Iran War in the Age of Memes and Online Battlefields
Psychologists say the White House’s “meme-ization” of war on social media can help soften the impact of war.
Tucker Carlson called President Donald Trump a “slave” of Israel and said his response to the war against Iran is “horrifying to watch” as the feud between the two countries continues to escalate.
The former Fox News host told Newsmax on April 10, “I’ve always loved Trump, but I still have the same sympathy for Trump as I do for all slaves.” He added that Trump “cannot make decisions on his own” and that the president is “constrained by other forces.”
In an April 12 interview on BBC’s “Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg,” Carlson further emphasized his interpretation of the president when asked if he believed President Trump was “a slave to Benjamin Netanyahu.”
“I don’t think it’s as simple as saying, ‘He’s under Prime Minister Netanyahu’s control,’ but it certainly can be summarized that way, and it’s not completely inaccurate,” Carlson said, clearly blaming Israel for America’s entry into the war. “We know this because the single biggest mistake President Trump, or any American president I’ve ever made, was starting a war with Iran to change the regime.”
When Kuenssberg pointed to past presidents who “said no to Benjamin Netanyahu,” Tucker agreed, saying, “They did, and I wish our president had done that, but he didn’t.”
Carlson added, “The Israeli government, this has been documented and I’ve seen it personally, has led the United States into a war that is damaging to the United States and the world.”
USA TODAY has asked the White House for a response.
The comments came days after President Trump called Carlson and other MAGA-aligned war critics “low IQ,” irrelevant and propaganda-hungry in an April 9 social media post.
“No one is talking about them and their views are the exact opposite of MAGA’s. Otherwise, if there had been a landslide, I would not have won the presidential election,” Trump wrote, adding, “MAGA agrees with me.” “He was devastated when he was fired from Fox, and he is not the same now,” he said of Carlson in the post.
The Iran war has intensified debate on the right due to the president’s dramatic threats against Iran, prompting strong opposition from some prominent pro-Trump media figures.
Carlson said on the April 6 episode of “The Tucker Carlson Show” that President Trump’s expletive-laden Easter Sunday threat against Iran’s civilian infrastructure is a “war crime” and a “moral crime.” Former Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene called for President Trump to be removed from office after he threatened in an April 7 social media post that “the entire civilization will perish tonight.”
Conservative critics say the war contradicts the anti-interventionist “America First” promise that returned President Trump to the White House. Trump ran for president as a critic of past Middle East conflicts, and some argued that his non-interventionist approach had become central to the MAGA movement. Podcaster Joe Rogan, who supported President Trump, said people felt “betrayed” by a president who said “no more war” over the Iran war.
Polls show the Iran war is widely unpopular. But most Republicans approve of President Trump’s handling of the conflict. A CNN poll released on April 1 found that only 33% of Americans approve of President Trump’s handling of Iran, compared to 73% of Republicans.
