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According to a video shared by Sky News on Thursday, June 25, 2026, Tucker Carlson questioned how the United States, despite investing vast amounts of money in its military, appeared to have been outperformed by Iran, a country he said American leaders have long portrayed as a backward theocracy.
Carlson argued that the situation exposed what he sees as a mistaken belief among U.S. leaders that military strength alone determines global influence and geopolitical success.
He noted that the United States spends about $1.5 trillion annually on its military, yet still struggled against Iran, which he described as the world’s 34th-largest economy.
According to Carlson, decades of global dominance have made American leaders complacent, causing them to embrace assumptions that ultimately proved false, particularly the belief that military force is the primary source of national power.
Carlson said that after being the dominant power for around 80 years, the United States had become “weak, decadent and dumb,” arguing that its leaders convinced themselves that power comes only from military might. He said this thinking led Washington to pour about $1.5 trillion each year into defense while assuming it could dictate global affairs, only to be challenged by a country it had long dismissed as a backward theocracy. He maintained that military strength is only one aspect of power and argued that geography plays an even more significant role.
Carlson linked these remarks to his broader criticism of the conflict, saying American policymakers failed to recognize before the war that the country’s traditional sources of strength would not necessarily deliver the outcome they expected.
 
