Blue-collar Scholar

.@megynkelly: "No one should have to die for a foreign country. I don't think those service members died for the United States. I think they died for Iran or for Israel... No one is crying that the Ayatollah is dead, but our government's job is not to look out for Iran or Israel. It's to look out for us."

.@SecRubio: "The president made the very wise decision—we knew that there was going to be an Israeli action, we knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn’t preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties."

🚨EXCLUSIVE: In a phone call w/me just now, @realDonaldTrump hit back at MAGA World critics of his Iran gambit, including @megynkelly & @TuckerCarlson ->Kelly "outta study her history book a little bit," he said when asked the criticism on her show today. ->Tucker's criticism"has no impact on me.” And MAGA, POTUS told me, is with him. “I think that MAGA is Trump — MAGA’s not the other two,” Trump said, referring to Kelly and Carlson. “MAGA wants to see our country thrive and be safe. And MAGA loves what I’m doing — every aspect of it." Iran, he added, "is a detour that we have to take in order to keep our country safe and keep other countries safe, frankly.” 👉TRUMP’S COMMENT COME AS the White House is flooding the zone to defend its attack on Iran, an offensive that peaks as early public polling suggests Americans disapprove of the campaign. On Monday night, Vice President JD VANCE took to Fox News with a clear message: This is NOT Iraq or Afghanistan 2.0. I’m told by the White House that the P.R. push will pull in other high-profile administration officials, too, including STEVE WITKOFF and MICHAEL WALTZ. And we should expect frequent, if not daily, briefings by the Pentagon. 👉THE DAMAGE-CONTROL EFFORT follows some prominent Trump World allies questioning the need for the operation at all. On Monday, Kelly became the latest to assail the administration for fighting a war that she argued is not “America First” priorities. Here she is: “Why are we doing this now? What was the catalyst?” Kelly asked her millions of followers, adding that “I don’t think those four service members died for the United States. I think they died for Iran or for Israel.” “I have serious doubts about what we’re doing. I support the president… I campaigned for the president… But that doesn’t mean… you have to accept another Middle East war without question — and anybody who tells you that can suck it.” Read some of Kelly’s comments, Trump dismissed them. Kelly "was opposed to me for years when I ran the first time and nothing stopped me." “And so, you know, some people are against — and they always come back," he said confidently. 👉WORTH NOTING: There’s a belief among some insiders that Republicans will give the president the benefit of the doubt and eventually come around. A senior White House official told me this afternoon that “we are in the first inning of a nine-inning game.” “The panicans need to relax,” this person said, referring to Trump’s nickname for worrywart Republicans. “The President and Cabinet will continue to make the case about why this was necessary.” 👉THERE ARE QUESTIONS IN TRUMP WORLD about how deep the MAGA fracture actually runs. Some argue that while these voices of dissent may be loud, with large followings, they don’t constitute a majority of Republicans. But other Republicans argue that logic merely papers over GOP fractures that now need to be repaired ahead of the midterms. “Even if, say, 30 percent of Republicans are on the other side of this issue from the [White House], that could cause major problems for the electoral coalition,” one Republican operative involved in multiple statewide races across the country told me. This person argued that “it’s hard to see how the politics play out favorably” — and the real question is how fast the admin can wrap up the job and pivot. Read the full post here (& subscribe!) rachaelbade.substack.com/p/exclusive-tr…