re: Tucker Carlson has divided conservative social media with his take on the atomic bomb

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I question the premises of both presumption and necessity.

Why was it absolutely necessary that Japan be invaded by US Troops? Why was it necessary to force Japan to "surrender un-conditionally" AND be occupied?

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Somehow I missed this jewel.

First off, Japan did not surrender unconditionally.

Japan simply surrendered, and we categorized it as we liked. It's six and one half dozen though. Obviously any conditions they placed on surrender, such as preservation of their emperor, were practicably moot once occupation was in effect. Similar to Versailles, the terms struck after surrender could well have differed from preterm understanding. But, in this instance they really didn't. Nevertheless, Japanese surrender was not unconditional, though Truman termed it that way.

Why was occupation necessary?
Because our intent was to change the mentality of Japanese society from a state-devoted militaristic totalitarian accepting populace to a less threatening, more friendly democracy. Our hope was to not end up in WWIII 20 yrs later as had happened after "the war to end all wars" in 1918. That could not happen without occupation, removal of totalitarians, and prosecution of war criminals, combined with implementation of democratic processes.

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IF the US goobermint was truly worried about a Soviet invasion and occupation of Japan, why did the US overlords completely underwrite, FINANCE and EQUIP the big bad Soviet war machine?

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You took offense earlier when I noted you don't do history. But it's clear you don't. Sorry if that offends.

The "US goobermint" found itself on the oppositional side of the Axis Alliance.
Initially, the USSR did not.

In fact the USSR was happy to ally with Germany. Then things changed. Germany invaded the USSR. It was a big deal at the time. You should read about it. It was really cold, and bunches of folks were killed. That made Germany and the USSR enemies.

We were enemies of Germany as well.
There is an old saying, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend."
Our relationship with the USSR epitomized that.
So "the US overlords underwrote, financed, and equipped the big bad Soviet war machine."

Toward the end of WWII, it was obvious that the USSR intended to maintain control over, and communize, the countries it occupied. It had those designs on Japan as well. In August 1945, with Germany subjugated, the USSR turned on Japan. The American public would have been fairly happy (in the moment) for the "US goobermint" to stand back and let Soviets get killed occupying Japan, as had occurred months earlier in Berlin. Fortunately, the "US goobermint" recognized the long game in terms of Soviet influence, and ended WWII before the USSR could turn Japan into a divided communist/non-communist state like Germany, Korea, and Vietnam.