Tucker Carlson and former White House chief strategist Steve Bannon have emerged as the faces of MAGA’s opposition to US engagement in the war.
On the War Room podcast on Monday, Steve Bannon and Tucker Carlson warned Trump against American military involvement in the Middle East. “I am really afraid that my country is going to be further weakened by this. I think we are going to see the end of the American empire,” Carlson said.They discussed the importance of stopping the ‘forever wars,’ sealing the border and deporting illegal aliens. Bannon believes the deep state apparatus reports to Wall Street, foreign investors, and Silicon Valley, and is allegedly in business with the Chinese Communist Party.
He emphasised the need for Trump to take bold action against the deep state, stating that if they don’t ‘lance the boil’ now, the country will be in trouble.
Steve Bannon said, “One thing is if you look at the three planks, no forever stop the forever wars, seal the border and deport the illegal alien, you know, invaders and redo the commercial relationships in the world around trade deals and bring high value-added manufacturing jobs back here, they’re trying to shut all three down.”
“But the one that they’re obsessed with the most, which I find strange, is the forever wars. They’ve gotta be the forever wars, particularly in the Middle East. I mean, this is what, and I’m a big supporter of Israel,” he added.
“It’s going to not just blow up the coalition. It’s also going to thwart what we’re doing with the most important thing, which is the deportation.”
He expressed concerns about the potential for civil war in big cities if 10 million illegal aliens are not deported. Carlson and Bannon discussed how the deep state is trying to shut down Trump’s plans, with a particular focus on preventing him from stopping the ‘forever wars.’
“Stopping the forever wars, redoing the commercial relationship, we’re trying to bring jobs back, and sealing the border and sending home the 10 deporting 10,000,000, which is gonna be massive, almost like a civil war in these big cities.”
Marc Short, a former Vice President Mike Pence ally who served as Trump’s legislative director during his first term, described the division over Iran inside Trump’s party as a ‘pretty large rift.’
He did, however, believe that despite the differences, Trump’s following would stay with him.
“The divisions are obviously coming out in the open in this moment, but ultimately I think that most of the president’s followers are loyal to him more so than any worldview,” he said.
On Tuesday, the US State Department restated the Trump administration’s stance on Iran’s nuclear program, emphasising that “Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon.”
Addressing a press briefing, US State Department Spokesperson Tammy Bruce stated that Trump’s commitment to preventing Iran from getting nuclear capability has been unchanged since he took office.
“Now with the conflict between Iran and Israel, President Trump is also clear that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon…The fact that Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon is clear. As the White House reminds us, since taking office, President Trump has clearly stated that Iran cannot be allowed to have a nuclear weapon…,” Bruce added.
For years, Carlson has disagreed with Republican leaders and diplomats who back the idea of military intervention in West Asia. And that has brought him into confrontation with Trump, who, on Monday, said: “I don’t know what Tucker Carlson is saying.”
At the G7 summit in Canada, he added, “Let him go get a television network and say it so that people listen.”
Later, on Truth Social, he posted, “Somebody please explain to kooky Tucker Carlson that, ‘IRAN CAN NOT HAVE A NUCLEAR WEAPON!’”
Over the last few days, Carlson has advised the US against getting involved in the conflict.
