Cracks appear in Trump’s MAGA base as leading figures criticize the Iran war

Conservative Media Figures Break with Trump Over Iran War Decision

For President Donald Trump, some of the sharpest criticism he’s faced in the early days of the Iran war has come from unexpected quarters—media personalities who typically serve as his staunchest defenders.

Prominent conservative voices including Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, and Matt Walsh have publicly questioned the president’s decision to engage Iran militarily. Their criticism has not gone unnoticed in the White House, which has actively mounted defenses on social media platforms and through official channels.

While these critics represent a minority within the broader pro-Trump media landscape, their dissent highlights the vital role conservative media plays in Trump’s political ecosystem. When unified, this media apparatus functions as a powerful amplifier of the president’s message. When fractured, it poses significant challenges to the administration’s narrative control.

Much of the criticism centers on Israel’s alleged influence over the American decision to enter the conflict. Carlson, who built his own independent media operation after leaving Fox News, described the attack as “absolutely disgusting and evil” during an ABC News interview this weekend. On his podcast, he stated bluntly, “It’s hard to say this, but the United States didn’t make the decision here. Benjamin Netanyahu did.”

Kelly, another former Fox News anchor who now runs an independent media operation, expressed concern about American casualties, declaring on her program that “no one should have to die for a foreign country.” She added controversially, “I don’t think those service members died for the United States. I think they died for Iran or Israel.”

Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s remarks became a particular flashpoint in this growing conservative media divide. Speaking before a Capitol Hill briefing, Rubio explained that Trump had authorized military action knowing Israel was preparing to strike and fearing Iranian retaliation against U.S. bases in the region. “We knew that if we didn’t preemptively go after them, before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties,” Rubio stated.

This explanation prompted a sharp rebuke from Walsh, a Daily Wire host, who wrote on social platform X: “Rubio was flat out telling us that we’re in a war with Iran because Israel forced our hand. This is basically the worst possible thing he could have said.”

Trump himself has dismissed the significance of these dissenting voices. In an interview with journalist Rachael Bade, the Republican president insisted that the opinions of Carlson and Kelly don’t reflect his core supporters’ views. “I think that MAGA is Trump,” he stated. “MAGA’s not the other two.”

Former U.S. Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia, who has positioned herself as an influential media figure since her public break with Trump, expressed outrage over the military action during an appearance on Kelly’s podcast. “‘Make America Great Again,’ was supposed to be America first, not Israel first,” Greene declared.

Jason Zengerle, author of “Hated By All the Right People: Tucker Carlson and the Unraveling of the Conservative Mind,” believes Trump likely has the right instinct about his supporters eventually returning to the fold despite their current misgivings. However, he notes that Carlson’s consistent foreign policy views make him perhaps the most significant of Trump’s conservative critics. “If the war does go badly, I think it strengthens the hand of someone like Tucker,” Zengerle said. “All of this is a debate about what happens after Trump is gone anyway.”

This isn’t the first time cracks have appeared in Trump’s conservative media support. Previous tensions emerged around narratives related to the Jeffrey Epstein report. The current criticism, however, has sparked unprecedented internal hostility. Ben Shapiro of The Daily Wire called Kelly “wildly inconsistent” and a coward, while former television host Elisabeth Hasselbeck condemned Kelly’s suggestion that American servicemen died for Israel, asking pointedly, “How dare you?”

Despite these high-profile defections, the majority of conservative media remains firmly behind Trump. Howard Polskin, publisher of The Righting newsletter, estimates that approximately 95% of conservative website content continues to support the president. The most influential Fox News personalities—still the dominant conservative media outlet—maintain unwavering support, with hosts Sean Hannity, Brian Kilmeade and Mark Levin vocally backing the military action.

Some of the podcast influencers who helped mobilize young male voters for Trump during the 2024 campaign have remained noticeably silent on the issue, while certain criticisms have provoked direct responses from the White House. When Walsh posted a lengthy critique of what he characterized as confused messaging about the war’s objectives, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt issued a detailed rebuttal on X, concluding that “the terrorist Iranian regime would not say yes to peace.”