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Who’s the Boss? Joe Kent is out the door at the ODNI after blasting President Trump’s Iran policy. Is his boss Tulsi Gabbard next?
Tablet ^ | 23 Mar, 2026 | Lee Smith

Posted on 03/24/2026 7:00:36 AM PDT by MtnClimber

The podcasters and senior Trump administration officials who attached themselves like parasites to the president to draw power from him because they have no power of their own are losing in Iran. They’re losing because they have no influence over Trump or his MAGA base, which supports the campaign to stop the terror regime’s nuclear program, by anywhere from 82% to 95%. They’re losing because they lost the argument over Israel on the ground, where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is proving to be America’s greatest wartime ally since Winston Churchill held off the Nazis until Franklin Delano Roosevelt brought America into World War II. And since the anti-Trump resistance is losing like Iran is losing, also like the Islamic Republic, they’re emptying their arsenal in scattershot fashion in the hope that they’ll hit something to ward off total defeat for at least one more day.

For instance, a U.S. law enforcement source tells Tablet that before Joe Kent hit the antisemitic podcast circuit to make the case that Israel killed Charlie Kirk, the former director of the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) claimed that the late pro-Trump activist was assassinated by Iran.

The source says that “Kent has zero evidence to support any of his speculative claims,” and yet it’s not hard to see why the U.S. Army combat veteran who served 11 tours in the global war on terror has made a 180-degree turn: Kent is reportedly under FBI investigation for leaking classified information to the media, so he’s instrumentalized the antisemitic paranoia prevalent in right-wing podcast circles to deflect attention away from his alleged misdeeds by implying he’s being hounded because he’s critical of Israel.

The Jewish state’s magical mind-control of American foreign policy was the central theme of the resignation letter Kent posted publicly last week. Kent can’t support the war because, according to him, not only did Israel, and “its powerful American lobby” pressure Trump into war with Iran, but also it forced America into the Iraq war and caused the Syrian civil war, during which Kent’s first wife, a Navy cryptologist, was killed by ISIS terrorists.

Kent has earned Americans’ sympathy for his suffering and their respect for his service, but he is no more entitled to plot against the president than was John Brennan. Indeed, set aside their partisan alignments (Republican, not Democrat) and the specific content of the op (Israel, not Russia), and it’s clear that Kent’s claims that Trump is controlled by high-ranking Israeli officials are no different from the former CIA director’s serial lies during Trump’s first term that the president was a Kremlin asset.

It’s a continuation of the same information operation weaponized to subvert Trump’s foreign policy, and the current crop of schemers can no longer hide under a MAGA skin suit—not since Trump called out schemer prince Tucker Carlson. “He’s not MAGA,” Trump told the media earlier this month. “MAGA is saving our country. MAGA is making our country great again. MAGA is America first, and Tucker is none of those things. And Tucker is really not smart enough to understand that.”

Reports identify Carlson as a likely destination for Kent’s leaks, which became so frequent that the White House brought it to the attention of Kent’s boss, Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. Whether she ignored White House requests to fire Kent, as some sources say, is irrelevant: It is her job to protect the president’s policy, whether she likes it or not, by stopping the leaking in one way or another. Because she didn’t, it seems she wasn’t told the FBI was investigating her subordinate.

Gabbard hired Kent as her chief of staff in February 2025, and in July he was confirmed to lead the NCTC, a unit under her direction. When Gabbard was nominated for the post, Republican lawmakers were aware of her record of attacking Trump’s foreign policy, especially on Iran. She criticized him during his first term for withdrawing from Barack Obama’s nuclear deal with Iran and said there was no imminent threat that justified the January 2020 targeted assassination of Iranian terror master Qassem Soleimani.

“I just came from the intelligence briefing that the administration came and brought to Congress,” Gabbard told the media after the Iranian terrorist was liquidated. She said there was no justification “for this illegal and unconstitutional act of war that President Trump took” and no “compelling information to prove their point of imminence, and really it brings us to the central question here, which is: Is our country’s national security better off because of Donald Trump’s actions and decision? And the answer to that is, no.”

Carlson had interviewed her in May 2019 for his Fox News show when she said: “How does a war with Iran serve the best interest of the American people of the United States? And the fact is it does not.” She continued, “It better serves the interest of people like Bibi Netanyahu and Saudi Arabia, who are trying to push us into this war with Iran.” It’s not hard to notice her rhetoric tracks with the poisonous accusations Kent injected into his resignation letter.

