Tucker Carlson didn’t hedge when the conversation turned to President Donald Trump’s rhetoric around war and faith — he had already spent days raising questions on his own show about whether the president’s language was part of a spiritual unraveling in America.  But when pressed directl y on whether he had gone so far as to float Trump as the Antichrist, Carlson suddenly drew a line, denying he ever said it even as a clip surfaced showing him doing exactly that. Political Commentator Tucker Carlson speaks alongside U.S. President Donald Trump during a Turning Point Action campaign rally at the Gas South Arena on October 23, 2024 in Duluth, Georgia. (Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images) The denial in the face of his own words has become the latest flashpoint in Carlson’s messy break from Trump, highlighting not just a political split over the war in Iran but a deeper pattern in how Carlson operates: testing extreme ideas out loud, then backing away when forced to own them.  The episode has fueled backlash from critics who see it as emblematic of a media figure long accused of pushing boundaries without accountability, even as his influence inside Trump’s political orbit remains significant. ‘It Was an Amazing Time’: Donald Trump Hit with Brutal Backlash for Fantasizing About When Slavery Was Not Abolished For years, Carlson stood as one of Trump’s most reliable defenders, especially during his tenure at Fox News, where his show rose alongside Trump’s presidency. He amplified Trump’s messaging, campaigned for him, and remained closely aligned even after leaving the network in 2023. He attended campaign events, backed Trump publicly, and continued to act as a key voice within the broader MAGA movement. But the relationship has begun to fracture over foreign policy, specifically, Trump’s decision to strike Iran alongside Israel. Carlson, who has long opposed U.S. military intervention abroad, saw the move as a betrayal of the very promises he had helped sell to viewers. “I told people this guy will keep us out of the next Iraq, specifically will keep us out of a regime-change war with Iran,” Carlson said in a wide-ranging interview with The New York Times. “And here we are in the middle of a regime-change war in Iran.” That sense of reversal appears to have hit Carlson on both political and personal levels. He has described feeling “tormented” over his role in supporting Trump, saying, “I’m sorry for misleading people.” The latest breaking point, by Carlson’s own account, came on Easter Sunday, when Trump issued a profanity-laced threat toward Iran’s civilian infrastructure. Carlson reacted sharply, calling it morally indefensible and out of step with the religious values he believed Trump had pledged to defend. “I was just completely outraged by that,” he told the Times, describing the post as “a moral crime.” From there, Carlson’s criticism escalated beyond policy into something more abstract and controversial. On his podcast, he began framing Trump’s behavior in spiritual terms, asking whether the president saw himself as operating on a higher plane. In one segment, he said: “Could this be the Antichrist?” When confronted with that line directly, Carlson flatly denied it. “I have not said that,” he insisted. But when told there was video of him saying it, Carlson shifted. “I actually did not say, ‘Could this be the Antichrist?’” he said, before adding, “Man, then my apologies to you, if there’s a video of me saying that.” Carlson, who has been a sharp critic of Israel’s influence on U.S. foreign policy, later included Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as another “false prophet” alongside Trump in a remarkable exchange with the Times reporter: My interpretation was that you were warning other Christians not to follow a false prophet. Yes, that’s exactly what I’m warning. That false prophet being President Trump? Yes, and Netanyahu. There are a lot of evangelical Christians who are convinced that God wants you to support Netanyahu, which I find incomprehensible. Carlson’s denial of the Antichrist remarks drew backlash online, with critics seizing on the contradiction.  View on Threads “Once again, we didn’t hear what we heard,” one person commented. Others echoed the same mood. “I can’t with these people anymore. Tucker has and always will be full of crap.” Another commenter accused Carlson of gaslighting his audience.  “Take every single one of Tucker’s criticisms of Trump as just him testing the waters with his audience. He’s seeing what is allowed and what is not, like a groomer. None of his words are sincere. It’s just him trying to see what gets him power.” The blowback intensified as more people focused on the timeline. “So the NYT played a clip of him saying that. And he STILL DENIED IT!!! And he said it less than a month ago. You can’t make this sh-t up. This, in a nutshell, is what is wrong with conservative Christian America — not only are they liars, they’re fkng insane.” Even in his own explanation, Carlson acknowledged a tendency to explore ideas that may not be fully grounded. “I have a lot of thoughts and theories about things which may or may not be rooted in reality,” he said. That approach has allowed him to speak to an increasingly drawn-to big-picture narratives about unseen forces and moral battles, especially as he leans more heavily into religious language. He has emphasized that his goal is not to label Trump definitively, but to push viewers to think beyond traditional political analysis. “I want my audience to see what’s happening now in terms beyond just material,” he told the Times, pointing to what he described as a broader spiritual dimension. Still, even as Carlson tried to reframe his comments, Trump responded aggressively. “Tucker’s a low IQ person that has absolutely no idea what’s going on,” Trump said, according to The New Republic. “He calls me all the time; I don’t respond to his calls. I don’t deal with him. I like dealing with smart people, not fools.” ‘Always Will be Full of Crap’: Tucker Carlson Folded When Asked Directly About a Damning Name He Gave Trump, Then the Reporter Rolls the Clip ...read more read less