On Trust and Tucker Carlson's "Remorse"
It's not enough to say you're sorry, not after what America has been living through
Tucker Carlson apologized this week for supporting Donald Trump and misleading people into voting for him. That’s Tucker Carlson the right-wing opportunist, the former Fox host and now popular podcaster who has energetically supported Vladimir Putin and Viktor Orbán and called Volodymyr Zelensky a “Ukrainian pimp.” Carlson is the nasty propagandist who has promoted white nationalism and dangerously used his Fox platform to call efforts to increase COVID vaccinations “the greatest scandal in my lifetime, by far” and said of college students required to get vaccinated: “They shouldn’t get the shot. It’s not good for them.”
Over and over, the cynical, self-serving Carlson has proven that he will say anything for ratings and clicks, no matter the damage to life and the truth. Recall that he knew—and privately said in texts and other messages—that he and his Fox colleagues were spreading the lie that the 2020 election was stolen from Trump.
That’s why he was mentioned in Dominion Voting Systems’ $1.6 billion lawsuit against Fox News for an “orchestrated defamatory campaign” that “recklessly disregarded the truth.” That same suit described Fox taking “a small flame” of disinformation and turning it into “a forest fire,” rightly concluding, “The truth matters. Lies have consequences.” In fact, Dominion’s eventual $787.5 million settlement with Fox included the firing of Carlson.
So you should not be surprised that I look at his apology—and yes, those of other MAGA and Trump supporters who have and will abandon Trump—with more than a little skepticism. Carlson will say what’s expedient. He will shift as needed to sustain a following. He has not suddenly experienced a great moral awakening.
But let’s look for a moment at what he said in a two hour-plus podcast conversation with his brother and former Trump speechwriter, Buckley Carlson, which surely sounds like he’s done with Trump:
You and I and everyone else who supported him—you wrote speeches for him, I campaigned for him—I mean, we’re implicated in this for sure. It’s not enough to say, ‘Well, I changed my mind’—or like, ‘Oh, this is bad, I’m out.’
It’s, like, in very small ways, but in real ways, you and me and millions of people like us are the reason this is happening right now. So I do think it’s like a moment to wrestle with our own consciences. 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, and it was not intentional.
I think it’s important to realize what he said and what he didn’t say. Carlson was upset that Trump “attacked Jesus” on Easter. But he was more upset that Trump waged war against Iran, not only because of its “explicit betrayal” of his promises to not do so for the last decade, but particularly because Carlson believes he was only acting at the behest of the Israelis. Carlson also mocked anyone who would criticize Trump as racist, even as his brother called Kamala Harris “cackling cameltoe” and defended the convicted and jailed J6 insurrectionists as “political prisoners” who Trump didn’t do enough to help.
Yes, Carlson has broken with Trump now from what The Guardian’s Washington bureau chief David Smith calls “a marriage of political convenience.” After all, in 1999, Carlson called Trump “the single most repulsive person on the planet.” In 2016, during the campaign, he said Trump was “not evil,” but “mentally ill.” In 2021, he privately said, “I hate him passionately.” Then, in a speech at the 2024 Republican National Convention, he described Trump as “a wonderful person…the funniest person I’ve ever met in my life.”
All of these things are not possible simultaneously, except by an opportunist who’s looking for political advantage and is calculating his own future. Carlson may be fantasizing about a run for the presidency in 2028, but that’s not the storyline that matters.
Carlson is one of a growing number of MAGA types who have and are abandoning Trump for a variety of reasons. That gives me growing confidence about the outcome of the November midterms—the productive fulfillment of Democratic rage and the disengagement of disheartened and Trumpists. But it also raises questions about how to respond to their change of heart.
Carlson rightly noted that he and millions more are “implicated in this.” And “this” is not just pursuing a reckless, unauthorized, unsupported war of choice, but a hostile and corrupt agenda that violates the Constitution, abandons the rule of law, demonizes and abuses immigrants and people of color, grossly enriches Trump and his cronies at the expense of everyone else, and works methodically to dismantle democratic institutions and end America’s project of self-governance.
It’s not enough for them to say they’re sorry. It’s not enough to say they no longer support Trump and they are experiencing buyer’s remorse. It would be a mistake for Democrats to simply welcome them back into the fold as if all is forgiven.
Because the same underlying impulses remain: the racism, the attraction to demagoguery and dictatorship, the readiness to abandon the Constitution, the hatred toward diversity and inclusion and, ultimately, the lingering belief in their righteousness. The next chapter following the midterms—and I pray for an overwhelming Republican defeat for the good of our country—cannot be defined by simple redemption with a quick and welcoming embrace. It must be defined by investigations, prosecutions and—when justice and the law proves—convictions and imprisonments.
As this tragic period plays out, I am increasingly convinced that the timeline for America to regain trust from once steadfast allies will likely take decades, not years. The rupture—the broken trust—caused by Trump is too deep. Similarly, the rupture caused by millions of American Trump voters—and particularly propagandists like Carlson—cannot be repaired in one election cycle or two. It cannot be enough for those who were lured by Trump and Trumpism to say they are sorry, no matter how hard it is to admit they were duped and break with a narrative that provided them belonging.
The future depends on re-engagement with foundational values, including equality, justice, commitment to the rule of law and treating everyone with respect, dignity and basic humanity. It’s hard to overstate the challenge of rebuilding unity in a nation so gravely rended by the rich and powerful.
It will take the resetting of America’s laws and norms that truly respect voting rights, recognize the necessity of education and an informed citizenry, genuinely seek an inclusive democracy and end the grotesque concentration of wealth and rule by the self-serving few. We can be sure that Tucker Carlson—who hosted on Fox what was called “the most racist show in the history of cable news”—will continue to be an obstacle to that future.
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Carlson is a most repulsive human being. But he is smart, and he can see that the #DirtyOldMan's ship is sinking. So like all rats, he's getting off as fast as he can. No one should ever believe a word he says.
He was flame thrower one. And pro Russian. Could not be more contemptible. Maybe he'll join putin when he comes to Florida. And maybe he can help Russia crush Ukraine. Its all part of the package.