The MAGA Split that Wasn't

For forty-eight hours, more or less, the media drumbeat was nonstop. There’s a split in MSGA over Iran. There’s a split in MAGA over Iran. Trump is finished. What happened to America First?

Tucker, Candace-what’s-her-name, Rep. Massie, a host of others were warning us—helping Israel rid Iran of nukes would be the end of his presidency!

A gaggle of dreary Democrats accused Trump of being a dictator and demanded foreign policy control—for themselves.

Axios and Politico brought out their usual array of nameless leakers.

The WaPo published some unreadable op-eds.

The Free Press featured a high-toned debate you had to pay for.

The sky was indeed falling.

(Excuse me while I yawn.}

Anyway, it’s over. Tucker—easily the splitter-in-chief for his notoriety— has raised a white flag and apparently called the president to apologize, according to an amused Gateway Pundit (no payment necessary).

Maybe Carlson noticed the poll, on CNN of all places, that, via unanimity that hasn’t been seen since someone offered free Sam Adams at Yankee Stadium, 83% of Republicans and 79% of Dems and Independents agreed with President Trump—the Ayatollah should never have nukes.

Or, perhaps, from another angle, the former Fox News host didn’t want a repeat of today’s (June 18) article in the Jerusalem Post: “Tucker Carlson 'begged' evangelical leader to apologize for calling him an antisemite - exclusive”. It begins:

“American conservative commentator Tucker Carlson ‘begged’ evangelical Christian Zionist leader Laurie Cardoza-Moore to apologize for calling him an antisemite, she revealed exclusively to the Jerusalem Post on Wednesday.

{snip]

“She recalled her call with the controversial figure, saying ‘Tucker kept me on the phone for over twenty minutes, questioning my Christian credentials and suggesting I had lost my way as an Evangelical.

"‘I explained to him that he clearly hadn’t made it past the book of Genesis which clearly states: ‘I will bless those who bless you, And I will curse him who curses you,’”.

FULL DISCLOSURE: Tucker blurbed my most recent book, so he clearly can’t hate all Jews.

Weirdly, I may be the only person on the planet who has (or had, depending on how he reacts to this) a friendship with both of these people. Maybe I could cosplay Steve Witkoff and try to bring them together.

But enough of that. Much more seriously, we are now at the point of Waiting for Mr. Trump. Will he or won’t he pull the trigger on dropping American bunker busters on Iran’s incredibly deep Fordow nuclear installation? (Fordow itself is proof the mullahs wanted to weaponize. Why make this installation so deep, and wildly expensive, if not for that purpose?)

On the other hand, maybe it doesn’t matter. Israel has already done a remarkable job of laying waste to much of Iran’s nuclear aspirations, killing off many of its scientists and leaders in the ruthless Revolutionary Guard Corps, among others. The IAF had freedom of air movement across Iran from virtually the first day.

We’ve all heard of the Six Day War. This was and is in many ways the One Day War. Israelis like to do things fast.

Behind this achievement is a man who should go down in military history books— David Barnea, the recent head of the Mossad (or “Institute”). This was the individual who spearheaded the surprise pager explosions that practically finished off Hezbollah after decades and then engineered, long in advance, the attacks with drones that Mossad manufactured inside Iran that blocked Iran’s defenses and finished off many or their scientists and military leaders simultaneously minutes into the action. Some say this revolutionized war.

Kudos are also due the much maligned Benjamin Netanyahu. Between these men, and I am sure others, they might be able to handle Fordow by themselves, even if takes more time without the stealth bombers. But who knows? Nevertheless, our president seems to be jumping in now. He will be and is the global winner. So many of us have come to trust him and his high approval numbers are showing it.

Unfortunately, none of this was the case after Oct. 7, but Hamas was not the only enemy Israel had to deal with then. Arguably worse was the Biden administration.

I won’t go further with that assertion, obvious as it is, because I would prefer to address something I have been personally involved with on and off since roughly 2006—regime change in Iran . It was about then that I would make weekly treks out into the San Fernando Valley from the El Segundo offices of PJ Media to broadcast the news in a small studio belonging Radio Free Iran.

I did this in English, since I know no Farsi, but at the same time I was meeting, and putting on the fledgling PJTV, Iranian expats living in what they called Tehrangeles. My heart broke form their stories, as well you might imagine.

But I also got to see how difficult regime change was. There were so many competitive movements to solve their national problem I was often reminded of Mao’s “Let a hundred flowers bloom, let a hundred schools of thought contend.” (Of course, Mao was lying.)

My best advice is, let’s get the Ayatollah and his crew out (or dead) and leave it at that. After that it’s Iran for the Iranians to sort out.

BUT ONE LAST THING that should give us all immense pleasure. Iran under the mullahs has been the world’s capital of misogyny. Sometimes that misogyny was so extreme it reached unparalleled levels of rape and torture. (If you don’t know about it, you can start here.)

The most obvious aspect of this misogyny is the enforced wearing of hijabs. In the last few days, many videos have shown up on X of women throwing off their hijabs. If you’ve missed it, here’s one with school girls shouting “Death to the Dictator!” (Khamenei, obviously, not Trump). I loved it.