Trump behind Carlson's Israel visit to reduce heat in conservative antisemitism debate - exclusive

Trump urges Tucker Carlson and conservatives to de-escalate the internal fight over Israel, aiming for unity amid rising tensions, says Melissa Francis.

Melissa Francis: Behind Tucker Carlson and Ambassador Mike Huckabee's debate

ByJERUSALEM POST STAFF

FEBRUARY 18, 2026 15:00

Updated: FEBRUARY 18, 2026 18:04

Take this podcast to go: • Apple Podcasts • Spotify • More

Watch without interruptions

US President Donald Trump has directly urged Tucker Carlson to ease the internal conservative fight over Israel, telling him and others to “turn down the temperature,” according to Melissa Francis, a former Fox News and Fox Business anchor who has been active in pro-Israel advocacy since October 7.

Francis spoke on Wednesday with The Jerusalem Post at the paper’s studio in Jerusalem in a conversation with editor-in-chief Zvika Klein. The interview took place as Carlson prepared to sit down with US Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee in a widely watched public interview in Jerusalem.

“Everybody’s looking for a way to turn down the temperature,” Francis said. “President Trump is telling everyone, including Tucker, ‘Let’s take this down.’”

Francis described the Carlson-Huckabee event as more than a media spectacle. In her telling, it is an attempt to prevent Israel from becoming the issue that breaks the Republican coalition into hostile camps at a time when “America First” arguments about foreign entanglements have grown louder and social media rewards confrontation.

“The division in the Republican Party right now has to end,” she said, arguing that the infighting is “causing endless problems.” She framed Trump as focused on keeping conservatives aligned, even when they disagree. “The enemy wins when those that are on the side of God are divided,” she added, using language that reflects the faith-based framing common among many pro-Israel conservatives.

Tucker Carlson during a visit to Israel.

Tucker Carlson during a visit to Israel. (credit: X/@TuckerCarlson)

A Jerusalem sit-down

Francis said the path to the Jerusalem sit-down ran through a public dispute that escalated online and quickly became a proxy fight about Israel, the Middle East, and the boundaries of acceptable debate inside conservative politics.

She said she has known both Carlson and Huckabee for years through overlapping media and political circles, and she presented herself as a connector who believed there was still a way to move the dispute out of social media and into a structured conversation.

“I’m not in a daily show of fighting people,” Francis said, describing her current work as more focused on longer-form projects than constant on-air sparring. Still, she said the feud felt large enough to demand an intervention because it was spreading beyond personalities and into the broader conservative ecosystem.

“This really had gotten out of control,” she said of the escalation.

Francis said Carlson was willing to come to Israel quickly but wanted an invitation that signaled legitimacy. He wanted to know he would be welcomed at the highest level.

“I would go tomorrow,” Francis recalled him saying, before adding the condition, “I need to know that the prime minister would welcome me.”

According to Francis, Carlson told her he had approached Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu repeatedly through intermediaries and that Netanyahu “was not interested.” She presented that as the moment when the original plan came to a halt.

At that point, she said, she shifted to what she saw as the remaining viable path: an invitation from the US ambassador.

“I guess it has to be your invitation because it’s not coming from the prime minister,” Francis said she told Huckabee.

Francis said Huckabee’s view was that Carlson needed to see Israel directly and spend time on the ground. “If Tucker just came and walked around and saw, I think it would be different,” she recalled Huckabee saying.

She also suggested there was a personal and political familiarity between the two men that made a sit-down possible. She cited long-standing connections and described a sense that even those engaged in public arguments were, in private, seeking a way to retreat without appearing weak.

“I happen to know that they both want to turn the temperature down,” Francis said. “It’s too hot. It’s just gotten too out of control.”

A conservative argument

Francis described a conservative movement struggling to handle internal discontent in Israel without turning every disagreement into an excommunication. She argued that the current media environment amplifies the harshest interpretations and that labels end conversations instead of clarifying them.

“Nobody likes to be told what to say and what to do,” she said. “The minute the language turns to ‘You’re antisemitic,’ the conversation stops.”

She said that dynamic has created a cycle: People hear the label, get defensive, and then retreat into their information bubbles. Meanwhile, the fight intensifies on podcasts and platforms that reward outrage.

Francis did not deny that antisemitism exists in US discourse. Her point was tactical and political: Broad accusations used as shorthand can backfire inside conservative spaces, especially among people who already distrust institutions and perceive enforcement as a form of control.

She said she has watched the conflict spread from one set of conservative personalities to another, with calls to “cancel” people becoming a reflex. She argued that this culture-war logic, applied to Israel, creates a situation where conservatives spend more time attacking each other than engaging critics outside the coalition.

Francis consistently emphasized Trump’s desire to reduce the intensity. In her framing, the president recognizes the split, believes it carries political cost, and is actively urging influential voices to stop escalating.

“President Trump is telling everyone, including Tucker,” she said, to bring the heat down.

She also described Trump as patient and goal-driven, suggesting he is willing to use persuasion and backchannels instead of public pressure when he believes an outcome matters. “President Trump knows what he wants,” she said. “And he’s also patient.”

How are Israelis perceiving this rift?

For Israelis watching from afar, the conservative debate in the US can look like an internal American culture war. Francis argued it has practical consequences.

She said Carlson’s influence, especially among younger Americans, is one reason the pro-Israel camp cannot treat the dispute as noise. “Tucker has control over Americans under 30,” she said, describing a generation that consumes politics through short clips and online personalities rather than traditional institutions.

Francis also said the strongest pro-Israel response she has seen in the US since October 7 has come from Christian audiences. She described what she called “smart Christians” who see the conflict in moral terms and respond to arguments about good and evil, right and wrong. In her view, that support is real, but it can be weakened when conservatives turn Israel into a loyalty test inside their own camp.

Francis said she does not expect a single interview to resolve deep disagreements. She framed the Jerusalem sit-down as a pressure release valve, a way to replace online escalation with a public conversation that allows people to argue, clarify, and move forward.

“I don’t have the illusion that you’re going to change people’s minds,” she said. Her desired outcome is simpler. “Let’s just stop fighting about Israel,” she said.

Whether the Carlson-Huckabee event accomplishes that goal depends on what happens on stage and what happens afterward, when clips circulate, supporters spin, and critics respond. Francis said she is trying to push the conservative conversation toward de-escalation.

The alternative, she said, is a conservative movement that cannibalizes itself, while adversaries benefit from the chaos.

See more on

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5835979&forum_id=2Vannesa#49677918)

Now, the fact that Trump would demand this is the real problem.

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5835979&forum_id=2Vannesa#49677972)

(http://www.autoadmit.com/thread.php?thread_id=5835979&forum_id=2Vannesa#49677999)