Carville backs 'friend' Tucker Carlson amid Trump feud

Democratic strategist and commentator James Carville voiced support for pundit Tucker Carlson after the former Fox News host took heat from President Trump for questioning his approach to Iran and a potential war in the Middle East.

"I knew Tucker Carlson very well at a time in my life. He was a very good friend of mine. I still consider Tucker to be a friend," Carville said this week while appearing on Chris Cuomo's NewsNation program. "What he was saying to Ted Cruz is consistent with what he was saying in the Green Room in 2002. He’s always been pretty isolationist."

Carville was referencing a nearly two-hour interview Carlson conducted with Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), during which the two sparred over whether and to what extent the U.S. should get involved in Israel's ongoing war with Iran.

"He’s barely much of a pacifist when it comes to this, I’ll let Tucker defend his position," Carville continued. "I’m not here to defend Tucker, but I am here to say that that is consistent with him."

The pundit's comments were first highlighted by Mediaite.

Carlson called Trump "complicit" in the ongoing violence in the Middle East, earning him a sharp rebuke from the president, who called him "kooky" in a Truth Social post.

Trump has kept the world guessing on whether the U.S. will join Israel's campaign to destroy Iran's nuclear enrichment capacity.

The issue has sharply divided Trump's supporters, with Iran hawks like Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) pushing for U.S. strikes, and "America First" champions like Carlson and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) arguing attacks on Iran risk embroiling the U.S. in another "forever war" in the Middle East.

Trump on Wednesday told reporters at the White House he spoke with Carlson this week, and he suggested the two were on good terms, calling the pundit "a good guy."

Carville, a longtime Democratic strategist, suggested he agrees with Carlson's anti-war position, comparing it to the decision to go to war with Iraq in 2003, starting a decade-long conflict that took the lives of about 4,500 U.S. troops and many more Iraqis.

"And a lot of people beat the war drums to death in the war with Iraq, which turned out to be honestly one of the great disasters in American foreign policy history," Carville said.