In launching his attack on four conservative commentators who have been critical of the US-Israeli war on Iran, US President Donald Trump wrote that they were "stupid people" and that "nobody cares about them." He then spent the next 372 words of a Truth Social post talking about them, BBC North America correspondent Anthony Zurcher reports.

The US president singled out two former popular Fox News evening programme hosts, Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly, and right-wing figures Alex Jones and Candace Owens. He ticked through each, using derisive language to highlight what he viewed as their past failings.

All four have vocally supported Trump in the past and were part of the president's effort to court right-wing podcasters during his 2024 presidential campaign. But the president wrote that their views are now the opposite of his "Make America Great Again" movement.

"They're not MAGA, they're losers," he said.

Carlson hits back

Prior to parting ways with Fox News in 2023, Carlson helmed the network's highest-rated evening programme. He has since moved to X, where he has built a sizeable audience advocating a populist strain of conservatism that has at times diverged from Trump's.

Carlson opposed the Iran war from its early days and recently stepped up his criticism, calling Trump's obscenity-laced Easter Sunday message to Iran "vile on every level" and labeling his threats to bomb civilian infrastructure a war crime.

After Trump's latest Truth Social post, Carlson said he still loves the president but feels "sorry for him." He also echoed a growing sentiment among some on the right that Trump's decision to go to war was a result of undue influence by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

"The Israelis have him in a hammerlock," he said.

Greene: 'Trump has gone mad'

Former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, whom Trump mentioned in passing in his post, responded to his comments on X.

"President Trump has gone mad as he wages war against Iran, a broken campaign promise," she wrote. "I fought alongside Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens and Alex Jones to help get Trump elected. We never changed. Trump did."

Greene, who dramatically broke with Trump last year, has stepped up her open condemnations of the president after resigning from Congress in January.

A coalition under strain

The criticism of the Iran war from Carlson, Greene, and others reflects some of the cracks that have formed in Trump's conservative coalition since the conflict began. This raises the already high stakes for Trump as Vice President JD Vance leads a US delegation to Pakistan to engage in face-to-face negotiations with Iran.

For the moment, a tenuous two-week ceasefire with Iran is in place. On Friday, however, Trump told the New York Post that the US military was rearming and resupplying in preparation for renewed hostilities if the talks break down.

If that happens, the BBC notes, the likes of Carlson and Greene may have company, as opposition from within Trump's party grows.

The splintering of the MAGA coalition represents a significant political threat to Trump. His ability to hold together a coalition of traditional conservatives, populists, and right-wing media personalities was key to his electoral success. Now, with the Iran war dragging on and no end in sight, those fault lines are becoming fractures. Carlson, Greene and others are not Democrats. They are the base. And if the base turns against him, Trump may find that his biggest opponents are not on the left, but on the right. And they are not going away. 

Source:Websites