Tucker Carlson and Steve Bannon warn that without a singular focus from the president to stop it right now, the U.S. will be dragged into war with Iran and repeat all the mistakes of the war on terror on an even larger scale. “I don’t want my country to be further weakened and destroyed by another one of these wars,” Tucker said. “And if you can’t connect the dots after 25 years of this sh*t, you’re either too dumb to participate in the conversation, or, like Mark Levin, you’re just a liar who doesn’t care.” “This is a perfect way to scuttle the USS America on the shores of Iran, but it’s also going to end Trump’s presidency, effectively end it. And so that’s why I’m saying this.” He addressed President Trump: “You’re the only person who can bring peace. You should continue to try to do that. It’s difficult; it takes a long time, but your timetable is the only timetable that matters.” “Don’t get bum-rushed. You don’t need to fix this because there’s political turmoil in Bibi’s coalition. That’s not relevant. He’s at thirty-percent approval; that’s not your problem. Just because some ultra-Orthodox party doesn’t want to be conscripted or whatever’s going on in Israel-those are longtime problems that country has had; that’s not relevant to your plans as leader of the free world, OK?” “We’re in the final stages of being able to pull back, and pretty soon there’s no pulling back.” “I think this can be stopped, but it’s gonna require a really tough step, which is to say to our client state: we love you, we want to help you. We don’t think you’re acting in your own best interest,” he said. “We could debate that-but we are not going to imperil American national security or the American economy or America itself on your behalf.” “As you would say to a child: I mean, you’ve got a bunch of kids, you say no to them, of course you do. because you love them. It’s OK to do that.” “What’s the endgame here? The endgame, of course, is to topple the regime and just have this ninety-million-person civil war and further destroy Europe and the world. We’re not doing that again. We’ve already been through this. This is big-boy stuff; this is not Gaza.” “I feel completely backed into a corner: we are on the cusp of entering a war on behalf of a political leader in a faraway country that’s going to really hurt my country,” he said.

TUCKER CARLSON: I feel like what I’m doing now, I love Trump and I mean that. Does Trump frustrate you? Of course. I mean you’ve, you’ve certainly been through that. But my dog’s frustrate me, my kids’ frustrate me. I mean, you get frustrated when you deal with people you love. But my core feeling about Trump-and I think it’s obvious in the way I talk about him-is that I don’t need any more money. I don’t need anything from anybody. If I didn’t like Trump, I’d just say so. I actually really love Trump. I think he’s a deeply humane, kind person. And I am saying this because I’m really afraid that my country is going to be further weakened by this. I think we’re gonna see the end of the American empire. Obviously other nations would like to see that, and this is a perfect way to scuttle the USS America on the shores of Iran, but it’s also going to end, I believe, Trump’s presidency and effectively end it. And so that’s why I’m saying this. STEVE BANNON: What do you mean by that? That’s coming from you. TUCKER CARLSON: Look, I knew Bush. I knew George W. Bush. We had, you know, family connections to Bush. I still see Bush sometimes. Of course, he hates me-he does because I criticized him on Iraq, and that war is the sum total, from a historical perspective, of his administration. But I knew him, and he had all kinds of plans for the things that he wanted to do. But once domestically-to improve the country-and you may agree or disagree-in his mind he wasn’t just about the invasion of Iraq in March of-oh no, no, he was gonna redo Social Security. He had all sorts of plans. He was gonna take care of the entitlements issue, and he really thought it was gonna work. You could laugh at that or whatever, but the point is the second you get mashed in a real war-not a fake let’s go bomb the villagers and declare success-we don’t even have a good track record. Like, why are the Houthis still there? I mean, there’s a whole other question: how prepared is the U.S. military for a real conflict? The answer is totally unprepared-scary unprepared. I don’t think people understand that. But anyway, the only reason I’m saying any of this is because I really care, and it’s been a disaster for me personally. I wake up to all these texts: I can’t believe you’re so evil, you hate this and that. I just want to restate: I don’t hate anybody. To the extent I do hate people, I try to repent. I just don’t want to hate anybody. I really don’t. I just don’t want my country to be further weakened or destroyed by another one of these wars, and, boy, if you can’t connect the dots after twenty-five years of this shit, you’re either too dumb to participate in the conversation or you’re like Mark Levin-a liar who doesn’t care. STEVE BANNON: I know you got a bounce. We’re gonna hang up this afternoon. One question: if you were able to see the president in the next couple of days when he gets back, what would be the two or three things you would tell him, Mr. President? This is my heartfelt advice about where we are right now. TUCKER CARLSON: I can tell you this because I try to speak exactly the same way in private-I use the F word more-but in general I say the same things. I would say to him: you’re the only person who can bring peace. You should continue to try to do that. It’s difficult; it takes a long time, but your timetable is the only timetable that matters. Don’t get bum-rushed. You don’t need to fix this because there’s political turmoil in Bibi’s coalition. That’s not relevant. He’s at thirty-percent approval; that’s not your problem. Just because some ultra-Orthodox party doesn’t want to be conscripted or whatever’s going on in Israel-those are longtime problems that country has had; that’s not relevant to your plans as leader of the free world, OK? If you get involved in a war that includes American troops and force- STEVE BANNON: If you’re launching missiles from submarines into Iran, or combat sorties (you could argue maybe we’re combatants now. TUCKER CARLSON: I just want to pretend we’re not because, (of course, we are) but I want to pretend we’re not because we’re in the final stages of being able to pull back, and pretty soon there’s no pulling back. We’re still sending money to Ukraine to fight Vladimir Putin. Like, how did that happen? It happened because nobody just stopped it. Nobody said, Hey, Zelensky, you’re not even elected; you’re a dictator. Off the stage-run to Switzerland. STEVE BANNON: The intelligence services are helping from