The rift between the MAGA world and the Trump administration, over Iran and support for Israel, is moving from words to actions. The director of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center, Joe Kent, resigned yesterday in a high-profile manner in protest of the Third Gulf War. In a statement posted on his social media, Kent, a former military and CIA agent, a fervent MAGA supporter whose wife died in a suicide attack in Syria in 2019, lamented the government's decision to re-engage in conflicts in the Middle East, stating not only that there was no imminent threat to the country, but also that the White House has been swayed by the pressures and lies of Benjamin Netanyahu and his influential groups, who would have "deceived" the president, diverting him from his guiding principle in politics: America first.
"After much reflection, I have decided to resign from my position as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, effective today. I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby," began the message that has caused a stir in the U.S.
Kent, who ran for Congress twice as a Republican Party candidate and was the right-hand man of Tulsi Gabbard, the National Intelligence Director, states that he has always been a supporter of Trump, but does not agree with the recent turn of events. "I support the values and the foreign policies that you campaigned on in 2016, 2020, 2024, which you enacted in your first term,. Until June 2025, you understood that the wars in the Middle East were a trip that robbed America of the precious lives of our patriots and depleted the wealth and prosperity of our nation.. In your first term, you understood better than any president how to decisively apply American power without being dragged into endless war," he wrote. Point by point, the MAGA ideology, which is disoriented and disappointed by the bellicose drift of a president who entered politics promising the opposite of what he is doing now: neither wars nor regime changes.
The essential part of the message from the former counterterrorism chief, who resigned days after two attacks considered "acts of terror" in two U.S. cities in response to events in the Middle East, focuses on Israel. Benjamin Netanyahu, as he himself has stated in recent weeks, had been trying in vain for a quarter of a century to persuade different U.S. presidents to attack Iran. Until Trump returned. This has led to many prominent figures in the MAGA universe, and the conservative spectrum in general, raising their voices, causing an increasingly intense internal conflict.
Among the most vocal critics of the war in Iran and especially of subordinating national interests to another nation's interests are former Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene. The guru Steve Bannon, who fears "a hemorrhage of support" in the November elections. Former TV host turned podcaster Megyn Kelly. Influencer and conspiracy theorist Candace Owens. White supremacist Nick Fuentes. Curt Mills, director of The American Conservative, a magazine founded by Republican critics of the Iraq War who believe this will shatter the foundations of Trumpism. And above all, Tucker Carlson, now fallen out of favor, directly insulted by the president, who has denounced being investigated by the CIA and facing charges for exposing Israeli influence and a "repugnant and evil" war. On the other side, former Arkansas governor Mike Huckabee, now ambassador in Jerusalem. Pro-Israel senators like Lindsey Graham and Ted Cruz, or commentator Mark Levin.
These days, all podcasts and TV interviews are focused on the crossfire, insults, accusations. Threats. And the escalating rhetoric, in stark contrast to the declining support for Israel in the U.S., to the point that in some polls with long historical trends, for the first time there are more citizens sympathetic to the Palestinian cause. And critical of the political class's alignment with Israel's policies, echoing the words of former presidential candidate Pat Buchanan, who in the 1990s said that the "U.S. Congress is Israeli-occupied territory."
In his resignation letter, Kent denounces a "misinformation campaign" by "high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media" that would have undermined the "America First" platform by sowing "warlike interests" to promote a war. Kent believes that this group managed to create an echo chamber to "deceive" Trump into believing that Tehran posed an imminent threat and that a swift attack would bring immediate victory. "This was a lie and is the same tactic the Israelis used to draw us into the disastrous Iraq war that cost our nation the lives of thousands of our best men and women. We cannot make this mistake again," he says, also stating that the war in Syria, where his wife died, was also "manufactured by Israel."
Kent, who faced harsh criticism during his confirmation process for his connections to far-right and white supremacist groups like the Proud Boys, is a known spreader of conspiracies, especially racial ones. He has consistently claimed that the Capitol assault was orchestrated and the arrested individuals were "political prisoners," or that the 2020 elections were won by Trump and stolen by the Democrats.
But even that has not shielded him from attacks. "I always thought he was a nice guy, but I always thought he was weak on security, very weak. I didn't know him well, but he seemed like a pretty nice guy; But when I read his statement, I realized that it's a good thing he's out because he said Iran was not a threat. Iran was indeed a threat," reacted Trump. Minutes after his resignation became public, high-ranking White House officials anonymously criticized him. A senior official told Fox News, for example, that Joe Kent was "a known leaker" and had been excluded from the president's intelligence briefings months ago. "He has not been involved in any discussions or intelligence briefings on Iran planning," these sources claimed, ensuring that the White House had also instructed the National Intelligence Director, Gabbard, to fire Kent for alleged leaks, but she never did. The White House spokesperson also accused him of "lying."
The Iran war is the most unpopular in the U.S. in the last seven decades. It has less public support, doubts in Congress, and even among those who have always been hawks on Iran. This includes radical figures like John Bolton, now a fierce enemy but Trump's National Security Advisor in 2016. And other well-known neoconservatives who supported the Iraq War in 2004, like Robert Kagan or Bill Kristol, who recently commented on a podcast that Israel was a great ally for their own interests, not American interests. "It's like saying that South Vietnam was a great ally in the fight against North Vietnam."