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Posted on 03/03/2026 11:27:11 AM PST by pissant
esident Trump is pushing back on arguments from former Fox News hosts Megyn Kelly and Tucker Carlson the president's so-called MAGA base does not support his recent air strikes on Iran, saying "MAGA is Trump."
“I have to do what’s right, number one – and you can’t have Iran getting a nuclear weapon. That’s predominant to me,” Trump told independent journalist Rachel Bade on Monday.
“I think that MAGA is Trump – MAGA’s not the other two,” Trump said of Carlson and Kelly. “MAGA wants to see our country thrive and be safe. And MAGA loves what I’m doing — every aspect of it… This is a detour that we have to take in order to keep our country safe and keep other countries safe, frankly.”
Trump said of Kelly's skepticism specifically, "It's all right. I don't mind. She was critical of me for years and I didn’t lose. I won all three times by a lot,” apparently suggesting, as he has previously, that he would have 2020 reelection has the election not been "rigged."
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I like that next to last sentence by the President, regarding Megyn’s skepticism on the Iran Strikes:
‘It’s all right. I don’t mind”.
This may indicate that Trump is becoming more realistic.
We conservatives do not always agree on every point, and it’s okay to disagree on the fine points. It’s not a matter of ‘betrayal’ for one conservative to question the reasoning of another. We can still be friends/ allies in the big picture.
As I have always said for myself; no one is beyond reproach,
and, yes, that does include the president.
Megyn Kelly really didn’t criticize the Iran War. She said she has some concerns, which a lot of people do. It would be better for the administration to acknowledge and deal with the concerns that Kelly and people like her raise than to come out with guns blazing. Assure them that it won’t be a forever war and that there is a time limit and limited objectives that won’t be expanded like Bush/Cheney/Rumsfeld did with their wars. Carlson, on the other hand, is off the wall.
My fear is that President Trump was a bit overoptimistic on the Iranian People taking matters into their own hands.
We were in Afghanistan for 20 years, and they still wound up with the Taliban in charge.
It’s one thing to oppose a regime, it’s a whole other thing to risk your neck to overthrow it.
“Making America Great” implies getting rid of rogue actors that threaten America with destruction
Mullah-run Iran was one of those
Megyn Kelly and Tucker Carlson ham actors of the media the field is crowded spit balls all over the place.
Some truth half truth no truth it’s just a script to them.
There is such a thing as 'violently ambivalent.'
No, success is the only thing that will make any difference. Answering Megyn Kelly’s questions or concerns is a waste of time and gives her status she doesn’t deserve.
If she really wants to get her “unique” questions directly answered, she can join the press pool. Otherwise, she can watch the press conferences and press gaggles and fill in the blanks.
She’s just as arrogant now as when she tried to kill off Trump’s 2016 campaign in the 1st debate.
“effectively has 60 days to wrap this up.”
And if he doesn’t, and it’s a failure or a quagmire, then MAGA effectively died on February 28, 2026.
Thank you. It's so rarely correctly used these days.
“Trump effectively has 60 days to wrap this up.”
This is 100% true, and also problematic for the United States. If we had a Congress, a group of individuals that cared about the Citizens of this Nation and the future security, they would give Trump whatever he needed to finish this job including a ‘declaration of war’. Iran has been a worldwide nightmare since 1979, and 47 years is enough. There are plenty of dead Americans, as well as other nations, because of Iran and it’s regime. Maybe I don’t agree with Trump on all things, but once he started down this road he needs to do the one thing that all of the prior Presidents refused to do. End this war that Iran declared.
pbs.com
March 3, 2926
Netanyahu risks American support for Israel with war against Iran
Throughout his political career, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has steered his country along two pillars of foreign policy: an ironclad partnership with the United States and a relentless diplomatic and covert battle against the rulers of the Islamic Republic of Iran. Now, with Israel and the U.S. in a joint war against Iran’s leadership, those two strategic paths risk clashing with each other. By enlisting the U.S. in what he views as Israel’s existential battle against Iran, Netanyahu is taking a gamble that could open up the relationship to the strain of a war with far-reaching consequences.
To be sure, persuading U.S. President Donald Trump to join the war was a coup for Netanyahu and highlights the strong ties between the two leaders. If they are successful, they could quickly realize their shared goal of toppling the Iranian government and spare the region a protracted conflict. But if the war drags on, the two allies’ ties could again be tested.
“A large part of the American public will view it as the Israeli tail wagging the American dog and that it is dragging the United States to a war in the Middle East that isn’t theirs,” said Ofer Shelah, a research fellow at the Institute for National Security Studies, a Tel Aviv, Israel-based think tank. The drop in public support that might unleash “will be very harmful for Israel in the medium and long term,” he said. But, he added, in a nod to the Israeli leader’s political ambitions: “Netanyahu is not interested in the medium and long term.”
US public opinion has been evolving
For Netanyahu, successfully persuading Trump to strike Iran together is the apex of decades of proximity between the Israeli leader and Washington. Netanyahu, Israel’s longest-serving leader, speaks flawless English after having spent part of his youth in the U.S. and has always portrayed himself as Israel’s bridge to America.
