Donald Trump has long been unapologetic about facing his critics head-on, especially when those who oppose him were once among his strongest backers.
Today the president finds himself increasingly defending his decision to launch a deadly and ongoing U.S. strike against Iran, as rifts widen within his conservative base and concerns mount that America could be drawn into a broader conflict in the Middle East.
Trump’s frustration boiled over this week when he directed his ire at two prominent backers — podcasters and former Fox News personalities Megyn Kelly and Tucker Carlson — after both publicly questioned the wisdom of steering the U.S. toward what critics warn could become a prolonged and costly war with Tehran.
Trump ordered the U.S. join Israel on Saturday, Feb. 28, in a bombing campaign against the Islamic Republic without any clearly stated objectives or an endgame.
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“I have to do what’s right, first and foremost — and you can’t let Iran acquire a nuclear weapon. That takes precedence for me,” Trump explained to independent journalist Rachel Bade in a phone interview on Monday, March 2.
He told Bade that he believes his base and MAGA voters remain firmly in his corner and that he and Kelly have disagreed in the past.
“That’s fine. I don’t mind. She was critical of me for years and I didn’t lose,” he continued, before insisting that he hasn’t lost his base yet either.
“I think that MAGA equals Trump. MAGA isn’t the other two,” he argued, referring to Carlson and Kelly.
Then Trump tried a familiar maneuver — offering a smug reminder of his staying power while hinting that Kelly might not have the stomach to press him further.
“Megyn was opposed to me for years when I ran the first time and nothing stopped me,” Trump said. “And so, you know, some people are against — and they always come back. She came all the way back.”
But Trump clearly misread the person he was dealing with.
Rather than quietly stepping back the way Trump suggested she would, Kelly did the opposite.
Within hours she was back on the mic on her podcast, digging in and warning that the United States could be walking straight into another endless foreign entanglement with Tehran — the very kind of drawn-out war that Trump spent years vowing to spare his supporters from under his “America First” banner.
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