MAGA Civil War: A Guide to Trump’s Fracturing Coalition Over Iran and Israel

The escalating conflict between Israel and Iran and President Donald Trump’s role in it has driven a wedge in the MAGA coalition that just months ago seemed united for the long haul.

As ringmaster of the MAGA circus, Trump finds himself juggling chainsaws as the coalition he built by force (as you may notice, many on this list once hated Trump) begins to crack down the middle.

Trump, of course, launched his 2016 campaign with an assault on George W. Bush’s war in Iraq, a war that right-wing media cheered on uniformly. After slaughtering that sacred cow, he developed a base of voters who saw him as anti-war, regardless of how accurate that belief was, or at the very least averse to foreign entanglements. That base of support, however, is now pitched in opposition with an equally vocal group of boomer neo-cons who backed the Iraq war vociferously, yet now have gone full MAGA in their quest for an audience.

Those two factions are now at war over Israel’s strike on Iran and the fighting that followed. And suddenly, the commander in chief finds himself with the distraction of having to referee a shouting match about interventionism versus isolationism among his fiercest allies, all while maintaining plausible deniability and a well-bleached smile.

For nearly a decade, Trump could count on lockstep loyalty from the MAGA media industrial complex. Now, the gloves are off. Firebrands who once cowered in fear of defying Trump are speaking out explicitly against his apparent march towards war. Tucker Carlson is attacking his old colleague, Sean Hannity. Mark Levin is in the middle of some kind of days-long crisis he’s keeping us updated on via social media. Ari Fleischer, apparently uncowed by his role in selling the last disaster war to Americans, is pushing for a new one.

It may seem challenging to keep track of who is insulting whom. Here is your handy guide to the players of this escalating skirmish amongst MAGA’s most influential voices.

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The Hawks: MAGA’s Bomb-Crazed Boomers

The Pot Stirrer in Chief — Mark Levin

“Chatsworth is more maggot than MAGA” — Mark Levin on Tucker Carlson.

Mark Levin is arguably the Trump media booster most in love with war. According to Politico, he recently dined with Trump and pushed for war with Iran, insisting that Tehran was “days away” from building a nuclear weapon — a claim Trump’s own intelligence team said is not accurate. In the weeks since, he has relentlessly pushed for war on his radio program, Fox News show, and manic social media feeds. But he’s also attacked his colleagues in the MAGA mediaverse who are more skeptical that a war with Iran is a good idea, most notably Tucker Carlson, who he now calls “Chatsworth Qatarlson.” It’s not just petty insults — Levin also alleged that Carlson is “planting stories with his media pals” in response to the Politico report. Levin has expanded his war of words beyond Carlson, taking aim at Marjorie Taylor Greene as well for her opposition to war with Iran. Despite all this catty feuding, Levin insisted in a massive social media post pushing back on my recent column that, “There is no rift in real MAGA.”  The lady doth protest too much.

The Lackey — Charlie Kirk

“Moments like this, I have full and complete trust in President Trump” — Charlie Kirk on his North Star.

Perhaps the most obsequious of all of Trump’s toadies, Charlie Kirk appeared somewhat on the fence when news of Israel’s strike against Iran first hit news feeds. In the days since, he has firmly aligned himself with Trump’s interventionist push, calling Trump “a master tactician” for targeting Iran’s nuclear ambitions, praising the Soleimani strike as proof Trump avoids “endless wars” while still defending American interests. He’s described the Abraham Accords as a tectonic shift weakening Iran, asserting “when America stands with Israel… Genesis 12:3.” In other words, he’s sought to reconcile Trump’s campaign promise that he would not start any new wars with the reality that the United States appears to be inching towards war with Iran. It’s a tightrope walk that Kirk’s pals on the other side of the MAGA movement aren’t buying. In Kirk’s view, MAGA’s future rests on loyalty to Trump‑led, pro‑Israel intervention. That is…until Trump changes his mind. The message is clear: whatever Trump says is right. If the president were to turn around tomorrow and declare Iran an ally and Israel a foe, no doubt Kirk would be right there with him, cheering on the brave new world.

The Conspiracy Whisperer — Laura Loomer

“America First is whatever President Trump says it is” — Laura Loomer on ideology.

Equal parts troll and tribune, Laura Loomer has long policed the MAGA ranks online. Yet she’s been a punchline in MAGA circles for years — from her days getting banned from Uber for refusing to ride with Muslim drivers or that time she chained herself to Twitter’s HQ. Her recent and improbable infiltration into Trump’s inner circle has given her disturbing power over the White House and therefore the future of the country and the world (take a gander at her social media feeds if you want to be scared shitless by this development). Recently, she’s taken it upon herself to root out internal dissent in the administration. She’s urged followers to publicly shame any pro-Trump voices who question the interventionist path, effectively deputizing the internet’s worst instincts and ensuring U.S. foreign policy is nothing but rigid and unequivocal support for Israel — or else.

The Hard Ass — Sean Hannity

“Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. Period. End of sentence.” — Sean Hannity’s red line.

Sean Hannity has played this internal MAGA conflict pretty cleverly, mostly avoiding taking personal sides in the insult-fest. However, there is no question he is forever going to be in Trump’s camp, as the pair are more ideologically in lockstep than anyone. That means that for as long as Trump is backing Israel in its escalation against Iran, he’s on Hannity’s side — a side the Fox News prime time titan has been on for decades. He pushed for and then celebrated the Soleimani killing and has urged Trump to “bomb the hell out of Iran.” His audience loves this brand of unapologetic hawkishness – as does Trump, it seems.