READ MORE: Democrats’ unity against Trump faces a test after U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran
Although he boasts about his tight relationships with multiple American presidents and members of Congress, Netanyahu over the past two years has seen support for Israel among the American public drop. According to Gallup polling, American sympathies in the Middle East have shifted dramatically toward the Palestinians. That shift in sentiment has been driven in large part by Democrats. But some Republicans, and even Trump’s own backers, have been more outspoken against the diplomatic and financial support the U.S. has continued to grant Israel throughout the past two and a half years, when it has been embroiled in a war on multiple fronts sparked by Hamas’ Oct. 7, 2023, attacks. The devastating images from the war in Gaza deepened Israel’s international isolation.
With a new war against Iran — the second in less than a year — Netanyahu is tackling an enemy that he and many Israelis view as an existential threat, citing its support for anti-Israeli militias across the region, its ballistic missile arsenal, and its nuclear program. He has led the crusade against Iran on the world stage for much of his career. Netanyahu said Sunday in a statement that the U.S. involvement “allows us to do what I have been hoping to do for 40 years — to deliver a crushing blow to the terror regime.” Netanyahu’s office did not immediately respond to an Associated Press request for comment.
The conflict could spiral
Days into the war, Israel and the U.S. military appear to be working hand in glove to strike targets — from the initial attack that killed top Iranian leaders, including Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, to assaults that allowed the forces free rein in Iranian skies. But the conflict has already set off aftershocks that could reverberate in the American heartland. At least six U.S. troops have been killed. Travel was disrupted across the region, leaving hundreds of thousands of travelers stranded. Oil prices surged, raising the prospect of costlier gasoline for U.S. drivers as well as increased prices for other goods at a time when people have been stung by a rising cost of living.
Questions remain about the direction and aim of the war. It’s unclear whether the air power will be enough to topple Iran’s leadership, who or what should replace that leadership, and what role Israel or the U.S. will have in either. Every day presents new potential land mines.
“Many people will blame Israel if things go badly wrong,” wrote Nadav Eyal, a commentator with the Israeli Yediot Ahronoth daily newspaper. “Israel cannot afford to lose the American public’s support under any circumstances. That is more important than striking any individual military facility.”
Still, Aaron David Miller, who served as an adviser on Middle East issues to Democratic and Republican administrations over two decades, said that Netanyahu has little to lose from the war.
With elections scheduled for the fall, Netanyahu can use the war in Iran to divert attention away from the failures of the Oct. 7 attacks, the worst in Israel’s history. Instead, Netanyahu can set himself up as a brave wartime leader who fulfilled a pledge he has made much of his life to confront Iran. He can say he did so with support from the American president, who Miller said can pull the brakes on the war whenever he pleases. “If Trump feels as if it’s going south, he’ll find a way to de-escalate,” he said, “and his good friend Benjamin Netanyahu will follow.”
How can it go beyond 60 days?
Iranian mullahs’ forces have no means of re-supply, 90% of the population is against them, and the US is obliterating their defenses systematically
Personally, I’ll be surprised if this goes beyond 2 weeks of hard fighting
“ She’s just as arrogant now as when she tried to kill off Trump’s 2016 campaign in the 1st debate.”
I listened to her podcast for a while, but it seems that since she got her own XM Sirius channel, she has become boring. I’m glad I stopped listening.
Tucker has had some mental crisis in the last year or whatever.
Megyn, however is just disappointing. I thought she was more grounded in reality.
Tucker and Kelly would have a lot more credibility on this if Trump had launched a ground invasion of Iran - that would be a disaster and I’d join them in disagreeing with it. But Trump is not doing anything like that and won’t - he’s destroying Iran’s leadership and military capabilities using air power, enabling Iran’s population to rise up and overthrow the regime if they can, and paving the way for less reactionary elements in the regime to rise up if they can.
We learn lessons from history but need to be careful not to learn the wrong lesson. Iran is as different from Afghanistan as Afghanistan is from us. I do not doubt there are going to be emergent Iranian leaders already identified, waiting to surface when the time is right. And they won’t be Taliban..
What makes the participation of the Gulf States in this so important is the fact that they have that have not put boots on the ground and they are native to the region. A very easy way to implement regime change in Iran will be to use the Gulf States to furnish the necessary arms to Iranian freedom fighters. Then the action can go forward.
As if Trump hasn’t taken criticism from all quarters since 2015. Having the most prominent conservative magazine at the time NR (no longer) solcite a gaggle of top tier GOP names to smear him & tell people to vote for Hillary instead was just the start.
Damn near all the whose in GOP political hierachy despise/despised him. From politico’s like Cruz, Marco, and Paul, to talking heads like Megyn, Shapiro, Levin.
And of course, I don’t need to even mention the worldwide media or the Federal Gov’t itself.
How many of Trump’s politician “supporters” had his back for the 2020 election and it’s scorched earth aftermath? Not too many.
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