Wiesbaden to plan a three-thousand-mile strike on their strategic assets in the country. TUCKER CARLSON: Yeah, the U.S. intelligence services are also fully aware of the many assassinations and assassination attempts against opponents and critics of the Ukrainian regime-many, including someone I know. This is super dark, man. The more you know about it, it’s like the U.S. intel community is aware that the Ukrainian intel community is murdering people, including Americans. Like, how can that even happen? There’s a lot, but the last thing I’ll say is: the second the killing starts, the calculations change. People become much less principled, much less reasonable, much less able to see vengeance and annihilation, and they can’t see their own interests clearly. So don’t go there. I’m an optimistic man and I think we could pull back-I wish the president wasn’t in Canada. I don’t wish a trip to Canada on anyone because I think it’s a really dark country. I hope he gets home soon because you don’t want any of that Canadian rubbing off on you while you’re there. But yeah, I think this can be stopped, but it’s gonna require a really tough step, which is to say to our client state: we love you, we want to help you. We don’t think you’re acting in your own best interest. And we could debate that-but we are not going to imperil American national security or the American economy or America itself on your behalf. We’re not gonna do that because that’s immoral. Our population doesn’t want it. We say this with love, but no-no, as you would say to a child: I mean, you’ve got a bunch of kids, you say no to them, of course you do. because you love them. It’s OK to do that. And, you know, their proxies in the U.S.-Bari and that Levin character-will jump on him: You lie, you hate them. i don’t hate them at all. I like them. This is crazy. What’s the endgame here? The endgame, of course, is to topple the regime and just have this ninety-million-person civil war and further destroy Europe and the world. We’re not doing that again. We’ve already been through this. This is big-boy stuff; this is not Gaza-I never say anything about Gaza because I was really offended by it. They blew up a church in Gaza with my money. I’m a Christian: no, how about no? I said one thing about that, and I’ve never heard the end of it, but I tried to stay away from Gaza. But now we’re talking about a huge country-Southwest Asia, one of the biggest energy regions in the world. STEVE BANNON: And an ancient civilization. TUCKER CARLSON: And you’re not going to convince me that the Iranian people are my enemy-I don’t like Shiite clerics. I’m a freaking Episcopalian-settle down. However, you’re not going to convince me that the Iranian people are my enemy. We’re going down this path where you’re told who you’re required to hate; it’s Orwellian. I’m a free man. You’re not telling me who I have to hate; I’ll decide who I like and don’t like based on my values and what I believe my interests are. They spent five years telling me Vladimir Putin is my enemy-no, he’s not. I’m not mad at Putin; I’m mad at you. This is all so fake. I’m not playing along. I really just want to get away from this topic because it intersects with a lot of other things. So it’s not like Belgium is getting frisky with Liechtenstein-I have an opinion on that. This is a country at the center of the three biggest religions in the world, a Jewish state, so it has an emotional resonance for Jewish people in America, some of whom are my close friends. That’s different from any other country. It’s not like when things happen in Sweden or the U.K.-people aren’t quite as emotional. It’s very emotional. I don’t want anything to do with it at all. I don’t want to criticize Bibi. I don’t want to talk about Gaza. I feel completely backed into a corner: we are on the cusp of entering a war on behalf of a political leader in a faraway country that’s going to really hurt my country. I’ve got four kids, I want grandkids-are you even joking? Stop. I tried to be quiet about it. I don’t want to get involved in any of this because people are so emotional. You should see my text this morning-I got threatened. It’s too much; it’s very careless what you said. I was like, Hey, a-hole, I know what you’re saying-I got it very carefully. Anyway, whatever. I’m not whining-I’m not AOC. I’m not under threat. And what I’m saying is I don’t want to be involved in this, and I think most Americans don’t. It’s only because we’re getting drawn into a war by a tiny minority of people. I know a million people who are pro-Israel and Jewish or pro-Israel and not Jewish, like me-I’ve always been pro-Israel-who think this is not good. Why do we allow three percent of the participants in this conversation to define the terms? If you are OK with any Iranian enrichment at all, you’re for the Ayatollahs and against Israel? Shut up. No. I’m not gonna allow you to define the terms. You’re a total liar-these are liars; they’ll say anything. I’m working for Qatar, Trump was pretending to go through a peace process-no, that thing was terrible. And Steve Witkoff-who I know well, one of the most pure-hearted people, whether you agree with him or not-if you’re calling into question Steve Witkoff’s motives-Witkoff doesn’t need any of this. He’s doing it because he wants to help, and he’s paying for it himself. If you’re telling me Steve Witkoff is working for Qatar, that set me over the edge. I know Witkoff well and love him; I think he’s a decent man who wants what’s best for Donald Trump, his best friend, and for the United States. And that’s enough for me. I see his motive as pure. I know him well. When they call him an anti-Semite, it’s nuts. That’s when I realized I had to get involved because it’s too much-you can’t let that go unanswered. You have to stand up and say, I’m sorry, that’s not true; that’s a lie, and you know it’s a lie. But you’re not going to back down; you’re going to stand your ground. I just want to get away from this. I miss my favorite things and favorite people. I don’t want to argue about Israel of all subjects, and I don’t want to become a hater. Part of the dynamic is you become what they accuse you of being. I’ve seen it happen-people are accused of loving Putin, and one day they say, F it, I love Putin. OK. I think Putin’s an amazing leader-I’ve always thought that-but I’m not a close friend of Putin’s. They can drive you to become a worse version of yourself by accusing you of being that. You sort of grow into the attack, and there’s no chance I’m going to let that happen to me. There’s no chance I’m going to become a hater or obsessed with Israel. I just want to get away from the topic-there are a lot of other things going on. Stop trying to drag my country into war. That’s it.

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