Tucker Carlson and the Qatar First Republicans are sabotaging Trump

Placed in the broad context of history, the Doha Forum held earlier this month by the Emirate of Qatar doesn’t matter much. It’s neither the first nor the last time that a tyrannical regime bent on exporting a vicious ideology aimed at destroying Western civilization put on a show for the world. But the Qataris had good reason to think that they scored yet another public relations triumph last week as the world flocked to the Persian Gulf state to fawn upon them at an event whose theme was not ironically titled “Justice in Action: Beyond Promises to Action.”

That a vicious authoritarian regime whose long record of human-rights abuses and financial support for Islamist terrorism would have the chutzpah to put on an event about achieving international justice could be dismissed as something of a bad joke. But like so much of what passes for public affairs discourse at shindigs such as these, the ability of the hosts to pretend to be legitimate actors in international diplomacy and even human-rights advocacy is no joke.

The most troubling aspect wasn’t just this latest success for Qatar’s massive investment in an information operation designed to launder their reputation and bolster an invidious effort to undermine the defense of the West. It’s the way that their efforts may be tilting the scales toward appeasement of Islamists inside a Trump administration that is debating whether or not to sanction the Muslim Brotherhood.

A massive influence operation

The Doha Forum is but a small part of the Qatari regime’s efforts to convince Americans to view them as valued allies, rather than the primary engine of the Islamist threat to the United States and its allies. It spends billions to influence politicians and even congressional staffers, as well as buy university Middle East studies programs. It also fosters strategic investment designed to make friends who become indebted to them. That’s done both by bailing out people like President Donald Trump’s Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff and pouring money into schemes floated by those close to the president, like his son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and his son, Donald Trump Jr.

Kushner, who is Jewish and one of the chief architects of the 2020 Abraham Accords, which brokered diplomatic recognition of Israel by four Muslim-majority nations, was not among those last week who had the red carpet rolled out for them in Doha. But a lot of other influential people were there.

Along with leaders from Europe and the Middle East, Americans such as Trump’s son and his friend—celebrity podcaster Tucker Carlson—were featured speakers. They were joined by the likes of Jared Cohen, the head of the Goldman Sachs Global Institute, and the still prominent though politically irrelevant Hillary Clinton. The long list of political personalities included U.S. Ambassador to Turkey Thomas Barrack (who stated that Israel only “claimed” to be a democracy and endorsed authoritarian monarchy as the best form of government for much of the world in Doha), CNN’s Christiane Amanpour, financier Omeed Malik (who is the younger Trump’s business partner and the chief funder of Carlson’s current Internet podcast) and U.N. special rapporteur Francesca Albanese, who was sanctioned by the Trump administration for her anti-Jewish, anti-American propaganda campaign.

Ironically, of those Western figures who spoke in Doha, the one who made the most sense or—at least did the least to embarrass her country—was Clinton. Under hostile questioning from Rami Agrawal, the Israel-bashing editor-in-chief of Foreign Policy magazine, she doubled down on previous comments she made at an Israel Hayom event, where she insisted that the willingness of young Americans to believe the big lie that Israel was committing genocide in Gaza was the result of misinformation spread on the internet.

Other than that honest evaluation of a deplorable situation, almost everything else that came out of the forum should be understood as part of a sophisticated effort to further the very same deluge of pro-Hamas propaganda that largely emanates from Qatar. While in the past, the Gulf State has largely depended on the hugely influential Al Jazeera network that dominates the airwaves in the Arab and Muslim world, it has a new outlet that does its bidding, aimed directly at U.S. audiences and most specifically Trump voters: the Tucker Carlson Network.

Tucker Carlson shills for Doha

Carlson’s fawning interview with the prime minister of Qatar was the most widely shared media clip from the forum and, along with other comments made there, illustrated just how far-gone the former Fox News host is in his willingness to shill for the emirate.

We can chuckle at this supposed advocate for both Christian nationalism and Trump’s “America First” foreign policy, boasting of his purchasing a home in a country where religious freedom for non-Muslims is highly restricted and foreign workers are treated like serfs.

But he also used the interview to help spread their false talking point that Qatar’s financial support for Hamas was the idea of the United States and Israel. That’s a blatant lie that ignores the fact that the emirate is both the host and the chief funder for the Muslim Brotherhood, from which Hamas emanated, and that it has provided a safe haven for leaders of the Islamist terrorists.

