When Trump launched a war against Iran in late February, his MAGA movement suddenly became nearly indistinguishable from the neoconservative foreign policy Trump once abhorred.
For nearly four months, Washington hawks like Senator Lindsey Graham and radio jock Mark Levin were riding high. But over time it became clearer that the president was looking for a way out and now the president has reportedly reached a memorandum of understanding with Iran to end the fighting, open the Strait of Hormuz, and to keep talking. Trump’s friends, who were hoping for Iranian capitulation and regime change, even if that meant indefinite bombing and blockading, aren’t very happy today.
Levin appeared to be in despair on his Fox News Sunday night program, insisting that Congress must approve of any Iran deal (Levin never cared that Congress wasn’t consulted to go to war ). “It won’t stand,” he ranted.
“It won’t stand for long even during the Trump presidency. Israel will not be able to adhere to what would be a suicide pact!” Levin even tussled with a Trump adviser over the deal.
A frustrated Ben Shapiro of The Daily Wire demanded the release of the memorandum. “Here's the amazing thing about written agreements: they are comprised of words we can all read and then form opinions about! It's really neat!” “So release the MOU text. Now,” he stormed.
“This is a very bad deal for the United States,” groused former National Security Advisor John Bolton. He taunted his old boss. “They’ve played him like a violin. That’s why they’ve got the deal that they want.”
Bush-Cheney alumni Marc Theissen dismissed it as “the Vance deal,” referring to the Vice President. Sen. Graham was reportedly “skeptical” of the deal and then got rather passive-aggressive. “Under our law, any nuclear deal with Iran will be sent to Congress for review and a vote,” he posted on X. “I look forward to reviewing the final product and I believe it is imperative that the architect of the deal, Vice President Vance and his negotiating partners, be part of the process in presenting the final deal to Congress," he added.”
Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) warned that “dark forces are trying to break the American-Israeli alliance.”
Presumably one of those “dark forces” is the president for wanting a deal?
The habitually hawkish Erick Erickson rolled out the shopworn smears. “The racists and antisemites support the Iran deal,” he posted on X. To which independent journalist Glenn Greenwald responded , “once again, the pro-Israel right has no discourse other than to scream RACIST and ANTI-SEMITE at everyone who disagrees with them.”
Notice that with the exception of perhaps Bolton, none of these critics are going after Trump directly. They talk about betraying Israel, antisemitism, or they blame Vance.
“I feel very sad for the protestors in Iran who lost their lives,” a clearly distraught Laura Loomer posted . “Nearly 100,000 innocent people slaughtered this year in Iran by the Iranian regime and IRGC.”
There is no evidence that 100,000 Iranians were killed in the protests, but that is besides the point, the idea that this war was to liberate Iranians was exposed as farce as soon as bombs started falling on Tehran, killing civilians including 120 schoolchildren , on Feb. 28. Former George W. Bush Administration mouthpiece Ari Fleischer shared Loomer’s post. “I still don’t trust Iran,” he also wrote , as if absolute trust in any country is a requirement for diplomatic agreements. “Trust but verify” Ronald Reagan once said to his critics. Meanwhile Zionist evangelical preacher John Hagee declared that “no deal is better than a bad deal.” Trump’s own U.S. ambassador to Israel and Evangelical Zionist Mike Huckabee appeared to defy the president or at least undermine the deal. “Without Israel, there would not be an America. We owe our very existence to what happened in this land.”
To remind everyone, Israel’s government was founded in 1948 and the United States celebrates its 250th birthday on July 4.
There are more examples of the meltdown of course, but no need to overwhelm the reader.
This episode was probably summed up best by Vice President Vance, who reportedly said on Tuesday of his administration’s current critics like Mark Levin and others: "It is kind of ironic that they’re really, really worried about stopping this thing when they were so gung-ho about starting this thing."
Yes they are. And yes they were.