After Gabbard’s unsuccessful run for the Democratic Party’s 2020 nomination, she switched parties in 2022 and campaigned for Trump in 2024. Trump nominated her to the DNI post and Carlson ran point for her, enjoining podcast guests like pro-China and anti-Trump ideologue Jeffrey Sachs to add their voice to the chorus of those who believed Gabbard was “the most important appointment of the Trump administration.”

Carlson threatened to harass Republican lawmakers if they didn’t fall in line. “If there are Republican senators who are voting against Tulsi Gabbard confirmation,” he said at a Turning Point USA meeting, “you will know that person is not only my enemy ... that person is an enemy of the United States. Period. It’s really that simple.”

Carlson’s hectoring showed that he saw Gabbard as a partner inside the administration who, given her track record, would help stop Trump from fulfilling the promises he’d made during his three campaigns to stop Iran from getting the bomb. Even Republican senators not entirely satisfied that Gabbard was willing to loyally serve the president believed she couldn’t do much damage as DNI, as it’s essentially an administrative post responsible for the intelligence community’s budget. Because the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has no role in operations or investigations, it was a relatively safe place to put Gabbard, especially since the main mission was to shrink ODNI with an eye to shutting it down. Instead, she built out a base from which to undermine Trump’s Iran policy.

Even before starting his second term, Trump publicly warned his deputies not to bring anyone into the administration who’d been part of the Charles Koch network, whose think-tank experts favor a restoration of Obama’s nuclear deal and amicable relations with a terror state that since the 1979 Islamic Revolution has, together with its proxies, made a habit of kidnapping and torturing Americans and killed thousands of us.

And yet last March, Gabbard named Daniel Davis, a foreign-policy analyst at the Charles Koch-backed Defense Priorities, to a top spot at ODNI. Davis was in line to be deputy director for mission integration, responsible for preparing the presidential daily briefing. This raised concerns that an official in charge of the president’s briefing who was opposed to the president’s policies—and Davis was at odds with Trump not only on Iran, but also on China, Russia, Hamas, and pro-Hamas campus protesters—might try to curate intelligence so as to steer the commander in chief away from his preferences and toward Davis’ own.


TOPICS: Society
KEYWORDS: antisemitism
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1 posted on 03/24/2026 7:00:36 AM PDT by MtnClimber
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To: MtnClimber

I wonder how much Iran misinformation has come from our intel agencies.


2 posted on 03/24/2026 7:00:49 AM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

There is more of the article at the source. There was a break in the article and a list of the author’s previous articles and I thought it was the end of the article. But the article continues below this break.


3 posted on 03/24/2026 7:18:33 AM PDT by MtnClimber (For photos of scenery, wildlife and climbing, click on my screen name for my FR home page.)
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To: MtnClimber

.


4 posted on 03/24/2026 7:26:15 AM PDT by sauropod
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To: MtnClimber

She should be. Patrick Ben David said she was warned about Joe Kent leaking and did nothing.


5 posted on 03/24/2026 7:26:35 AM PDT by Georgia Girl 2 (The only purpose of a pistol is to fight your way back to the rifle you should never have dropped)
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To: MtnClimber

Answer; No.


6 posted on 03/24/2026 7:34:05 AM PDT by dynoman (Objectivity is the essence of intelligence. - Marilyn vos Savant)
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To: All

Ummmmmm......Israeli echo chamber posters arent present......

They must figure its not a good time to antagonize US taxpayers
while Israel is totalling up the bills for “helping” Trump in Iran.


As Trump wistfully steers away from war with Iran,
Israel “suddenly rediscovers” the cost of riding with him.....
.......and you......yes tax-paying you.......will pay.


7 posted on 03/24/2026 7:35:16 AM PDT by Liz (Jonathan Swift: Government without the consent of the governed is the very definition of slaveryen .)
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To: All

.....something to think about......

.....wait a cotton pickin’ minute...did Russia have something to do with this,
to kick money-grubbing Ukraine off the front page in favor of paying Israel?.....


Power-mad Democrats are itching to gain MORE seats.

Everytime Israel says “Pay Me-US-Israel-Iran War,” ecstatic Democrats cheer.

Trump found out the hard way...... dancing the “Do Me” with bomb-happy Netanyahu in Israel......
months back, while US elections were held here, got all those Democrat candidates elected.


8 posted on 03/24/2026 7:37:11 AM PDT by Liz (Jonathan Swift: Government without the consent of the governed is the very definition of slaveryen .)
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To: Georgia Girl 2

Leak her possible firing to Tucker. If he loses it, well, you know.


