Tucker Carlson titled the chapter "Should Trump Be Impeached?" Then he answered his own question.
"The second any president actively considers first use of nuclear weapons, that person should be removed from office immediately," Carlson said on the latest episode of his show, titled "LEAKED: Pentagon Nuclear Plans Prove the US Is Out of Options." He wasn't being rhetorical. He followed it up: "So why isn't there an attempt to remove him from office, like, immediately?"
The former Fox News host — who built the largest audience in cable news history by positioning himself as the most trusted voice in the MAGA movement — just called for President Trump to be removed from office over nuclear policy discussions related to Iran. This marks the most dramatic escalation yet in a feud that has been building for months.
Carlson didn't stop at one quote. "Any leader of any country who suggests first use of nuclear weapons has forfeited his right to lead," he said. Then the kicker: "Anyone who would even tolerate that kind of talk from any of his subordinates or employees is by definition unfit."
The "subordinates" in question appear to include Elbridge Colby, the Under Secretary of War for Policy, who discussed "credible, rational nuclear options" at the Strategic Command Deterrence Symposium on August 5. The context was Iran — a country actively pursuing nuclear weapons while threatening American allies. Discussing deterrence options at a deterrence symposium is what defense officials do. Carlson framed it as evidence of insanity.
The timeline tells you everything. In February, Carlson called aspects of Trump's foreign policy "disgusting and evil." In March, former National Counterterrorism Center director Joe Kent resigned — a figure aligned with Carlson's non-interventionist worldview. By April, the Carlson-Trump feud escalated publicly. In June, Carlson left the Republican Party entirely. And now, in August, he's calling for the sitting president to be removed from office.
That's not a principled evolution. That's a man who decided the movement was wrong when the movement stopped following him.
President Trump responded by declaring Carlson had "lost his way" and calling his critics "Low IQ" troublemakers. Which, for Trump, qualifies as restrained.
The non-interventionist crowd will argue Carlson is standing on principle — that nuclear first-strike discussions cross a line no patriot should tolerate. But what Carlson actually did was take a policy discussion between defense officials at a classified-level symposium and repackage it as a presidential impeachment case for his audience. Deterrence doctrine has involved first-use calculations since Truman. Every president since Eisenhower has had nuclear options briefed, discussed, and war-gamed. The question was never whether these conversations happen. It's whether you trust the commander-in-chief having them.
Carlson used to. Loudly. Nightly. To millions of viewers who trusted him because he told them to trust Trump.
He went from their voice to someone else's argument. The podium's the same — the man behind it isn't.