The Establishmentarian — Ari Fleischer

“The world will be safer and the Middle East at long last will have peace” — a prediction from Ari Fleischer.

Former George W. Bush press secretary turned Fox News contributor Ari Fleischer, this week opened fire on Tucker Carlson, calling the former Fox News host a “carnival barker and a clown” for warning that war with Iran could end both Trump’s presidency and the American empire. He highlighted Carlson’s prior hawkishness from when he was a bowtie-wearing cable news host — which included calls to annihilate Iran — suggesting he doesn’t believe in anything other than self-promotion. Carlson, who has admitted he was mistaken in supporting the Iraq war, has frequently attacked Bush officials like Fleischer who sold it to the American people — and warned they are seeking to do the same thing in Iran.

The Echo Chamber —Fox News Prime Time

“If you’re gonna trust somebody, I would trust Trump and not Iran” — Greg Gutfeld, sounding somewhat unsure.

Any list of major players in the pro-Trump media world cannot ignore Jesse Watters, Laura Ingraham, and Greg Gutfeld, the Fox News prime time hosts that surround Hannity. Collectively, they have turned 7 p.m. to 10 p.m. on the network into an interventionist drum circle. Their nightly broadcasts pound out support for Israel, condemnations of Iran, and give pro-war voices prime airtime. It’s not just programming — it’s the architecture of pro-war MAGA consensus, and harkens back to the climate that pushed the United States into war with Iraq all those years ago.

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The Isolationists: MAGA’s America First Resisters

The Apostate — Tucker Carlson

“When Mark Levin gets on TV, it’s like listening to your ex-wife scream about alimony payments” — Tucker Carlson on a certain Fox News host.

Now streaming from the outer rim of cable TV exile, Tucker Carlson has warned that Trump’s entanglement in another Middle East conflict could doom both his candidacy and the country. He has argued, in harsher terms regarding Trump than he ever has before, that the conflict isn’t just unwise — it’s a betrayal of MAGA’s core “America First” principle. Carlson’s unprecedented criticism of Trump and his policy with regards to Iran has put him on the receiving end of attacks from the likes of Levin and Loomer, and as of this week, Trump himself, who dismissed his criticism as “kooky” in a Truth Social post and jabbed at his ouster from cable news in comments to reporters. It is a perilous bind for Carlson, whose audience is overwhelmingly pro-Trump and must perform a delicate balancing act of staying on Trump’s good side while urging him to avoid what he sees as a catastrophic war with Iran.

The Convicted Felon — Steve Bannon

“This is going to be the end of Israel” — Steve Bannon warns against escalation.

Never one to let nuance stand in the way of bombast, Steve Bannon has declared war on the “globalist neocons” backing Israel. And now that Trump’s actions are fitting hand-in-glove with said “globalist neocons,” Bannon is all but begging his former boss to change course. All while insisting he is a major supporter of Israel, Bannon has accused the interventionists of hijacking MAGA to serve a foreign agenda. Bannon and Carlson are very much sympatico on this issue, and a pair of joint interviews for each of their shows, both released Monday, revealed both how urgently they see this issue, as well as their need for allies amid the growing conflict that could very well jeopardize their MAGA standing.

The Attention Hog — Marjorie Taylor Greene

“And foreign wars/intervention/regime change put America last, kill innocent people, are making us broke, and will ultimately lead to our destruction. That’s not kooky. That’s what millions of Americans voted for. It’s what we believe is America First” — MTG fires back at Trump.

Her lack of cheerleading for this escalation has drawn side-eyes from the Hannity wing, but you have to give her some credit for actually sticking to her principles and bucking Trump — while backing the Bannonite argument that defending Israel shouldn’t mean bankrupting America. She really wants to be included in this, but in a manner that seems unlikely to please anyone. She has painfully tried to square the circle by aligning herself with Trump and Tucker Carlson, while warning against “dragging us into another forever war.”

The Bozo Patrol

“Donald Trump just completely fractured his base. And he did it for the very neocons who minted the #NeverTrump movement” — Candace Owens.

Jack Posobiec and Candace Owens have spoken out in opposition to American intervention in Iran, accusing those backing a war of prioritizing foreign entanglements over domestic priorities like border security. Mike Cernovich and Steven Crowder have piled on, with Crowder sarcastically tweeting, “Can’t wait for my kids to die for someone else’s sandcastle.” While most of these MAGA social media stars have been cautious to not directly criticize Trump, Candace Owens has been unrestrained in calling out his approach to this conflict.

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This isn’t unity under Trump — it’s a live foreign policy trial by combat. The hawks and isolationists aren’t just debating — they’re dueling, each claim amplified through Fox’s fractured walls, Bannon’s pod, Truth Social firestorms, and cable echoes.

The MAGA tent once held certainty: Israel good, Iran bad, bombs for peace. Now it’s unravelling in real time. With Trump as ringmaster, hawks and isolationists slug it out nightly. Fox News, once the uniter, now functions as referee and agitator. When the stakes are nukes and national identity, spectators never know if they’re tuning in for journalism or gladiator games.

This is an opinion piece. The views expressed in this article are those of just the author.