President Donald J. Trump meets with members of the Trump-Kennedy Center board during a luncheon in the East Room of the White House, Monday, March 16, 2026. (Official White House Photo by Joyce N. Boghosian)
President Donald Trump's decision to join Israel in a war against Iran has fractured a considerable portion of his anti-war MAGA base, and according to a new analysis from The i Paper, an increasing number of those supporters suspect he "has lost the plot, if not his mind," while top officials may be questioning their own allegiances.
Writing in a piece published Wednesday, the outlet's U.S. commentator Simon Marks argued that the recent resignation of Joe Kent as the director of the National Counterterrorism Center reflected a broader discontent with Trump's handling of Iran. In departing the office, Kent cited his frustrations with Israel's influence over Trump's decisions and U.S. domestic politics overall, arguing that the current war was a pointless endeavor, as Iran posed no threat.
"Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation,” Kent wrote in a statement to Trump. “Until June of 2025, you understood that the wars in the Middle East were a trap that robbed America of the precious lives of our patriots and depleted the wealth and prosperity of our nation.”
"The White House must now regret expending significant political capital last year to drag his nomination across the finishing line," Marks wrote about the situation. "On Tuesday, Kent became the most senior figure in Trump’s inner circle to betray the President. In doing so, he spoke for the substantial number of core 'Make America Great Again' and 'America First' supporters who believe that by waging war alongside Israel against Iran, Trump has lost the plot, if not his mind."
Marks further argued that both Trump and his MAGA loyalists had made foolish mistakes in betting on each other up to this point. In staffing his second-term administration exclusively with loyalists, Trump left himself "at the mercy of a very limited talent pool" of individuals who would hold him to account for his key pledges. Those same loyalists, meanwhile, made the naive mistake of believing that Trump would hold to the principles he espoused on the campaign trail.
"Kent’s naivety in imagining that there is any core principle in Trump’s arsenal that will not be discarded at a whim, is matched only by the President’s limitless belief that none of the men and women who serve him will ever dare to point out that the emperor is, in fact, naked," Marks added.
He continued: "Kent has revealed a chink in the presidential armour, and Trump needs an off-ramp over Iran to stop his entire enterprise from falling apart. With every passing day that he joins the Israelis in pursuing war on Iran, the President knows there are other senior figures on his team wondering just how much more of his U-turn on military conflict they can tolerate."
From Your Site Articles
- Trump sparks revolt among MAGA supporters ›
- 'Rude awakening' for MAGA women as they flee movement that thinks they’re 'subhuman' ›
- Inside the mind of MAGA: Here's what makes some Trump's supporters so loyal ›
Related Articles Around the Web