đWashington Republicans continue to fracture on Iran
MAGA attack dogs haven't quelled hawk criticism.
HAWKS v. MAGA đ« â Itâs been just over a week since the administration announced its dĂ©tente with Iran, but in Washington, Republican infighting over the deal is still dominating the conversation.
Over the weekend, the White House sicced the attack dogs on Republican critics of 1) the agreement, and 2) the Vice President publicly defending it. The usual MAGA suspects, like DONALD TRUMP JR., ALEX BRUESEWIZ, and JACK POSOBIEC sought to make examples of hawkish doubters from MARK LEVIN and Sen. TED CRUZ (R-Texas) to NewsNationâs BATYA UNGAR-SARGON and MARC THIESSAN.
But the hawks arenât backing down. Over the past 24 hours, many have doubled down. Some have amplified rumors suggesting JD VANCE was âsnubbedâ by Gulf negotiators â or that Iranian representatives walked out on U.S. negotiators. Both claims have since been debunked, but the skepticism persists.
Now the hawks are seizing on Iranâs purported refusal to allow IAEA inspectors to access bombed facilities â a contradiction of Vanceâs high-profile proclamation just Monday. (The president is personally pushing back on Truth Social, insisting âIran has fully and completely agreed to highest level Nuclear inspections long into the future (Infinity!!!). This will [ensure] (Nuclear Honesty.ââ)
And the chorus of GOP skeptics may actually be growing: Sen. TIM SHEEHY (R-Mont.) â no shrinking violet â has been hitting the airwaves warning about the dangers of trusting Iran.
This morning on âFox & Friends,â â the presidentâs morning show of choice â BRIAN KILMEADE notably hosted MARC THIESSAN, one of the loudest critics of the deal on social media, to assess the state of play in Iran. Letâs just say neither appeared thrilled. With $12 billion worth of Iranian assets newly unfrozen, both men ticked off what they saw as âbetterâ uses of those funds â none of which are included in the deal:
Using the money to pay for the war, since Democrats are balking at the administrationâs supplemental request.
Rebuilding bases hit during war, which Treasury Secretary SCOTT BESSENT floated last week.
Replenishing U.S. ammunition stockpiles depleted by the conflict.
Compensating American victims of a half-century of Iran-sponsored terror, which Thiessan said includes 90 judgments totaling $50 billion.
âLetâs have the Iranianas pay for all the weapons that we used to destroy their nuclear program so that we can restock our stockpiles of weapons,â Thiessan said. âWhy donât we make the American people whole?
THE SKEPTICISM DIDNâT STOP THERE. While Kilmeade applauded the idea of Iranians buying American farm goods â a concession the president has trumpeted in the past 24 hours â the host close with Trump noted that âI have not seen Iran back that up.â He also condemned giving Iran the green light to sell oil, allowing them to make âbillions of dollars.. for the first time in decades.â
And without naming the VP, Kilmeade delivered what appeared to be a not-so-subtle rebuke of Vanceâs recent tough-love message to Israel.
âThe other thing thatâs got to be clear is: Israelâs not the problem. Israel is defending themselves,â Kilmeade insisted.
A MESSAGE FROM OUR SPONSOR
Local care means better outcomes
Together, UnitedHealth Group and the University of Tennessee Health Sciences created a program to deliver localized, personalized care to West Tennessee.â
The result? More than 20,000 visits, with 54% of participants lowering their blood pressure â supporting better community health.
VANCEâS ALLIES HAVE BEEN OUT front defending the deal and unequivocal in their political calculation here: These GOP hawks, they say, donât matter outside the Beltway bubble â even if they dominate RUPERT MURDOCH publications and Fox News.
On The HUDDLE last week, I read some of the comments I heard from Vance World that illustrate this point. Hereâs a sampling:
âDo these forever-war retards know how to read polling? Are they really so insulated from the real world that they donât understand how unpopular their views on Iran are with voters?â one Vance ally told me. âWhen I saw Marc Theissan calling it the âVance Peace Deal,â I was like, âThank you!â Itâs genuinely comical that they think the Vice President would be upset that theyâre branding him as the face of ending the war.â
âJD couldnât ask for a better political gift than being attacked by some of the most unpopular people in the GOP establishment for defending President Trumpâs deal. Itâs the neocons who are now on the opposite side of the most popular figure in the GOP, and itâs Vance who gets to be President Trumpâs hammer, defending him from their braindead criticisms. Our base follows TRUMP, not neocons on Fox News.â
âEvery time one of these Bush-era RINOs criticizes JD, all theyâre really doing is sending a signal to MAGA that the Vice President has all the right enemies in the party. Theyâre living in a different decade, and [Vance is] more than happy to have this fight.â
In short: Vance World says bring it.
IF THE HAWKS WERENâT CHALLENGE ENOUGH, the administration now faces headaches on the OPPOSITE side of the GOP spectrum as well â thanks to TUCKER CARLSON. The former Fox host-turned-podcast titan went viral yesterday for a diatribe insisting he canât support Republicans in the midterms.
The quotes are pretty brutal â and will no doubt star in a Democratic campaign ad near youâŠ
âThereâs no chance I would support the Republican Party,â Carlson said. âHow could I or any American voter support a political party thatâs not loyal to the United States. That puts the interests of a foreign country above those of its own citizens. Itâs not possible to vote for people like that, and Iâm not going to.â
Small reminder: Carlson is a friend of the vice president, putting Vance in an awkward position. The VP has argued that anti-interventionist Republicans frustrated with the war shouldnât just take their ball and go home, to use his analogy â because that helps elect Democrats. But his own buddy, Tucker, is spurning that advice.
đ„đ„ TODAYâS WATCH â A few other stories we covered on The Huddle this morning, beyond the latest with IranâŠ
Democratic Enthusiasm Bump â WaPo reports that Democratic turnout so far in House primaries is dwarfing Republicansâ â 12.6 million to 8.6 million. Our co-host, Democrat Dan Turrentine, is elated â but Sean Spicer tries to rally Republicans by framing this as an early warning sign, rather than a death knell.
Can Collins hang on? â Sen. SUSAN COLLINS (R-Maine) gave her first national TV interview since GRAHAM PLATNER clinched the Democratic nomination. Describing it as âmilquetoastâ may be generous. Rather than savaging Platner during the Fox News spot, Collins said her opponent is âvery different from meâ and touted her record. (Wut?!) We discuss whether this quintessential Collins playbook will work in an anti-establishment election cycle.
Reflecting Pool Woes â The media may be obsessed with the National Mallâs Reflecting Pool woes, but so is the president â heâs been Truthing and talking about it all week. We dive into the latest hiccup: The pool liner wonât be fixed before Trumpâs July 4th celebration, per E&E. How will this impact the presidentâs mood?
Subscribe to our new YouTube channel. Or listen to our show on Apple Podcasts or Spotify.