9 posted on 03/24/2026 7:37:20 AM PDT by Kudsman (Donzilla, zilla, zilla, zilla.)
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To: MtnClimber

No bias here: “ the antisemitic podcast circuit”.


10 posted on 03/24/2026 7:52:51 AM PDT by 9YearLurker
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To: MtnClimber
Joe Kent is out the door at the ODNI after blasting President Trump’s Iran policy. Is his boss Tulsi Gabbard next?

Tulsi first built her anti Democrat creds with numerous appearances on Tucker.

I wonder if Tulsi's anti war stance is more discerning than Tucker's pablum? That will determine if Tulsi stays or goes.

11 posted on 03/24/2026 7:55:42 AM PDT by FreeReign
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To: MtnClimber
a U.S. law enforcement source

Aonymous source == a bull's rear end

12 posted on 03/24/2026 7:59:03 AM PDT by NorthMountain (... the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: MtnClimber

From Grok:

**The Mark Levin – Joe Kent interview on Monday, March 23, 2026, was highly contentious and combative.**

Levin dedicated a full hour to the interview (titled “Joe Kent: In His Own Words” on the podcast). It quickly became a heated confrontation rather than a smooth conversation.

### What happened:
- Levin repeatedly grilled and interrupted Kent, at one point telling him to “talk more slowly” and “focus on one point at a time,” then cutting to a commercial break in frustration.
- The main flashpoints were Kent’s resignation from the Trump administration and his public criticism of the timing and rationale for the U.S./Israel strikes on Iran. Levin accused Kent of effectively accusing him (Levin) and others of pushing Trump into war.
- Kent defended his position that Iran posed “no imminent threat” to the U.S. and that Israel had shifted the “red line” from preventing nuclear weapons to preventing any uranium enrichment.
- Levin pushed back aggressively, defending the administration’s actions and questioning Kent’s loyalty and timing.

Overall, it was a **fiery, adversarial exchange** — typical of Levin when he feels someone is undermining Trump or the current policy. Most listeners described it as “explosive,” “contentious,” or “Levin blowing up at Kent.” Clips of the blow-up moments circulated widely on social media yesterday.


13 posted on 03/24/2026 9:00:45 AM PDT by jroehl (And how we burned in the camps later - Aleksandr Solzhenitsyn - The Gulag Archipelago)
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To: jroehl
Overall, it was a **fiery, adversarial exchange** — typical of Levin when he feels someone is undermining Trump or the current HIS policy.
14 posted on 03/24/2026 9:15:00 AM PDT by Alberta's Child (If I leave here, it’s because I’m tired of arguing with geriatric parrots wearing MAGA hats.)
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To: MtnClimber

“ where Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu is proving to be America’s greatest wartime ally since Winston Churchill held off the Nazis”

Unreal… he hasn’t done a damned thing for us. He’s rude, entitled, not subordinate and runs spies and whores against us. Churchill indeed lol…

Hell, he met Pollard in the runway with a red carpet, an affectionate hug, and a shiny new passport. Because he’s our best ally -ever- ya know!


15 posted on 03/24/2026 9:24:38 AM PDT by DesertRhino (When men on the chessboard, get up and tell you where to go…)
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To: NorthMountain

It’s an anonymous leaker source, claiming Joe Kent was a leaker? Lol… clowns 🤡


16 posted on 03/24/2026 9:27:39 AM PDT by DesertRhino (When men on the chessboard, get up and tell you where to go…)
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To: DesertRhino

You’re assuming that the “anonymous source” actually exists.

I’m assuming that the “anonymous source” is a figment of the author’s imagination.


17 posted on 03/24/2026 9:32:42 AM PDT by NorthMountain (... the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: DesertRhino

And ... just to be clear, I assume that ALL “anonymous sources”, whether used by journalists, columnists, social media posters, or public servants, do not exist in the real world. This applies to print, broadcast, internet, search warrants, anything.


18 posted on 03/24/2026 9:36:17 AM PDT by NorthMountain (... the right of the people to keep and bear arms shall not be infringed)
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To: NorthMountain

I think it often is a made up “source”. Nearly every news story has one orb two now.


19 posted on 03/24/2026 9:40:01 AM PDT by DesertRhino (When men on the chessboard, get up and tell you where to go…)
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To: NorthMountain

Fully agree…


20 posted on 03/24/2026 9:40:25 AM PDT by DesertRhino (When men on the chessboard, get up and tell you where to go…)
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