Mike Huckabee responds to Tucker Carlson fallout; suggests separate covenants with Christians, Jews

U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee responded to the lingering diplomatic fallout from his recent interview with Tucker Carlson by claiming that two separate divine covenants exist between Christians and Jews.

Huckabee, an ordained Southern Baptist minister who adheres to dispensationalist theology, said during a Thursday interview with TheBlaze host Steve Deace that those who doubt God's covenant promises with the Jews have no reason to believe He will keep His covenant with Christians.

"If God will break His covenant promise with the Jewish people, what on Earth gives me any hope that He might keep His covenant with the Christians, who were grafted in after the fact?" Huckabee asked, in an apparent reference to Romans 11.

Mike Huckabee discusses his viral debate on Tucker over "Christian Zionism" with @SteveDeaceShow: "It's not complicated. Tucker tried to make it that it was, but it really isn't." pic.twitter.com/NtbgiuPLKl

— TheBlaze (@theblaze) February 27, 2026

Huckabee, whose interview with Carlson last week prompted international backlash when he said "it would be fine if [Israel] took it all" regarding the vast land promises of Genesis 15, claimed to Deace that his statement to Carlson was taken out of context and deceptively edited.

According to Genesis 15:18, God promised territory to Abram's descendants that would stretch "from the river of Egypt to the great river, the river Euphrates." According to 2 Chronicles 9:26, the land mass was the largest extent of ancient Israel under King Solomon before the kingdoms split and were later conquered because of their idolatry.

A viral clip from Carlson's social media cut the portion of Huckabee's remarks where he walked it back as "somewhat of a hyperbolic statement" while maintaining that Israel has no intention of conquering the wider region.

Huckabee's statement nevertheless drew outrage from Arab and Muslim nations last week, with neighboring Egypt and Jordan, Saudi Arabia, as well as the Organization of Islamic Cooperation and the League of Arab States issuing separate statements condemning Huckabee's rhetoric as "extremist" and "unacceptable."

“Huckabee said Israel should conquer the Middle East.”

No, he didn’t. Instead of relying on the clipped version Tucker posted, watch the full exchange.

You may still disagree with the Ambassador, but he was offering his personal view — not speaking for the U.S. government pic.twitter.com/ZWIE7CiOsc

— Eitan Fischberger (@EFischberger) February 21, 2026

Speaking with Deace, Huckabee seemingly acknowledged that he could potentially be fired for what he said while accusing Carlson of being a liar.

Huckabee also said he anticipated his interview with Carlson would be about Christian Zionism, which he defined as someone who is "a follower of Jesus who believes that Jews have been brought to their homeland in fulfillment of what the Scripture said, but also because the world has recognized that the Jewish people have a right to their own homeland."

"It's not complicated," Huckabee said. "Tucker tried to make it that it was, but it really isn't." Huckabee went on to claim that the Roman Catholic Church has been "overwhelmingly Christian Zionist."

The Roman Catholic Church has affirmed that the Old Covenant was fulfilled in Jesus Christ, and has opposed the dispensationalism that views the modern state of Israel as a direct fulfillment of biblical covenantal promises. The Vatican established diplomatic relations with Israel in 1993 and supported it on political grounds, but has repudiated its biblical claims, which Pope Benedict XVI wrote "cannot be derived directly from Holy Scripture."

Other Christians, including Reformed Protestants, who disagree with Huckabee's dispensationalist theology, maintain that there are not separate divine covenants for Christians and Jews, but that Jesus Christ instituted one "new covenant in my blood" during the Last Supper.

During a reflection on his interview with Huckabee that aired Wednesday, Carlson cited the ambassador's prolific X posts about their interview, which included promoting an article by influencer Laura Loomer that likened Carlson to Judas Iscariot and implied he would "spend the rest of eternity getting munched on by Satan in Hell!"

"After that interview, I mean, I think the guy, something broke inside him," Carlson said of Huckabee during a conversation with former Fox News colleague Clayton Morris. "Have you ever been attacked after an interview? That's usually a sign that something snapped in the person."

The rhetoric against Carlson has also escalated from figures such as Fox News host Mark Levin, who on Thursday called him "a disgusting pig," as well as a "deranged, unhinged, evil bastard" and a "Hitler-wannabe."

Carlson has accused Fox News, his former employer, of pushing for war and "acting on behalf of someone else other than Trump." He maintained that Levin's allegations that Iran has nuclear missiles aimed toward U.S. cities should be immediate grounds for dismissal from the network, which fired him in 2023 without explanation as he was voicing opposition to the war in Ukraine.

The increasingly vitriolic rhetoric comes amid heightened tensions in the Middle East as the United States has moved its battleships into the region while warning its citizens to leave. Secretary of State Marco Rubio is scheduled to fly to Israel next week to discuss Iran and other issues, according to the U.S. State Department.