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By Hugh Cameron
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Donald Trump is facing one of the toughest stretches of either of his two White House terms, as days of foreign brinkmanship and at-home difficulties have combined to anger many MAGA figures and expose fault lines in the base that helped him twice sweep into power.
Criticisms and even calls for Trump's removal from office have grown among a number of his high-profile supporters and longtime acolytes, primarily due to growing Republican discontent over the war in the Middle East.
“Fissures” within the MAGA movement “have been widening ever since the start of Trump 2.0, but have grown into chasms since the start of the war with Iran,” according to Mark Shanahan, a professor of political engagement at Surrey University.
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Entering the week of April 6, Trump was already facing tough terrain, with his overall approval rating slipping into the 30s and numbers sinking on immigration and the economy—two issues that keyed his 2024 White House victory. Gas prices continued to surge higher on the back of Iran’s effective closure of the Strait of Hormuz, which itself was challenging the administration’s assertion that Tehran had been rendered defenseless within the first few days of Operation Epic Fury.
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The president turned to apocalyptic threats, telling Iran’s leadership that they had until Tuesday to reopen the Strait or else “be living in hell.” When Iran shrugged off this ultimatum—one that a military commander called “unbalanced and stupid” according to the BBC—Trump doubled down and warned that “a whole civilization will die” unless the blockade was lifted.
The deadline came down to the 11th hour, before Trump announced that the two sides had agreed to a conditional, two-week ceasefire that would see the Strait of Hormuz reopen and strikes pause in Iran.
The president hailed the deal as a “total and complete victory,” but Vice President JD Vance told reporters a day later that Iran had a "legitimate misunderstanding" about the terms of the truce, as shipments through the Strait remained virtually nonexistent and as Tehran accused the U.S. and Israel of violations of the suddenly shaky ceasefire.
MAGA Infighting
And the ceasefire has done little to quell the revolt growing within MAGA over the conflict, with the ecosystem of pundits and influencers who helped Trump gain power lashing out at the president for abandoning his “no new wars” pledge.
Figures like Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly and Candace Owens—all once counted among Trump’s most ardent supporters—have broken with the president over Operation Epic Fury, denouncing both specific decisions and the whole intervention as an unnecessary and costly gambit.
Carlson has framed Trump’s entry into the conflict as emblematic of America’s deference to Israel, while Kelly called Trump’s “civilization” threat against Iran “irresponsible and disgusting."
And Owens this week called for Congress to invoke the 25th Amendment, which allows the vice president and a majority of the Cabinet to declare a president unable to discharge the duties of office. Along with dozens of Democratic lawmakers, this call was echoed by Alex Jones, the right-wing firebrand, who asked a guest on his show Monday, "How do we 25th Amendment his ass?"
And former Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, previously one of Trump’s strongest allies within Congress, called Trump’s Iran threats “insanity” during a recent appearance on CNN.
Rather than seek to repair ties with his estranged supporters, Trump on Thursday lashed out at these figures in a nearly 500-word Truth Social tirade.
The president labeled Carlson, Kelly, Owens and Jones “NUT JOBS, TROUBLEMAKERS,” and lamented that they had followed former Greene—referred to as “Marjorie ‘Traitor’ Brown”—in turning against his administration.
“They’re not ‘MAGA,’ they’re losers, just trying to latch on to MAGA,” the post continued.
...
“I fought alongside Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens, and Alex Jones to help get Trump elected,” Greene said in a response posted to X. “And now he goes off on a rambling rant attacking all of us in one post.
“We NEVER changed, Trump did.”
Is MAGA Dying?
Few of these divisions are new or even directly rooted in the war. Some, like Greene’s, emerged amid concerns over the Department of Justice’s approach to releasing its files on the Jeffrey Epstein—long a fixation of the MAGA movement, who considered secrecy surrounding the late sex offender as proof of the elite impunity they rallied against.
“A lot of the fissures go back to Trump's handling of the Epstein investigation which has, unlike previous scandals, affected significant divisions in the MAGA base,” said Mark Wheeler, professor of political communications at London Metropolitan University.
However, Wheeler told Newsweek that the war had “exacerbated deep seated ideological tensions” within the American right.
“His inability to convince large swathes of the U.S. public of the necessity for this war and that the victory he's claiming is anything more than a chimera is widening existing fractures,” added Shanahan.
And the rift it has created between MAGA’s influencer class and its central, founding figure has led some to sound the death knell for the movement as a whole.
“F*** MAGA. It's dead. It’s dead,” Nick Fuentes, the right-wing commentator and white nationalist, said this week.
But while recognizable faces continue to turn against Trump and the Iran war, evidence suggests the president continues to hold considerable sway over his base.
Polling from CNN shows that a majority of Republican voters back the conflict, particularly those who identify with the MAGA movement. And an Economist/YouGov conducted from March 6 to March 9 found that self‑identification with the MAGA movement has reached its highest level ever among Republicans.
MAGA remains Trump's creation, and his die-hard supporters could stay by his side even as divisions widen between him and the movement’s loudest voices.
“It is always dangerous to write Trump and cohort off. Trump has demonstrated considerable street smarts and has often defied what would appear to be normal rules of political gravity,” said Wheeler. “All these concerns and the chaotic nature of Trump’s governance have led to questions about whether MAGA can exist beyond the current presidential incumbent.”
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