'MAGA rattled' as Trump strategy infuriates America First supporters

U.S. President Donald Trump speaks with the media while walking with Senate Majority Leader John Thune (R-SD), U.S. Capitol, in Washington, D.C., U.S., June 24, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein

President Donald Trump has devised a new plan for the Iran war, though it looks remarkably similar to the old plan. It's an escalation that has even the biggest influencers in the MAGA movement "rattled."

Former State Department official Emily Horne spoke with The New Republic's Greg Sargent on the morning podcast about Trump's new strategy in Iran and just how clumsy it appears.

Trump met with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Tuesday as he arrived for the funeral of Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.). According to Sargent, "Many MAGA figures are upset about this, fearing that a meeting will push Trump into escalating, and they don’t want Trump to do Israel’s bidding."

He noted that far-right former Trump campaign leader Steve Bannon told Politico, “All of Trump’s most ardent non-Israel First supporters are furious.” He claimed that the war has been a "disaster" for the America First agenda.

Sargent also cited Curt Mills of "The American Conservative," who said they were at “DEFCON 1” assuming that Netanyahu will “argue for the essential logic of escalation."

At the same time, Trump is hemorrhaging support. While at first it was largely from independents, now, "new polling shows a large chunk of MAGA turning on the war," said Sargent.

Horne said that one important thing to note is that the attacks on Netanyahu are coming from the "strain of MAGA" that is "really virulent and ugly antisemitic." That group and the legitimate criticism of the Israeli government should be separated, she explained.

"But that aside, I think it’s really telling that there is not agreement within MAGA, within the Republican Party, on the best way out of this own goal that is Trump’s Iran war, his forever war, really," Horne continued. "And even Trump alluded to this himself in his Fox interview this [Tuesday morning], where he talked about how there are elements of the Republican Party that want this to be over and done with, as midterms are approaching and everyone’s aware of how wildly unpopular this war is — how, as members of Congress are going back to their districts for August recess, they’re going to be getting an earful about gas prices and forever wars and politicians who are focused on the wrong thing."

Then there is the hawkish wing of the GOP that supports the war continuing.

"Nobody knows what Trump’s endgame is or what the strategy is," said Horne. "They’re clearly just making it up as they go along. And the only answer that they have for 'the bombs haven’t worked so far' is more bombs."

Trump continues to boast that the Iranians desperately want a deal and that they want to end the war. It continues to prompt questions about why Trump is choosing not to make such a deal. But Sargent explained that none of it is real.

"In reality, the Iranians are not in any rush to talk to Trump at all," he said.

Horne said that in "bureaucratic terms" the "TLDR" is that the U.S. has no leverage anymore. Infamously, when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy first visited Trump for a contentious Oval Office meeting, Trump ranted, "you don't have the cards." In the Iran war, Trump is the one who has no cards.

While Iran has no problem passing the costs of the war onto its people, it's costing Trump and his party at the ballot box. Control of the Strait of Hormuz is handing Iran not only more power but also greater leverage in negotiations with Trump's son-in-law, Jared Kushner, and Steve Witkoff, Trump's "special envoy for peace missions" and "Special Envoy for the Middle East," respectively.

Iran continues to have a nuclear program, despite the bombing campaign. Horne says this in large part "because Trump walked away from the JCPOA in his first term." The JCPOA, or Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action, was President Barack Obama's deal with Iran and allied countries, United Kingdom, France, Russia, China and Germany. It was successful in that the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) found they were complying with the agreement until Trump ended it in May 2018.

"So, no matter what Trump has said at various points in Trump II about obliterating Iran’s nuclear program, again, that is something that Iran has as a bargaining chip, and they have been very clear that they’re going to control the direction of the conversation moving forward," Horne explained.

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