President Donald Trump and top officials are ramping up attacks on conservative critics of the war, opening an unexpected offensive front as the United States nears a potential end to the Iran conflict.
Throughout his political career, Trump has never shied from attacking critics, regardless of party. But some Trump world insiders, including current and former administration officials, worry his attacks on Tucker Carlson and others are elevating dissent on the right and potentially undercutting his own messaging for bringing the war to a close.
One former senior Trump White House official questioned the wisdom of Trump’s nearly 500-word social media tirade against Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Alex Jones, and Candace Owens on Thursday afternoon.
In that lengthy Truth Social post, Trump claimed that the media personalities “have all been fighting [him] for years.”
“They have one thing in common, Low IQs. They’re stupid people, they know it, their families know it, and everyone else knows it, too!” the president added, prompting one former Trump White House official to characterize the post as “f***ing insane.”
“The strategy right now is just basically attack. That’s all they’re doing, instead of trying to win them over,” that official assessed. “Megyn [Kelly] is a great example of someone that’s super winnable. She just wants to have a high-rated, important show. Just offer her guests. Give her access. Play the game. Tucker, same f***ing thing. Just call him, talk to him on the phone, whatever. Everyone’s winnable.”
A second former senior Trump White House official told the Washington Examiner that they believed the White House is attempting outreach with the aforementioned critics, but that, ultimately, the “far-right podcasters” can “smell blood in the water.”
“You can debate whether they’re being authentic, and whether they’re doing this because they actually truly believe in the ‘MAGA principles’ and they’re defending those, or if they’re doing it just because they’re a bunch of grifters trying to save their own skin,” that person explained. “But it does appear though that they’re going where the wind is blowing, and that wind is blowing toward voters being frustrated with their support for Trump because this is not what they voted for.”
That person suggested that Trump’s attacks on the podcast crowd have more to do with public perceptions of the war rather than the actual criticism from the media personalities themselves, and that the rest of the White House staffers are simply following his lead.
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“He’s frustrated with the polling. He’s frustrated with the news coverage, and so then obviously Karoline [Leavitt] and Co. are going to kind of follow his lead,” the former White House official claimed. “I just think that they should be spending less time going after these folks and more time trying to just end the war, because him going after them is just going to make them angrier, and they’re going to double down on their message.”
A RealClearPolitics poll average shows support for U.S. military action against Iran is underwater, with 53.8% disapproving and only 40.3% approving as of Friday.
A current top White House aide similarly suggested that they’d like to see the president and his press team devote less time to “going after our own” in lieu of “staying focused on ending the war.” But that person did underline that “President Trump has always been a fighter. He’s never been afraid to take a swing, and that’s why voters love him.”
A third former senior White House official who still supports Trump’s foreign policy but has privately expressed concern to the Washington Examiner about the strategies and goals of Operation Epic Fury, gave a much more dour assessment, claiming that Trump’s attacks on right-leaning critics belie the fact that the situation has spun out of control.
“You can only polish a turd so much,” that official said Friday. “We can’t just tell people to accept ridiculous foreign policy and expect them to clap like seals.”
Still, other Trumpworld insiders have no problem with the president’s recent attack lines. One veteran Trump aide, who has previously worked in both the Trump White House and on his presidential campaigns, denied that the president’s comments on Carlson and the others mark any type of messaging shift.
“I don’t view it as a departure from past messaging. I view it as consistent. Donald Trump has always been a counterpuncher, and those who attack him, regardless of political party, often get punched back,” that person told the Washington Examiner. “Those comments about Tucker or Megyn or Candace or Alex Jones aren’t comments responding to those people. Those comments are designed to expose or unmask their hypocrisy to the audiences that listen to them. That’s who that message is for. [Trump] knows that the host of these podcasts [isn’t] going to stop, right? So what he’s trying to do is expose the lies, the clickbait, to the audiences that listen to them.”
Yet another former Trump White House official said they saw no issue with Trump taking “legitimate swipes” at critics of the Iran war.
“I don’t know if I’d say they’re low IQ — I think they’re actually probably all very smart, but attacking that group, I personally think that’s just Trump being Trump. I think he’s done a good job [regarding Iran], and it’s frustrating that the polling has not been great for it. Because I think there are a lot of people who misunderstand what ‘America First’ foreign policy means and how it plays into this moment.”
White House officials similarly disregarded concerns voiced to the Washington Examiner about the president’s messaging.
“What matters most to the American people is having a Commander-in-Chief who takes decisive action to eliminate threats and keep them safe, which is exactly what President Trump did with the successful Operation Epic Fury,” White House spokesman Davis Ingle wrote in a statement. “President Trump campaigned proudly on his promise to deny the Iranian regime the ability to develop a nuclear weapon, which is what this noble operation accomplishes. The President does not make these incredibly important national security decisions based on fluid opinion polls, but on the best interest of the American people.”
White House aides rejected the idea that the Iran war is driving a wedge through the president’s coalition, citing multiple polls published in March that showed overwhelming support from self-identifying MAGA voters for Operation Epic Fury.
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The White House additionally pointed to an I&I/TIPP poll published April 6 that found a plurality of all Americans supporting “U.S. military action against Iran.”
“Despite some online commentators with large followings publicly disagreeing with the President’s decision – and many legacy media outlets eagerly highlighting their comments to try and sow division – the MAGA base is not wavering one bit,” the White House said in a statement to the Washington Examiner. “These commentators claiming this will somehow fracture the president’s support is not backed by or reflected in the polling data. Additionally, polling shows President Trump’s decision to launch Operation Epic Fury has Americans’ support – with MAGA and Republicans strongly supporting it.”
