Sebastian Gorka accused Tucker Carlson of repackaging Pat Buchanan’s isolationism in a “shallower” form, as the former Fox host faces mounting criticism for his anti-Israel stance and controversial interviews with authoritarian leaders.
The battle inside America’s right-wing over Israel has erupted again — this time with a senior aide to President Donald Trump taking aim at Tucker Carlson.
Speaking at a Hudson Institute event in Washington, D.C., Sebastian Gorka, deputy assistant to the president and senior director for counterterrorism at the White House National Security Council, accused Carlson of “repackaging” Pat Buchanan’s brand of isolationism.
“This wing of isolationism is nothing new. We had this 100 years ago, and this is just a poor, substandard repackaging of neo-Buchananite isolationism,” Gorka said.
“The Tucker right wing is basically Pat Buchanan in a new guise. It is actually a shallower version. Pat is far smarter than this version of isolationism.”
Carlson’s Anti-Israel Shift
Carlson has emerged as one of the loudest right-wing critics of Israel since the October 7 Hamas massacre and his exit from Fox News. He has opposed the Trump administration’s strong support for Israel and, in June, condemned Operations Rising Lion and Midnight Hammer, the joint U.S.-Israeli strikes on Iran’s nuclear weapons program. Carlson warned the missions could trigger World War III — a prediction disproven when the war against Iran ended in 12 days with no American casualties.
Growing Accusations of Antisemitism
Carlson’s stance has drawn accusations of antisemitism from both political opponents and conservatives. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) blasted Carlson’s “obsession with Israel” as troubling.
The ex-Fox host has further fueled controversy through softball interviews with authoritarian leaders, including the President of Iran and the Prime Minister of Qatar. Both regimes are notorious backers of terrorism and human rights abuses.
He has also platformed fringe voices such as Darryl Cooper, who smeared Winston Churchill as the “chief villain of World War II” instead of Hitler and described the Holocaust as six million Jews who merely “ended up dead” rather than murdered.
Gorka’s Rebuke: A Turning Point?
By tying Carlson to Buchanan — long seen as the intellectual godfather of the American isolationist right — Gorka’s remarks highlight the deepening split among conservatives over Israel, foreign policy, and the fight against antisemitism.
As Carlson’s following grows online, the question now looms: Is the right drifting toward a new era of isolationism, or will pro-Israel conservatives hold the line?
