Rep. Mike Lawler trades barbs with Tucker Carlson and MTG

Dave Goldiner, New York Daily News on Apr 30, 2026

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Rep. Mike Lawler traded barbs Thursday with Tucker Carlson after the right-wing pundit and former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene blasted the New York Republican congressman as a backstabbing hypocrite and closet liberal.

Lawler slammed Carlson as a “moron” and “grifter” after Carlson accused him of backing Israel too strongly, rubber-stamping the war against Iran and undercutting President Donald Trump’s anti-immigration campaign.

“The grifters are truly dumbing down America with one nonsensical argument after the next,” Lawler tweeted. “So now he’s blaming Jews for open borders?”

Carlson used the latest episode of his podcast to float a grab bag of far right-wing attacks on Lawler and other Republicans whom he derides as “neo-conservatives” because they support Trump’s war on Iran and supposedly put the interests of Israel ahead of the U.S.

The onetime Fox News host, who has expressed regret for his previous staunch support for Trump, accused Lawler of supporting “open borders” because he joined a handful of GOP moderates and all Democrats in voting to extend temporary protective status for Haitian immigrants who fled their troubled nation after a catastrophic earthquake.

“Israel’s most loyal soldiers and they are voting to open our borders once again,” Carlson said.

Greene, who also recently broke with Trump and resigned from Congress, accused Lawler of openly mocking Trump before flipping the script after the president won a dramatic return to the White House.

“He hated Donald Trump, made fun of him constantly, mimicked him, making fun of his voice,” Greene said. “He used to attack me, make fun of me, come and find me on the House floor, and make fun of me for supporting Donald Trump.”

“I was like, he’s literally a Democrat,” she added. “He’s so against all the things that Republican voters care about, and he clearly hates Donald Trump.”

Lawler, who is Catholic, is a two-term congressman and one of just three Republicans who won in districts that Trump lost in 2024.

He’s facing a tough reelection fight with a crowded field of Democrats vying to take him on in the midterms, where polls say Democrats are favored to win seats and retake control of the House.

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