Tucker Carlson blamed Republicans' devastating midterm losses on the party's abandonment of America First principles Wednesday, accusing establishment Republicans of betraying their own voters.
Carlson blasted Republicans for backing the widely unpopular war with Iran, prioritizing Israel over America and turning a blind eye to political corruption, as well as the Trump administration's "hostile" response to Americans' demand for transparency on the Epstein files, arguing that party leaders abandoned the priorities that brought them to power in a "Tucker Carlson Show" episode. Democrats took the House, Senate and achieved major victories in historically red states in Tuesday's midterm elections.
The podcast host accused Republican leadership of treating its own voters with "contempt," suggesting the party's electoral collapse reflected a growing backlash against Washington's political establishment.
"We didn't just lose; we got totally humiliated and destroyed", Carlson said in the episode. Similar to Ron DeSantis, Carlson attributes midterm losses to a growing disenchantment with the Republican Party rather than a growing affinity for liberalism. (RELATED: College Republicans' Populist Faction Makes Stunning Break With Trump Over Midterms, Broken Promises)
"If you are a Trump voter who didn't vote for Republicans yesterday or voted against them, and we know a bunch of those, and it's not because they're liberal at all, it's because they're not liberal and they're mad and they know that they've been abandoned", Carlson explained, citing that many former Trump supporters feel that he abandoned the America First agenda in favor of foreign entanglements and hiding the truth about Epstein.
"But there's been no effort in D.C. at all … to reckon with this", he said, highlighting that many voters feel that Republican leadership has totally ignored their concerns.
Though establishment Republican leaders touted "America's Golden Age," Americans approval for Congress is at rock bottom, and the current Congress has passed the lowest number of bills in a decade. This is exemplified by the failure to pass the SAVE ACT, a key election integrity bill that still sits in limbo despite the Republicans controlling the House, and Senate.
Carlson identified the blatant failure to release the full Epstein Files, a major campaign talking point, as a turning point for many former Trump supporters.
Representatives Ro Khanna and Thomas Massie had to pen the Epstein Files Transparency Act, which President Donald Trump initially opposed, but ultimately signed.
"This is kind of underrated, I think, as one of the causes for yesterday's disaster. The Epstein Files highlighted an elite class operating under different rules than the greater American population with little to no accountability, and an administration hostile to its own constituents demanding transparency. But how dare you whip around and try and make me feel guilty for asking a question about a justice system that we own that you administer at our request with our permission and our votes?" Carlson asked.
The Epstein Files became a vulnerability for Republicans heading into the midterms, with a Democratic PAC launching advertisements attacking Republicans for their association with disgraced pedophile Jeffrey Epstein.
The Department of Justice has not charged any individuals since the release of the files.
Foreign wars and entanglements were also addressed as leading reasons for the loss.
"They are telling you the Iran war had nothing to do with this", Tucker said, referencing a Fox News segment where Mark Levin and Ben Shapiro allege that the Iran War would only be a 4% issue among midterm voters.
Exit polls refute Levin and Shapiro's claims, with 87% of voters being concerned about the price of diesel and fuel. Currently, the Iran War is the least popular war since Vietnam amongst voters, according to the Washington Post.
He also argued that polling data regarding the Iran war does not give a holistic picture of the issue.
"Are you for destroying the U.S. economy and paying a lot more for fuel and food and everything else to get rid of their nuclear program or to please the Likud coalition in Israel? That might get a different response", Carlson questioned.
The Iran war was initially started over a nuclear program that was destroyed in summer 2025 according to the Pentagon. Since the onset of the war, fuel prices have skyrocketed, with the war itself costing each American household approximately $2,000.
"They're not putting America first. And what is this bizarre relationship we have with Israel?" Carlson asked, referring to the billions of dollars of aid given annually, and the countless wars in the Middle East fought on behalf of the nation.
Allegations of political corruption also dogged many appointees, with the issue sitting top of mind for many Americans as they cast their vote Tuesday.
While serving as the Secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem awarded over $220 million in no-bid contracts for advertisements to companies close to her and her senior advisors. Trump appointee Kimberly Guilfoyle came under fire for asking a Trump donor to wire $100,000 to her personal account, and resigned from her position as U.S. Ambassador to Greece.
Additionally, Trump's son-in-law Jared Kushner is a primary stakeholder in a Tel-Aviv based financial firm with direct ties to Israeli military operations while participating in Gaza peace negotiations, according to CNN.
"It's another way of saying we don't care about you," Carlson said.
Carlson asserted that the establishment neoconservatives in politics and media should no longer have power in the Republican Party.
"They cannot continue to run this country because they're running it to the ground," he said.
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