Carlson—who has become more and more open about expressing his own antisemitism and hatred for Christian Zionists, and even the entire idea of a Judeo-Christian heritage that is the foundation of Western civilization—has no shame about being a flak for a regime that devotes its oil wealth to spreading Islamist extremism among Muslim communities in the United States and higher education. Although financiers tied to Qatar have helped fund his post-Fox career, he boasts that he hasn’t received any money from the emirate.

His praise for societies that practice sharia law is repulsive to any freedom-loving American. But it does fit in with his current stance, in which he will platform and give softball interviews to just about anybody—no matter where they fit on the political or international spectrum—that share his hatred for Israel and the Jews. That list now includes someone like Albanese, who is also a vicious opponent of the United States.

The questions that the Islamist love fest in Doha raises are not so much about Carlson’s lost integrity or the motives of people like the president’s namesake, but the success that they are having in pushing the pro-Qatar agenda inside the Trump administration.

Qatar gains ground inside the GOP

The dithering inside the White House about designating the Qatari’s Muslim Brotherhood pets as terrorists is already raising alarms among some Republicans, who are worried about the way supporters of the administration are wavering on the issue. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-Texas), a frequent target of Carlson because of his support for Israel and opposition to Iran, noted that a House bill sponsored by Republicans aimed at enshrining the designation of the Brotherhood in law was gutted in committee without any help from leftist opponents of the administration.

Just as bad was the announcement that FBI director Kash Patel had signed a Memorandum of Understanding with Qatar about expanded intelligence-sharing, joint training and security cooperation. Given Qatar’s role in the very terrorist activity the FBI is supposed to guard Americans from, this isn’t just an outrage. It’s a betrayal that could well come back to haunt Washington in the future.

All of this isn’t simply a matter of who is winning the debate about the Brotherhood and Islamist terror. It also raises serious questions about whether the Trump administration is willing to fight the growing hostility to Israel and antisemitism on the political right, or if it is going to be part of it.

Last week, Vice President JD Vance denied that Jew-hatred is “exploding” on the right. He wasn’t wrong to say that the Republican Party and the conservative movement aren’t currently “extremely antisemitic.” Yet given his unwillingness to disavow the comments and actions of his close friend and ally Carlson, plus the extremists he platforms, that’s not something for which he can claim credit.

While the Democratic Party seems to have surrendered to its left-wing base, which has embraced blood libels about Israel committing “genocide” in Gaza, and those who spread such lies, like New York City mayor-elect Zohran Mamdani, most Republican officeholders and the GOP base of evangelical Christians oppose them.

Undermining ‘America First’

Nevertheless, Carlson’s ability to remain within Trump’s inner circle is shocking but unsurprising given his close ties with both Vance and Donald Jr. But coupled with the willingness of other conservative influencers like Megyn Kelly and Matt Walsh to either express neutrality or endorse aspects of the antisemitic ravings of the former cable-news host, and even more extreme figures like Candace Owens and Nick Fuentes, it is a troubling sign about the future of the Republicans.

While these figures claim that they are supporters of Trump’s “America First” foreign policy, they must now be understood as speaking for a Qatar First faction on the right. Those who now fall under this category are united only by their willingness to undermine the West, if it also somehow hurts Israel and the Jews.

It is one thing for Trump to embrace a transactional relationship with Qatar if he believes they are doing America’s bidding by helping him achieve a ceasefire in Gaza or otherwise deter Iran and other American foes. But by allowing his administration to be compromised by Qatar’s information operation, he’s calling into question whether he is letting the emirate undermine his goals of opposing Iran, eradicating Hamas and expanding the Abraham Accords, and thus ridding the region of a threat to the United States as well as Israel.

While Carlson and his ilk are fond of raising dual-loyalty canards about supporters of Israel, it is they who are the ones who are being bought by foreign influencers and helping to sabotage U.S. foreign policy to advance the agenda of a hostile nation and an international Islamist movement. Those who want to defend America need to recognize that the best way to ensure U.S. security is to kick the Qatar First wing of the GOP out of any position of influence in Washington. If not, the administration will not only be abandoning its obligation to fight against antisemitism, it will be surrendering the national interest to anti-Western forces who will torpedo Trump’s second-term agenda.

 © JNS