'Get out of here': CNN host reacts to prediction about 2028 GOP primary

CNN's Audie Cornish recoiled from a guest's prediction about the 2028 Republican presidential primary.

Tucker Carlson's interview with Sen Ted Cruz (R-TX) has virally exposed a rift within the MAGA coalition over the possibility of U.S. military action against Iran, and an editor for the conservative-leaning The Dispatch website told "CNN This Morning" that president Donald Trump maintained control over his "America First" narrative – at least for now.

"I think he's right," said Michael Warren, senior editor for The Dispatch, about Trump's assertion that "America First" meant whatever he says it does.

"Most of Trump's supporters will follow him where he goes," Warren added, "and so it's important, most important to follow what Trump is doing. I will say this: We don't need to understate as well, the influence of Tucker Carlson and his sort of younger group of, called MAGA Republicans, more nationalist Republicans."

That younger generation of Republicans, many of whom serve in Trump's administration or work on Capitol Hill, were shaped by the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, and he said the isolationist wing of the MAGA coalition was small but influential.

"I think it's important to recognize that this is, they are definitely a break from the past in terms of the Republican Party and their views about Israel," Warren said. "But they're still a minority and a pretty small minority, a very vocal minority with somebody with a huge platform like Tucker Carlson as their champion within the broader Republican world."

Vice president JD Vance served in Iraq with the U.S. Marines in a non-combat role, but he spun out a lengthy post on X justifying a possible military strike on Iran, and Warren said the position he staked out and Carlson's excoriation of Cruz over the issue could serve as a preview of the next Republican presidential race.

"Vance is a politician, he's sort of positioning himself within the party, within the administration, as supportive of Donald Trump," Warren said. "Although Vance is really representative of that kind of younger, less interested in foreign engagements [generation], but we should just we should just not lose sight of the fact that in that interview between Tucker Carlson and Ted Cruz, Tucker Carlson is really misrepresenting what Republicans like Ted Cruz and Donald Trump are suggesting. Nobody's talking about boots on the ground, nobody's talking from a from a position of power, meaning in the Senate or in the administration about any kind of regime change in Iran."

"That's sort of the argument that Tucker Carlson would like to have, [but] it's not really reflective of reality," Warren added. "I'll be interested to see, by the way, where JD Vance lands on this come 2028, when there's going to be debates about this on a Republican presidential primary stage."

Cornish indicated she's not ready to think about another presidential race this far in advance.

"2028 – Michael Warren, get out of here," she said, as he laughed. "You're not allowed to come back."

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