Trump Wants To Drop A Key Tenet Of MAGA. His Biggest Fans Are Pushing Back
This is your TPM evening briefing.
In a Truth Social post over the weekend, President Trump suggested he was haphazardly undercutting a core element of his mythos: that he is anti-war. That assertion, as questionable as it might be on its face, has been embraced by some of his most outspoken supporters.
And, so, the perceived shift brought to the fore a rift within MAGA that is now on full display, as the movement grapples with an age old (decade old) question. Does MAGA have values in isolation and/or independent of Donald Trump? Or is the ideology of the hordes subject to the whims of their master?
Tucker Carlson, improbably, has played a central role in forcing Trump supporters to actually wrestle with the question, calling out Trump for toying with the idea of not just rhetorically backing Israel’s assault on Iran, and not just defending Israel from Iran’s counterattacks, but getting the U.S. directly involved, going on the offensive ourselves to help Israel do greater damage to its targets. The fact that Trump is even mulling the question of direct intervention spits in the face of the antiwar sentiment that supposedly functions as a pillar of Trump’s political movement, and betrays a basic misunderstanding about what exactly Americans wary of “forever wars” hope to avoid. That’s what Carlson, and other MAGA evangelists like Steve Bannon, have been quick to point out.
Carlson has argued that Trump is “complicit” in the war at this current stage, as he throws his support behind Israel’s assault and weighs whether to send American bombers to attack Iran’s nuclear enrichment facility. In a recent online interview with Carlson, Bannon argued that Trump, and anyone encouraging him to get the U.S. directly involved in the unfolding war, is, in essence, abandoning MAGA. Bannon described “ending the forever wars” as one of three planks of the political movement.
“It kinda feels like it’s being blown up over this war in Iran,” Carlson said of the MAGA movement on Monday.
Trump has responded by criticizing “kooky Tucker Carlson” for not understanding that “IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!” and distancing himself from his longtime ally and confidante.
“I don’t know what Tucker Carlson is saying,” he told reporters this week.
But it’s not just Carlson and Bannon (a MAGA prodigal son story who suffered his own Trumpian estrangement) who are publicly trying to remind the President of his supposed commitment to American isolationism. Both former Rep. Matt Gaetz and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) have tried to publicly signal to Trump who and what values he might be betraying by, effectively, declaring war on Iran with any direct U.S. intervention.
“Anyone slobbering for the U.S. to become fully involved in the Israel/Iran war is not America First/MAGA,” Greene said in a Twitter post on Sunday.
But other members of Congress are not so sure that the prospect of Trump acting on his recently inflamed curiosity about regime change would be some sort of betrayal of the MAGA movement. Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) went on Tucker’s show to argue against the former Fox News host’s perspective on the issue. In clips that are worth watching for yourself, Carlson makes Cruz look very bad as he questions the senator about basic demographics of the country.
One House Republican is working with Democrats to introduce a resolution that would block Trump from entering into war with Iran without Congress’ permission. There’s a similar proposal in the Senate that Sen. Tim Kaine (D-VA) is working on. Whether any rank-and-file Republicans in Congress beyond Massie will actually sign onto the initiative remains to be seen. This is a Republican majority hellbent on ceding as much of its authority as possible to the executive branch, after all.
By Wednesday morning, Bannon had dropped most of his hand-wringing act.
“I know, and particularly his skills as a communicator, that he will come and walk people through it,” Bannon told reporters at a breakfast hosted by the Christian Science Monitor. “And the MAGA movement — there’ll be some [who disagree], but the vast majority of the MAGA movement will go, ‘Look. We trust your judgment. You’ve walked us through this. We don’t like it. In fact, maybe we hate it. But, you know, we’ll get on board.’”
Hegseth Won’t Say If Trump Wants Protesters Shot
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth testified before the Senate Armed Services Committee today, during which he deferred to a top general on questions related to Trump potentially getting involved in Israel’s attacks on Iran and dodged questions about the National Guard deployment in Los Angeles. Sen. Elissa Slotkin (D-MI) attempted to question Hegseth, specifically, on the federalization of National Guard troops to crack down on protesters in the city and about directives from the President regarding the use of military force against civilians.
“Have you given the order — to be able to shoot at unarmed protesters in any way?” Slotkin asked. In response Hegseth started laughing, which Slotkin reprimanded him for.
“What is that based on?” Hegseth asked.
Slotkin then raised an episode that former Defense Secretary Mark Esper outlined in his memoir, “A Sacred Oath.” During Trump’s first term, he wrote, the President asked him if protesters gathered outside the White House in 2020 could be shot.
“Can’t you just shoot them? Just shoot them in the legs or something?” Trump asked, according to Esper.
When confronted with Esper’s accusations, Hegseth wouldn’t engage seriously on a question that has taken on heightened importance during a time when the MAGA movement is increasingly salivating for violence against people who lawfully assemble in protest of the Trump administration’s policies.
“Have you given the order that they can use lethal force … I want the answer to be ‘no,’ please tell me it’s ‘no.’ Have you given the order?” Slotkin asked.
“Senator, I’d be careful what you read in books, and believing it,” he said. “Except for the Bible.”
House Dems Blocked From Inspecting ICE Holding Cells In Lower Manhattan
Per Gothamist:
U.S. Reps. Jerry Nadler and Dan Goldman, both New York Democrats, were barred Wednesday from entering and inspecting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement holding cells at 26 Federal Plaza in Lower Manhattan.
ICE Deputy Field Director Bill Joyce told the representatives that some immigrants slept overnight on floors and benches at the facilities. But Joyce said the site was not a detention center, which U.S. House representatives are legally allowed to inspect, but rather an off-limits “processing center.”
“We are very concerned about what conditions these immigrants are being held in,” Goldman said in a press conference after his visit. “What are they [ICE] hiding?”
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