Allies of Donald Trump hoped an Iran ceasefire deal would quiet growing criticism of the war within his Maga movement and among right-leaning online influencers. Instead, the compromise with Tehran has opened fresh fissures in the US president’s factious political coalition.
On Tuesday, as Trump stuck to his threat that a “civilisation will die” if Iran refused to concede, right-wing media stars Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly denounced the ultimatum as a betrayal of America First values.
By Wednesday morning, the president’s decision to call off massive air strikes and agree a two-week ceasefire had provoked a revolt from loyalists who had supported the US bombing campaign and saw the truce as a capitulation by America to a terrorist regime.
Conservative radio host Mark Levin, who had vociferously backed the attacks, said the 10 points Trump had reportedly accepted from Iran as a basis for negotiations were “an absolute disaster”.
Influencer Laura Loomer, one of the loudest cheerleaders for Operation Epic Fury, called the negotiations with Tehran a “failure”, adding that “the Iranian regime has never been more emboldened”.
And critics of the war were unreconciled, arguing Trump’s costly conflict had achieved little. Kelly told her listeners she was “not going to pretend that this is some big victory for the United States”.
The Iran conflict has caused deep fractures in Trump’s fragile coalition, already split over the handling of the Epstein files and AI regulation. Republicans fear these divides could wound the party in November’s midterm elections.
“There were already sharp divisions within the Online Right,” Scott Greer, a popular conservative author and podcaster, wrote this week. “They’ve gotten far worse since the war broke out.”
“It’s no longer popular to be pro-Trump on the internet,” he added.
Conservative heavyweights such as Carlson opposed the war from the outset, and went to the White House to plead for restraint. The fallout intensified last month after the resignation of Joe Kent, Trump’s director of the US National Counterterrorism Center.
Kent went on a media tour of conservative podcasts, including Carlson’s, claiming the administration was manipulated by Israel into joining a conflict against a country that did not pose an immediate threat to Americans and had no advanced nuclear weapons.
Figures from across the online right echoed this stance, including far-right conspiracy theorist Alex Jones, commentator Candace Owens and white nationalist Nick Fuentes, who called the conflict a “fundamental betrayal” of America First. Jones even called for Trump to be removed from office by his cabinet.
Podcasters who are not explicitly political but who attract large right-leaning audiences joined the fray. Comedians Joe Rogan, Theo Von and Tim Dillon — who together reach tens of millions of listeners — all lambasted the war.
A post by Trump on Easter Sunday threatening to target civilian infrastructure, which contained the phrase “open the Fuckin’ Strait, you crazy bastards, or you’ll be living in Hell” prompted a 43-minute monologue from Carlson. The podcaster called the threat “vile on every level” and suggested that true Christians should reject the president.
“Maybe he didn’t put his hand on the Bible because he affirmatively rejects what’s inside that book,” Carlson said, referencing Trump’s inauguration.
But it was the president’s Tuesday warning that a “civilisation will die” that prompted criticism even from usually reserved members of his coalition.
Conservative economist Oren Cass, who is close to the administration, said that while he was loath to criticise Trump in public, “now rather than later seems the time to say that the actions that he is proposing would be a disaster for our country, both strategically and morally”.
Kelly, a former Fox host turned podcaster, told her millions of listeners that Trump’s threat was “completely irresponsible and disgusting”.
“He can’t be a dignified, strong leader without threatening a bunch of war crimes? What is he, Genghis Khan?” she added.
In response, Trump has maintained that he alone holds sway over the Maga movement and dismissed the concerns of figures who helped him win re-election. He called Carlson a “low-IQ person” who had “lost his way”.
But the president has not quelled the detractors, whom many on the right credit with forcing him to agree to a truce.
“We’ve already seen the limits of Trump’s excommunicative powers,” said Curt Mills, who edits The American Conservative, a right-wing publication.
“There’s an established hardcore audience of high-information, political news consumers who are up in arms [about the war],” he added.
Many of Trump’s allies want to see him refocus on domestic matters. “I think you can bring those people back through focusing on the economy,” said Jack Posobiec, a political activist who is affiliated to the late Charlie Kirk’s Turning Point movement who is close to the White House.
“The broader Gen Z was totally against the war,” said Posobiec, who has a large following online. “To get them on board, it’s got to be this focus on economics, whether it’s student debt relief, housing relief or accountability.”
Tom Sauer, a commentator who is strongly supportive of the administration, urged detractors to “trust the plan” and said the government should now focus on mass deportations in the US.
As more details of the ceasefire deal with Iran emerged on Wednesday, however, pro-war voices within the Maga movement seemed intent on reigniting the coalition’s internecine fights.
After Trump told ABC News that the US was considering a joint venture with Iran to charge tolls for passage through the Strait of Hormuz, Loomer warned that the funds would be used by Tehran to “pad their bank accounts to fund Iranian terrorism for decades to come”.
But Posobiec suggested such criticism would die down. “Influencers follow trends,” he said. “They just want to be part of the next big thing . . . [and] they are going to be suddenly pro-Trump again the minute the tide turns.”