The Shadow War Against President Trump

The joint American-Israeli military operation against the Iranian regime is now three weeks old, but there is another war — a more silent one — raging here on the home front. President Donald Trump's second administration is facing a highly coordinated shadow war — one waged both by some influential outside voices on the Right and, more dangerously, by their subversive allies within Trump's very own government.

If this campaign is not confronted and decisively defeated, the result will be calamitous: a second Trump term that drifts into lame-duck status not due to a voter backlash but because of an insurrection from within. What this column has previously referred to as "Operation Divide MAGA" has reached fever pitch. And Trump, to his great credit, has begun to settle all the MAGA family business. But an even more concerted effort is needed to clean out the Augean Stables once and for all.

In any healthy political coalition or movement, debate is inevitable and often desirable. But what we have seen from certain high-profile podcasters, such as Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly, is nothing less than a full-scale assault on Trump and his agenda. These provocateurs first outed themselves last summer, when they all but accused Trump of covering up a global (Mossad-tied?) pedophile ring over his Justice Department's handling of the Epstein files. But above all, the podcasters' subversion has focused on foreign policy — most recently, on Iran and Operation Epic Fury.

The most alarming developments are emerging from within the Office of the Director of National Intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard. A former Democratic congresswoman with a pro-Moscow slant once seen as a heterodox ally, Gabbard now oversees an environment that increasingly bears the markings of an anti-MAGA coup.

President Donald J. Trump has been unequivocal and consistent for decades: Iran will never be permitted to obtain a nuclear weapon. This position — rooted in longstanding, bipartisan American policy — guides his actions to ensure the world’s leading state sponsor of terrorism cannot threaten the world with nuclear devastation.

