Topline
Vice President JD Vance said he and Tucker Carlson are still friends despite Carlson’s fierce criticism of President Donald Trump and the Republican Party more broadly—after evading the Carlson question earlier in the week while speaking to Jewish Republicans, some of whom have grown skeptical of Vance, in part, over his relationship with Carlson.
Vice President JD Vance conducts the White House briefing on Thursday, September 3, 2026. (Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images)
CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images
Key Facts
Vance, while hosting a White House press briefing Thursday, was asked what his response is to those who are uneasy with his relationship with Carlson and say he’s avoiding addressing the issue and other divisions within the Republican Party.
He said, “I’m not avoiding addressing anything, everybody knows that Tucker Carlson and I are friends, and I think it’s very obvious that Tucker has said some things that I disagree with, he’s said some things about the president of the United States that I think are just wrong.”
Vance also raised Carlson’s suggestion earlier in the week that he would be more inclined to support Michigan’s Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed over GOP nominee former Rep. Mike Rogers, telling reporters, “I think El-Sayed’s a crazy person.”
Vance said it would be “a travesty” for political differences to define “who are friends,” saying “Tucker is a friend despite the fact we disagree on a number of things.”
Earlier in the week, at the Republican Jewish Coalition summit, Vance refused to directly criticize Carlson when asked about right-wing podcasters accused of proliferating antisemitic viewpoints, including Carlson, The Washington Post reported.
Vance said, “one area where I really do draw the line is on people who engage in what I call this blood guilt attitude, and I recognize a lot of people in this room may disagree with the things that Tucker Carlson or Megyn Kelly or Joe Rogan have said,” noting Rogan, for example, is not the same as Nick Fuentes, who Vance said “really does hate Jews.”
Tangent
Vance’s relationship with some Jewish Republicans has become tenuous over critical statements he’s made about the Israeli government, his “America First” approach to foreign policy and his efforts to broker a peace agreement with Iran. Carlson is also a sticking point. Several speakers brought him up at the RJC event earlier this week, according to The Washington Post. “We have taken Carlson by name,” former Sen. Norm Coleman, R-Minn., reportedly said. “Because platforming Holocaust deniers, smearing Jews who stand with Israel and dressing up old hatred as ‘just asking questions’ is not MAGA, and it’s not conservatism. And we have said so, and we will keep saying so.” Vance, who has maintained that he supports Israel, told the RJC audience, “there is a growing suspicion among, I would call it under 40s, of the U.S.-Israel relationship . . . I think my view is what we have to do is articulate why this is in the best interest of the United States of America.”
Key Background
Vance and Carlson are both aligned with the emerging so-called New Right that appeals to a younger generation of conservatives. The movement is skeptical of free trade and foreign military intervention, but holds some prominent MAGA views, including promoting restrictions on immigration and advocating for traditional family and social structures. Carlson, along with tech billionaires Elon Musk and David Sacks, lobbied Trump to pick Vance as his running mate in 2024, according to Axios. Carlson told the outlet at the time he believed Vance was the right choice, because, “he doesn’t secretly hate Trump, as all the rest of them do . . . that’s precisely why neocon donors fear him.” Carlson has since turned against Trump, primarily over the Iran war, accusing him of breaking his promises for an “America First” agenda and alleging he caters to Israeli interests. He has apologized for supporting Trump in the 2024 campaign and, in July, disavowed the Republican Party and said he wouldn’t support the GOP in this year’s midterms. Carlson said recently he would help build a third political party and teased the new movement by hosting a group of anti-Trump conservatives at his home in Maine. Several attendees posted a photo of the sitdown, which included Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Ky., and former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who has also disavowed the Republican Party. Carlson has stood behind Vance even as he’s criticized Trump. He told Bloomberg TV in July that “if JD Vance were president, of course he would not be at war with Iran . . . I love JD, I’ve never been shy about that, I’ve taken a lot of abuse for saying that, I probably haven’t helped him at all by saying that, I don’t agree with him on everything, of course, but I think he’s an honest, very smart, decent person. That puts him above almost all politicians I’ve ever met.”
further reading
Tucker Carlson Apologizes For Helping Trump Get Elected—Says He’s ‘Tormented’ By It (Forbes)
Tucker Carlson Says Trump Is ‘Not A Man In Charge Of His Own Life’—Wants To Build New Third Party (Forbes)
Tucker Carlson Says Trump ‘Finally Figured Out’ Israel Is ‘Biggest Threat’ To His Administration (Forbes)
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