Why Won’t the White House Cut Tucker Loose?
He makes life miserable for Trump officials and the drama is endless. But he’s still scoring presidential invites.
Welcome back to False Flag! After his videos on Somali-American daycares provided a pretext for the ICE crackdown in Minneapolis, right-wing YouTuber Nick Shirley has turned his attention to California.
Would it surprise you to learn that his new videos are already being debunked?
Watching Shirley’s first video in California, which claims to uncover fake voter registrations at California businesses, you get the sense that he is not really playing it straight. He’s careful to make it hard to identify the buildings where he claims the people are fraudulently registering to vote, and the people he “confronts” mostly just don’t understand what’s going on.
Cracks are already starting to appear in Shirley’s claims. In one video, he insisted that a lot of voters were listing their addresses as a UPS Store location. But, in fact, the UPS Store is in the same building as an actual apartment complex—meaning the voters are almost certainly legitimate. Not so sinister after all! Still, Shirley got a Don Jr. retweet, which makes it all worth it.
In happier news, Sam Stein and I kicked off our new MAGA Monday livestream this morning. You can check out that first episode here, and tune in next Monday at 10 a.m. Eastern for the next episode. Support this and everything else we do at The Bulwark by signing up for Bulwark+!
–Will
The White House Can’t Quit Tucker “Qatarlson”
IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN a tough week for Tucker Carlson’s standing in Trump world. The former Fox News host flew to Israel to interview another former Fox News host, Mike Huckabee, after the latter, now the U.S. ambassador to Israel, challenged him to an interview. Following some squabbles over Carlson’s security, the pair filmed a contentious face-off in an Israeli airport terminal, with Huckabee even sparking a diplomatic incident by antagonizing a number of Arab countries.
With the United States possibly on the verge of war with Iran, Israel’s greatest enemy, you’d think Carlson—a staunch critic of American support for Israel—would be on the outs with the administration. Instead, on Monday, he was reportedly back in the White House, a month after he visited to have lunch with Trump and attended a meeting with oil company CEOs.
You know who wasn’t at the White House? Me. I was busy putting this newsletter together for you! Become a Bulwark+ member to support our work:
Carlson’s continued relationship with the Trump administration has become a thorny topic for more traditional, pro-Israel conservatives, who are baffled by his seeming impunity. They see him attacking the administration while continuing to enjoy the benefits of ties to both Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance.
“I’m sick of Tucker attacking Trump and then running to the White House to pretend he hasn’t been bashing Trump for years!” fumed right-wing activist and Israel supporter Laura Loomer “I’m so fucking over it!”
Loomer, who enjoys some presidential connections of her own, claimed that Carlson had been told to keep his White House visit today a secret, but that he had, instead, leaked news of the meeting to Punchbowl’s Jake Sherman (there’s no indication he did).
“He called the President yesterday and begged him to be put on his schedule,” Loomer tweeted. “He was manic on the phone I’m told, completely belligerent begging to come to the White House today.” She went on to call him “Tucker Qatarlson” and a “neo Nazi Islamic agent.”
Dave Rubin, a right-wing commentator and critic of Carlson, chose—also without evidence—to see Carlson’s visit to the White House as a sign that he was in big trouble. Showing up at the White House, in Rubin’s telling, was the equivalent of being called to the principal’s office.
“Trump sees that Tucker is obviously trying to destroy MAGA and it appears he’s finally had enough . . .” Rubin said.
Neither Loomer nor Rubin is a reliable interpreter of, well, much. There are better explanations of why Carlson spends so much time at the White House. The first is that the administration sees him as too powerful a media figure to keep far outside the tent. The second is that they kind of like the guy—even as he pursues policy goals diametrically opposite of their own.
CARLSON’S CONTINUED PRESENCE in the top tiers of the MAGA movement has long frustrated establishment and pro-Israel Republicans. It was a key point of contention during Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk’s final months, and spilled over into the speeches at TPUSA’s convention in December.
But Carlson’s visit today to the White House, so soon after his combative interview with Huckabee in Israel, shows how little penalty there is for pushing storylines that not only make life tough for the administration but cause serious geopolitical drama.
Carlson claimed that he was denied an embassy escort in Israel, meaning he wouldn’t have the American government’s protection after he landed. He also insisted that the U.S. embassy staff in Israel refused to transmit his private jet’s details to the Israeli military—implying the Israeli government might shoot down the plane. Neither of these accusations appeared to be true. But they did cause headaches for Huckabee.
Ultimately, Carlson and Huckabee settled on conducting the interview in a terminal at Israel’s Ben Gurion Airport—a site that Carlson, always a gentleman, would later denounce as filthy. Things got worse from there.
In response to some pressing from Carlson, a bumbling Huckabee endorsed the idea of a Greater Israel that would encompass lands across the Middle East, from Egypt to Iraq. That prompted a diplomatic firestorm from numerous Muslim countries, who put out a statement condemning the remarks.
As a coup de grâce, Carlson accused Israeli President Isaac Herzog of visiting Jeffrey Epstein’s island, and pressed Huckabee on whether he knew Herzog had been to “pedo island.” That accusation appears to be based on a sloppy reading of an Epstein email release and a fake AI-generated image. On Saturday, Carlson released a rare apology prompted by a legal letter from Herzog, in which he said, “I’m sorry to imply that I knew something I didn’t know.”
Carlson’s potential legal bind delighted Loomer, who takes whatever victories she can when it comes to Carlson.
“Good luck finding a law firm that doesn’t have a Jewish partner!” she quipped.
Ultimately, Carlson’s perseverance in Trump’s orbit is a remarkable testament to his staying power. Lesser media luminaries would have been pushed to the outskirts of punditry. The question now is how long the alliance between the administration and Carlson can hold. After all, there are several major factions now tugging at Trump, including Israel supporters like Loomer and Ben Shapiro, and the Vance faction that Carlson is close to. As 2028 gets closer, expect many more fights over the White House guest list—and a whole lot more drama.
No fan of Cackling Carlson, but his interview with Huckaby should be the point. Our Ambassador to Israel [!!] said he is in favor of Israeli control over basically the entire Middle East. How is it possible, after this shocking interview, that the issue is Carlson and not our pro-ethnic cleansing Ambassador?. Please Bulwark people, your subscribers do have access to other sources of information. Please start addressing the reality of our middle eastern policy, instead of hissy fits between right wing loonies, and their access to Trump. What has been revealed is much, much more serious than that.
The White House can’t cut Tucker loose because JD Vance owes his 2022 senate election to Tucker and knows he needs Tucker to win a 2028 primary if there is even a minor fracture with Trump or his closest advisors.