“After Midnight Hammer, they were warned to make no future attempts to rebuild their weapons program, and in particular nuclear weapons, yet they continue. They’re starting it all over… One thing is certain: I will never allow the world’s number one sponsor of terror, which they are by far, to have a nuclear weapon.” (2/24/26)
“They can’t have nuclear weapons. It’s very simple. You can’t have peace in the Middle East if they have a nuclear weapon. And they can’t have a nuclear weapon, and they’ve been told that very strongly.” (2/19/26)
“We don’t want any enrichment. We don’t want enrichment.” (2/13/26)
“No nuclear weapons…” (2/9/26)
“The one thing, and right up front — no nuclear weapons.” (2/6/26)
“Number one, no nuclear.” (1/29/26)
“NO NUCLEAR WEAPONS…” (1/28/26)
They can’t do the nuclear… They’ve got to stop with the nuclear.” (1/21/26)
“I hope they’re not trying to build up again, because if they are, we’re going to have no choice but very quickly to eradicate that buildup.” (12/29/25)
“They still talk about enrichment. I mean, who would do that? You just come out of something that’s so bad, and they talk about, ‘We want to continue enrichment.’ Who would say that? How stupid can you be to say that? So, we’re not going to allow that to happen. We’re not allowing that to happen.” (7/27/25)
“They said, ‘We want enrichment’… I wouldn’t let that happen. I think people wouldn’t have understood it if I allowed that to happen.” (6/29/25)
“The last thing they want to do is enrich anything right now… We won’t let that happen, number one — militarily we won’t.” (6/25/25)
“I’ve said Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon — I’ve said that for 15 years, long before I decided to do the political thing.” (6/25/25)
“They’re not going to have enrichment and they’re not going to have a nuclear weapon.” (6/24/25)
“If you go back 15 years, I was saying we cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon.” (6/18/25)
“I only want one thing – Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. That’s it… I’ve been saying that for 20 years.” (6/18/25)
“I’ve been saying for 20 years — maybe longer — that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon…” (6/18/25)
“We’re looking for a total and complete victory. Again, you know what that victory is: no nuclear weapon.” (6/18/25)
“Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. It’s very simple — you don’t have to go to too deep into it. They just can’t have a nuclear weapon.” (6/17/25)
“I want to see no nuclear weapon in Iran and we’re well on our way to making sure that happens.” (6/16/25)
“You can’t have peace if Iran has a nuclear weapon.” (6/14/25)
“They can’t have a nuclear weapon. Very simple. They can’t have a nuclear weapon. We’re not going to allow that.” (6/11/25)
“You have to view them as people and I don’t want it to be a violent thing, but they’re not going to have a nuclear weapon.” (5/16/25)
“I want them to succeed. I want them to end up being a great country, frankly, but they can’t have a nuclear weapon.” (5/15/25)
“I want to make a deal with Iran, I want to do something if it’s possible, but for that to happen, it must stop sponsoring terror, halt its bloody proxy wars, and permanently and verifiably cease its pursuit of nuclear weapons.” (5/14/25)
“Iran can have a much brighter future — but we’ll never allow America and its allies to be threatened with terrorism or a nuclear attack. The choice is theirs to make. We really want them to be a successful country … but they cannot have a nuclear weapon.” (5/13/25)
“We want it to be a great country. Let it be a tremendously successful, rich country … but they can’t have a nuclear weapon.” (5/6/25)
“I want Iran to be really successful, really great, really fantastic — the only thing they can’t have is a nuclear weapon. If they want to be successful, that’s OK. I want them to be so successful and, you know, the Iranian people are incredible — I just don’t want them to have a nuclear weapon because the world will be destroyed.” (5/4/25)
“Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon.” (4/17/25)
“Iran has to get rid of the concept of a nuclear weapon. They cannot have a nuclear weapon.” (4/14/25)
“I want Iran to be a wonderful, great, happy country — but they can’t have a nuclear weapon.” (4/11/25)
“You cannot allow [Iran] to have a nuclear weapon.” (2/10/25)
“It’s very simple: Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.” (2/4/25)
“Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon. Nuclear weapons are the greatest single threat to our country, but to the entire world.” (11/3/24)
“I would have been very good to Iran. They — I had to have one thing, no nuclear weapons. You can’t have nuclear weapon. Nuclear weapons are the greatest danger to our country going forward, to the world going forward.” (10/29/24)
“And all I wanted was Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon … That’s all I wanted. Very simple. You can’t have a nuclear weapon.” (10/28/24)
“We don’t want Iran to have a nuclear weapon.” (10/23/24)
“I didn’t want much. I wanted Iran to be very successful. I just don’t want them to have a nuclear weapon.” (10/16/24)
“You can’t let them have a nuclear weapon.” (10/14/24)
“I just don’t want them to have a nuclear weapon. It’s very simple.” (10/10/24)
“I only wanted one thing. You can’t have a nuclear weapon. You cannot let them have a nuclear weapon.” (10/7/24)
“No, they can’t have nukes. No, they can’t have nukes.” (10/7/24)
“They can’t have a nuclear weapon — and now they’re very close to having one and it’s very dangerous for the world, very dangerous for the world … The biggest problem today, in my opinion, the biggest risk is the nuclear weapons.” (10/1/24)
“All I want them to do is not have a nuclear weapon. They can’t have a nuclear weapon.” (9/30/24)
“The only thing is [Iran] cannot have nuclear weapons.” (9/26/24)
“I wanted one thing from Iran — no nuclear weapon. I didn’t want much — no nuclear weapon. And now they’re very close to getting it, and you can’t let that happen.” (9/19/24)
“All we want is we don’t want them to have a nuclear weapon. Very simple. That’s all we want. We don’t want you to have a nuclear weapon.” (9/17/24)
“They can’t have a nuclear weapon. We just can’t let them have a nuclear weapon. I’ll say this. If they do have a nuclear weapon, Israel is gone. It’ll be gone.” (8/27/24)
“I don’t want them to have a nuclear weapon.” (8/23/24)
“I just wanted to have a deal with Iran, very simple deal — can’t have a nuclear weapon. That’s it.” (8/23/24)
“They can’t have a nuclear weapon. They can’t have a nuclear weapon. And we were all set to make sure that they don’t have a nuclear weapon. Because once they do, it’s a whole different world, it’s a whole different negotiation.” (8/15/24)
“Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon — it’s very simple.” (8/8/24)
“They can’t have a nuclear weapon. It’s very simple. They can’t have a nuclear weapon. You cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon.” (8/5/24)
“Iran should not have a nuclear weapon … Iran should never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon.” (7/10/24)
“The main thing is Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon. That was my main thing. The deal was a simple deal. Iran can’t have a nuclear. You know, it can’t have a missile, it can’t have a nuclear missile. It cannot have that nuclear capability.” (6/20/24)
“We have a very hostile country that wants nuclear weapons. You can’t let that happen.” (6/15/24)
“Iran should not be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. They would never have had even close to a nuclear weapon. They are very close to getting a nuclear weapon. You cannot let that happen.” (5/15/24)
“Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon — very simple. They cannot have a nuclear weapon.” (5/1/24)
“You can’t let Iran have nuclear weapons.” (4/30/24)
“Iran wanted to make a deal, and what the deal — 90% of the deal that I want to make is no nuclear weapon. That’s 90% — almost 100%. It might be 100%. That’s all I want. No nuclear weapon for Iran” (3/25/24)
“I want everybody to be happy. They just can’t have a nuclear weapon.” (2/23/24)
“I just didn’t want Iran to have a nuclear weapon. I said, ‘You know, we’re going to make a great deal. Everybody’s going to be happy. You’re going to be rich as hell again. Everything’s going to be great, but you cannot have a nuclear weapon.’” (1/20/24)
“They cannot have a nuclear weapon. That was the only thing — the one thing I said, ‘You cannot have.’” (1/5/24)
“I just don’t want them to have a nuclear weapon.” (1/5/24)
“They will have, within a short period of time, nuclear weapons — and that is never something that can be allowed to happen.” (12/30/23)
“No nuclear weapons. You can’t have nuclear weapons. Nuclear weapons are the single greatest threat to this world.” (11/9/23)
“They can’t have a nuclear weapon. That’s all. They can’t have nuclear weapons. It’s too destructive, too powerful. They can’t have it.” (10/29/23)
“Don’t let Iran have nuclear weapons. That’s my only thing I have to tell you today. Don’t let them have it.” (10/16/23)
“No nuclear weapons. You can’t give [Iran] nuclear weapons.” (7/15/23)
“You cannot let Iran have a nuclear weapon. You cannot let it happen because bad things will happen if that happens.” (6/24/23)
“IRAN WILL NEVER HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!” (1/6/20)
“Iran cannot have Nuclear Weapons!” (6/22/19)
“We can’t let Iran get a nuclear weapon. We can’t do it. Can’t do it. We cannot let that happen.” (1/24/15)
“We can’t allow Iran to go nuclear.” (11/4/11)

https://www.whitehouse.gov/articles/2026/03/74-times-president-trump-has-made-clear-that-iran-cannot-have-a-nuclear-weapon/

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