MAGA figures maintain Trump criticism over Iran war
Some of the harshest criticism US President Donald Trump faced in the early days of the Iran war came from once-loyal media figures more accustomed to heaping praise on him.
Among those voicing their displeasure are Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly and Matt Walsh.
He was noticed playing defense on social media and in interviews at the White House.
Of course, these critics are the minority of the Make America Great Again media, while Fox News’ biggest stars remain its cheerleaders.
But their words show the influence of conservative and populist media and how valuable that is to Trump when everything works like a well-oiled machine, and conversely, how much of a problem it can be if it breaks down.
Much of the criticism focused on Israel’s influence on Trump’s decision to go to war.
Israel’s war and its meaning. pic.twitter.com/P9D7UGq40W— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) March 2, 2026
Carlson, the former anti-war Fox News host who founded his own independent operation, told ABC News that the attack was “absolutely disgusting and evil.”
Referring to the Israeli prime minister, Carlson said in his podcast: “It’s hard to say, but the US did not make the decision here. Benjamin Netanyahu made it.”
Kelly, another former Fox independent broadcaster, said in his program about the losses in the USA that “no one should have to die for another country.”
“I don’t think these soldiers died for the United States,” Kelly said.
“I think they died for Iran or Israel.”
US Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s remarks before the Capitol Hill briefing were a flashpoint.
Rubio said that Trump approved the operation knowing that Israel was ready to attack and that he feared Iran would retaliate against US bases in the region.
“We knew that if we didn’t take precautions before they launched these attacks, we were going to incur more casualties,” Rubio said.
Republican House Speaker Mike Johnson said if the Trump administration had not acted, lawmakers would have wondered why.
Daily Wire host Walsh wrote on X that Rubio “clearly told us we were at war with Iran because Israel forced us. That was actually the worst thing he could have said.”
Trump told journalist Rachael Bade in an interview that he did not believe Carlson and Kelly’s opinions were shared by his supporters.
“I think MAGA is Trump,” he said.
“MAGA is not the other two.”
Former U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a Georgia Republican who has fashioned herself as a media figure since her acrimonious break with Trump, said on Kelly’s podcast that she was outraged by the U.S. military action.
MAGA “was supposed to be America first, not Israel,” says Greene.
Jason Zengerle, author of Hated By the Right People: Tucker Carlson and the Unraveling of the Conservative Mind, said Trump is probably right to think that many of his supporters will fall back into line if they are unhappy with the Iran attack.
Zengerle said Carlson is probably the most prominent of Trump’s conservative critics, given the consistency of his views on the issue.
“If the war goes badly, I think it will strengthen the hand of someone like Tucker,” he said.
“This is all just a discussion about what will happen after Trump is gone.”
There were cracks in Trump’s conservative media support before Iran, particularly in the broad and spreading narratives around the Jeffrey Epstein report.
“I think MAGA gives him the benefit of the doubt, there’s no doubt about it,” White House press secretary Sean Spicer, early in Trump’s first term, said on his podcast Tuesday.
“I think he’s gained a ton of credibility with the grassroots… Look, we have PTSD in a lot of our former leaders who only knew endless wars, especially between Iraq and Afghanistan, so I get it. But this president has proven twice now that he knows what he’s doing.”
