Amid the bitter infighting within the MAGA coalition over the prospect of Donald Trump committing the United States to Israel’s conflict with Iran, Charlie Kirk has attempted to play it down the middle by warning Trump that war could create a “massive schism” with his “America First” base while maintaining he has “full and complete trust” in the president.
After Trump said on Thursday that he would decide whether or not to strike Iran “within the next two weeks,” claiming that it depended on Tehran engaging in talks about ending its nuclear program, Kirk appeared on Newsmax later that evening to talk about the criticism that’s been thrown Trump’s way by MAGA isolationists.
With anchor Rob Schmitt noting that the Turning Point USA founder has stuck by the president and stated that he’s “earned the benefit of the doubt,” Kirk insisted that the base “trusts” Trump and that the president is “running a masterclass in foreign affairs.”
Claiming that Trump is neither an “isolationist” nor an “interventionist,” Kirk added that he’s defended Trump in “every single corner on social media against some of these weak-kneed come-or-buyers that are trying to throw President Trump under the bus.”
But while heaping praise on the president, Kirk also took issue with some of the GOP hawks who are pushing the president to jump into a full-scale war.
“So President Trump is navigating this beautifully. And also understand there are some people, like Lindsey Graham and James Lankford, who are calling for regime change in Iran. Iran is a once-great power,” he stated.
“This was Persia. This is a very proud country. It’s a big country; it’s two and a half times the size of Texas. 92 million people. So President Trump has to weigh all of this. He has earned our trust and, I believe, he’s gonna bring this to completion for the betterment of all Americans.”
He later turned his attention back to Graham, who has said he wants Trump to go “all in” on Iran and that it’s “time to close the chapter” on Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, warning the South Carolina senator that Iran has historically been able to withstand military campaigns. He also pointed out that a prolonged war could fully destabilize the region.
“We must understand that if we were to do a forceful regime change – sounds good, Lindsey Graham is cheering for that – what would happen to the refugees?” Kirk wondered. “Where would they go? Millions of people going to the West. The country could fall into civil war.”
Claiming that Iran is full of “warriors,” the Trump acolyte then made a historical analogy to urge Graham and other war hawks against invading and striking the Middle Eastern power.
“They were a great power for a thousand years,” he exclaimed. “Not even the Romans could defeat Persia. Now, I’m not saying they’re comparable to our Marines or to our Air Force, but is that really the battle that we want in front of us?”
In the end, he reiterated that “Trump understands this astutely” while once again asserting that the president is finding the perfect middle road with his handling of the conflict.
“Again, he’ll understand that so many people are saying, ‘You must bomb right now, you must bomb right now,’ and other people equally say, ‘Oh, don’t worry about it. Who cares if Iran gets a nuclear weapon?’ So President Donald Trump has something that the history books will write about,” Kirk concluded.
While it appeared that there was a “MAGA civil war” brewing over America’s potential involvement in Iran, it seems like it might be blowing over as prominent right-wing personalities are suggesting there’s little appetite for taking the president on directly over this issue.
Tucker Carlson, who said the president was “complicit” in Israel’s war with Iran and warned Trump the conflict would “end his presidency,” called Trump earlier this week amid a back-and-forth that saw the president call the former Fox News star “kooky Tucker.” The president claimed that Carlson apologized to him, something the conservative pundit has yet to deny.
MAGA podcaster and former Trump strategist Steve Bannon, who has led the “America First” anti-war charge alongside Carlson, visited the White House on Thursday to have lunch with the president. He later told Politico Playbook that “the MAGA movement tonight is in a great place” and that Trump “looks at every other alternative you can do” when it comes to military action.
Meanwhile, Kirk – who last week said the Iranian conflict could “disrupt our momentum and our insanely successful Presidency” – told Playbook that “it’s not a civil war” and that it’s merely a “robust and healthy disagreement and discussion.”
