is 'tormented' by his past support for Donald Trump and offered a public apology for misleading viewers. He made the remarks in a conversation with his brother, Buckley Carlson, a former Trump speechwriter, on The Tucker Carlson Show while reflecting on how traditional conservative principles have been sidelined in a Republican Party shaped by the president.

'You know, we’ll be tormented by it for a long time — I will be. And I want to say I’m sorry for misleading people. It was not intentional, that’s all I’ll say,' Carlson told his brother.

Carlson’s relationship with Trump has evolved over decades. In 1999 he once called Trump 'the single most repulsive person on the planet,' yet he was among the commentators who urged taking Trump seriously before the 2016 election. Carlson later became a prominent Trump ally: he publicly praised Trump’s 'strange charisma' in 2016, embraced an 'America First' agenda by 2020, and campaigned with Trump in 2024 — including speaking at an event five days before election night.

Admission Of Responsibility

In his latest remarks, Carlson acknowledged his role in bolstering Trump’s comeback and said media figures and advisers who supported the former president share some responsibility for present events. He told Buckley that simply saying 'I changed my mind' is insufficient and that those who helped elevate Trump are 'implicated' in the consequences.

Carlson has also publicly broken with Trump on foreign policy, particularly regarding U.S. support for Israel and the conflict that began in Iran in late February. He criticized the president’s rhetoric on Iran as 'vile on every level' and said Trump 'clearly had no plan for [it]' and acted against promises he had made.

Context And Controversies

The reversal comes amid growing public friction between Carlson and Trump. Trump has attacked Carlson and other former MAGA-era media figures — calling Carlson 'a Low IQ person — Always easy to beat, and highly overrated!!!' and threatening to publish a ranking of supporters. Carlson’s own controversies include private messages revealed during discovery in Dominion Voting Systems’ defamation case against Fox News, where he described Trump’s first presidency as a 'disaster' and said, 'I hate him passionately … I can’t handle much more of this.' The Fox settlement was $787m, and Carlson was fired from the network in 2023 after a 14-year run.

After leaving Fox, Carlson launched his own media company. He has continued to court controversy — for example, interviewing Nick Fuentes, a white supremacist, on his podcast in October — and making provocative public remarks on religion and international affairs.

Speaking to Newsmax earlier in April, Carlson said he still 'liked' Trump and felt 'sorry for him,' comparing the president’s constraints to those of 'slaves' and suggesting he is 'hemmed in by other forces.' On his podcast he even posed whether Trump could be 'the antichrist' after the president attacked Pope Leo XIV and shared an AI image depicting himself as Jesus.

On Monday, Carlson reiterated his apology for misleading viewers and reflected publicly on the role he and other conservative media figures played in elevating Trump. His comments represent a notable moment of contrition from a high-profile right-wing voice during a period of intense political and geopolitical debate.