President Trump’s decision to bring the U.S. into Israel’s war with Iran has exploded rifts on the right. On Monday, those conflicts spilled into view as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) ripped Fox News host Mark Levin, Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-SC) and other “neocon suckups” who she blamed for advocating for military action that is a clear break with Trump’s campaign promises.
“We are entering a nuclear war, World War III, because the entire world is going to erupt,” Greene said, adding, “The people that are cheering it on right now, their tune is going to drastically change the minute we start seeing flag-draped coffins on the nightly news — on Fox News that brainwashes all the baby boomers, and on CNN that brainwashes all the Democrat baby boomers. And that is exactly how this is going to go down.”
Greene offered her searing assessment of the situation on a broadcast of the “War Room” podcast hosted by Trump’s former strategist and perpetual ally-slash-adviser Steve Bannon.
During his campaigns, Trump consistently critiqued the country’s past involvement in foreign wars and argued he would focus on avoiding overseas entanglements to put “America First.” Along with Greene, Bannon and former Fox News host Tucker Carlson are among the prominent figures associated with Trump’s MAGA movement who have consistently advocated against attacking Iran. Bannon, who met with Trump last week ahead of Saturday night’s strike on Iranian nuclear facilities, seemed to tease the possibility of military action on a broadcast that morning where he described it as the “Third World War.”
As he introduced Greene on Monday, Bannon referred to Mediaite’s coverage of social media sparring between her and Levin, who had called her a “shameless nitwit” for criticizing the Iran strikes even as she stressed her continued support for Trump. Bannon also played a clip of Levin cheering on the military action on Fox News.
“The military has to be used. If it’s used by a smart commander in chief, if it’s used wisely, if it’s used for a specific purpose, it gives us peace,” Levin said in the clip, adding, “America, don’t you feel relief? Of course you feel relief because … these Islamo-Nazis were building nuclear weapons to attack us, too.”
Bannon then invited Greene to respond — after they addressed some technical difficulties.
“Unmute,” Bannon said. “You’ve got to unmute yourself, MTG.”
Once her microphone was on, Bannon mockingly paraphrased Levin and asked Greene, “Did you sleep better last night as a nitwit? Did you sleep better … because of Mark Levin?”
Fully unmuted and unbound, Greene proceeded to go off on Levin.
“That’s quite some name calling from one of Fox News’ hosts. It was hard to listen to … what he was saying with all the screeching, which is why most people I know don’t watch his show,” she said. “But no, you know, I didn’t sleep better after neocons and warmongers talked this administration into entering a hot war that Israel started.”
Greene went on to suggest that Israel’s initial attacks on Iran, which she pointed out were “unprovoked,” were part of an effort by that country’s leader, Benjamin Netanyahu, to “stay in power” after his coalition government had “barely won a vote.”
“Now, I’m not making apologies for Iran. I have no investment in the terrorist regime of Iran. But the reality is, no Americans slept better after America bombed Iran, because all of a sudden we now have threats on our homeland,” Greene said, later adding, “Americans in Israel are terrified for their lives as well as Israeli people are terrified for their lives because bombs have been falling in Israel. … Americans all over the world are seriously questioning, is this going to be World War III?”
Greene specifically addressed warnings to Americans in Qatar. Shortly after she was on air with Bannon, those concerns proved prescient as a U.S. base in Qatar was targeted by retaliatory missile strikes from Iran. Qatar and the U.S. said there were no casualties from that attack.
Bannon then asked Greene if “other voices” are “going to get in to start advising the president.” She didn’t directly address the question but expressed frustration Trump is evidently listening to people like Levin and Graham, casting them as less loyal Trump supporters than she is.
“Mark Levin was one of the biggest Never Trumpers when President Trump was running for president. So it absolutely makes me sick, it makes me want to throw up in my mouth that he’s one of the voices that is constantly texting, and calling President Trump’s phone, and showing up at the White House demanding for America to go to every single foreign war on behalf of Israel,” Greene said. “I’m really sick and disgusted at that — and it’s people like him and Lindsey Graham and all these other people that never really supported Trump in the beginning.”
Greene then touted her own “MAGA” bonafides as she argued Trump’s movement is deadset against this latest action.
“I represent MAGA far more than Mark Levin or any of these other neocon suckups ever will and ever do because MAGA is not for foreign wars,” she said. “We are not for regime change and we are for America first.”
For some viewers who watched Bannon’s show online, the entire episode had distinctly apocalyptic overtones. On Rumble, the right-leaning streaming platform that has had business ties with Trump’s vice president, J.D. Vance, and his son, Donald Trump Jr., Bannon’s show was preceded by dramatic digital ads declaring that “war erupting between Israel and Iran” was evidence of “prophecy in real time” and looming catastrophe. Clicking on those ads directed “War Room” viewers to a page that declared “The AI Beast Is Rising” and advertised “prepper” guides “built for Christian men who lead in the storm.”
Yet for Greene, the most cataclysmic event almost seemed to be the collapse of what she understood to be the America First agenda.
“Six months in Steve and here we are turning back on the campaign promises,” she said. “We bombed Iran on behalf of Israel.”