This guy’s a nut but he does represent a certain faction of MAGA:
Joe Kent, the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, announced his resignation on Tuesday, citing his concerns about the justification for military strikes in Iran and saying he “cannot in good conscience” back the Trump administration’s war
“Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby,” Kent said in a statement posted on social media, making claims President Donald Trump has denied.
It’s hard to argue with that. He claims that the Israelis misled Trump and that Israel drew the U.S. into the Iraq war which is just Tucker Carlson slop. I’ve no doubt that Netanyahu worked Trump hard but the decision is all Trump for his own reasons.
And the issue of Israel drawing us into Iraq goes back to the history of neoconservatism which was largely influenced by concerns over Israel going back to the 1970s. I’m not sure that’s what Kent is referring to because he’s hardly a political history scholar. But in that way, at least, he’s not wrong. (I suspect it’s more about the fact that Kent is a white nationalist which has a strong streak of fascist anti-semitism.) He represents the Tucker Carlson wing of the party, also known as the Tulsi Gabbard wing. (You’d think she would have been the first to go but because she’s is nothing more than a crass opportunist she’s hanging in there working to steal elections for Trump. )
The polls show that the people who identify as MAGA are sticking with Trump which figures. It’s a cult. But that doesn’t mean it isn’t significant that a substantial portion of the influencer crowd is breaking away. Megyn Kelly, Carlson, Rogan, Marjorie Taylor Green and others are adamantly against the war. This split does mean something. If only 10% of the MAGA coalition breaks over this it weakens the GOP going into this election.
Trump is characteristically gracious: