Far-right influencer Nick Fuentes (Photo: REUTERS/Leah Millis)
With a ceasefire in place that appears to have brought an end to President Donald Trump’s war on Iran, many political commentators from the right are declaring that “this is a complete and total US defeat.”
“There is no ambiguity here. It’s not debatable. It’s not subject to interpretation,” said far-right influencer Nick Fuentes on Wednesday. “We lost, decisively.”
Fuentes, a white nationalist who played a key role in developing Trump’s online base during the early years of his political career, has had an increasingly strained stance toward the president over the course of his second administration. In March, he finally broke with Trump entirely, telling his followers to “vote Democrat” over the decision to attack Iran.
Now, Fuentes is pointing out the flaws in the Trump Administration’s repeated assertions of victory.
“When we got into this conflict we had about five military objectives,” said Fuentes, noting that once Iran closed the Strait of Hormuz, its reopening became another goal. “We did not achieve any of those things. There is no regime change. We did not suppress or destroy their capability to build and launch drones and missiles. We did not seize or in any way restrict their ability to enrich uranium. We did not meaningfully degrade or destroy the Iranian Revolutionary Guard, and the regime remains intact.” And while the U.S. inflicted severe damage on the Iranian military, “they still maintain” wide-ranging military capabilities.
He’s far from the only one-diehard MAGA Trumpist to criticize the war.
Former-Trump loyalist and ex-congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene has inveighed against the president, labeling the war “unprovoked” and describing the Commander in Chief’s behavior as “evil and madness,” calling for his removal via the 25th Amendment. Former Fox host and Trump ally Tucker Carlson has called the war “vile on every level,” going so far as to say that White House staffers should reject the president’s orders and “figure out the codes” to the nuclear football so that Trump can use them. And far-right provocateur Alex Jones has criticized Trump’s willingness to prioritize war over domestic issues and speculated that the president has dementia.
“The 25th amendment needs to be invoked,” said ex-MAGA influencer Candace Owens. “He is a genocidal lunatic. Our Congress and military need to intervene. We are beyond madness.”