Is Tucker Carlson eyeing a 2028 presidential run? | Arwa Mahdawi

Presidential musings? Carlson at the White House in January. Photograph: Al Drago/Getty ImagesView image in fullscreenPresidential musings? Carlson at the White House in January. Photograph: Al Drago/Getty ImagesOpinionTucker CarlsonIs Tucker Carlson eyeing a 2028 presidential run?Arwa MahdawiHe has said he is ‘tormented’ by his previous support for Donald Trump – and some suggest the former Fox News host is positioning himself for the GOP nominationTue 28 Apr 2026 08.32 EDTLast modified on Tue 28 Apr 2026 09.20 EDTShareA few years ago, Tucker Carlson was sleeping peacefully alongside his wife and four dogs when, all of a sudden, he was “physically mauled” by a demon. This supernatural attack left bloody claw marks on his side, the former Fox News star claimed in a documentary about spirituality. Shaken by this unusual ordeal, Carlson called an evangelical friend who told him: “Yeah, that happens – people are attacked in their bed by demons.” The whole thing, he said, was a “transformative experience”.Fast forward to the present day and poor old Carlson seems to be plagued by demons again, although this time they’re more metaphorical than metaphysical. The far-right personality, who started his own media company after parting ways with Fox in 2023, has said that he is “tormented” by his previous support for Donald Trump. In a recent episode of his podcast, Carlson spoke to his brother, Buckley, a former Trump speechwriter, about their shared disappointment with the president and said he was “sorry for misleading people”. This was a moment, Carlson said, “to wrestle with our own consciences”.I don’t know how genuine this mea culpa is, but it’s the most recent example of the growing fractures within the Maga movement. While Carlson privately admitted he hated Trump in text messages that surfaced during the 2023 lawsuit between Fox News and Dominion Voting Systems, he has stood by him in public, drumming up support for the Maga agenda at rallies. He has been one of the president’s biggest supporters for a decade. And while that support has waned during Trump’s second term, largely driven by Carlson’s criticism of Israel and the Iran war, this public denunciation of the president feels like a pivotal moment.Here’s the thing about Carlson: he has lots of odious views, but, unfortunately, we don’t have the luxury of ignoring him. He’s not a fringe figure: he knows how to work the attention economy. He had the highest-rated show on Fox before his abrupt departure and his YouTube channel has more than 5 million followers. And now, it seems, he has broader ambitions. Prediction markets and numerous analysts, including the New Yorker writer Jason Zengerle, who has written a new biography of Carlson, think the former Fox host may be gearing up for a bigger political project.“I don’t really think of [Carlson] as a media figure any more. I think he’s doing something very different. He’s a movement leader,” Zengerle told Poynter recently. “I think [the Iran war] sets up Tucker, especially if the war goes badly, really well to run for president in ’28. He can hang that war around JD Vance’s neck, around Marco Rubio’s neck … And he can say: ‘I was against this from the start. I’m the true heir for Maga.’”Scott Galloway, a co-host of the Pivot podcast, also thinks that’s what this recent Tucker redemption tour is about: less a road-to-Damascus moment and more a route-to-the-White-House moment. “I think I absolutely know what’s going on here,” Galloway…

This excerpt is published under fair use for community discussion. Read the full article at The Guardian — World.