Tucker Carlson followed President Trump to rallies, such as Madison Square Garden, and other events, like UFC fights, and was a frequent visitor at Mar-a-Lago, even broadcasting from there on election night. Yet, with all his apparent closeness to the president, he mistakenly believed a Trump presidency would end American support for Israel and its struggle to survive. Why?

Furthermore, Trump supporters like Steve Bannon, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and Candace Owens seemingly believed Trump’s “No more foreign wars” platform included abandoning Israel. Somehow, I don’t believe that any of those folks were that stupid.

I’ve been gobsmacked by reactions from conservatives who are feigning shock at President Trump’s support — militarily and otherwise — of Israel.

On June 18, ABC News reported Steve Bannon’s stance: “If Trump decides a targeted strike on nuclear facilities in Iran is necessary, Bannon said, it does not have to happen ‘tomorrow, or the next day, or the next day:’ ‘The president should take the time to think this through with his advisers.” Which begs the question, where has Bannon been for the last few decades as Iran fueled proxy conflicts across the Middle East?

A few days later Bannon was escalating his war with Fox News as he called for the Department of Justice to investigate whether they were “cheerleading [the U.S.] on to war” with Iran on behalf of a foreign government. Meaning, of course, everybody’s favorite villain, Israel.

Marjorie Taylor Greene has been attacking Trump on X posting, “Now what has been done is done and Americans now fear Iranian terrorists attacks on our own soil and being dragged into another war by Netanyahu when we weren’t even thinking about any of this a week ago.” Really? After October 7, 2023, the deadliest single-day attack on Jews since the Holocaust, this wasn’t on anyone’s radar? Despite the fact the attack was carried out by Hamas with significant evidence pointing to Iranian involvement?

And remember how Tucker Carlson said that commentators had a “disproportionate” emotional response to the October 7 attacks — despite the fact they were indeed unprecedented in their scale and barbarism? In a short blurb at the National Review, editor Philip Klein was among the first to notice that Tucker seemed to have a little Jewish problem, a problem that was exposed during an interview with Candace Owens, who has since gone full bats**t crazy herself. On Monday she posted a lengthy, caustic anti-Israel rant saying in part, “Just like Adolf Hitler, Bibi Netanyahu is an ethnocentric imperialist monster and we will make sure the world remembers what all of you supported when God has his vengeance.” She concluded, “I will never stand with genocidal maniacs, who are committing an open holocaust and trying to usher in WW3, all while purporting to be eternal victims.” She’s mustered nearly 8M X followers into her social media army of Jew haters willing to throw Trump under the bus for his (continued and predictable) support of Israel.

As Rogan O’Handley said on his @DC_Draino X account:

I concur.

Commentator and YouTuber Benny Johnson posted a breaking news siren as he told us that “Matt Gaetz says Trump agrees that Israel should give up their secret nuclear weapons program.” Gaetz told Johnson, "The nerve of Israel to try to draw the United States into a war over a secret nuclear weapons program --when they have one is astounding.”

X user and Air Force veteran Gretchen Smith creatively threw a “block party” saying she was blocking Benny Johnson and others for causing division:

As for me, I remember helping my mother tie yellow ribbons around our flag pole in support of America’s 52 Iranian hostages. Years later in college, our dart board held a very holey photograph of the Ayatollah Khomeini. I recall Iran supporting the creation of Hezbollah, the Beirut bombings, and their support of terrorism in Iraq and Afghanistan. I remember, as Beth Bailey adroitly outlined for Fox News, that throughout “Iran's ‘forever war’ against the US,” the regime has “targeted and killed Americans worldwide.” In short, I don’t have any problem with current events.

Whatever happens, the notion that his supporters-turned-critics expected him to abandon Israel defies reason, given America’s unique and longstanding alliance with that country.

One thing is certain — recent events have unwittingly exposed antisemitic voices within the conservative movement and a growing hostility toward Israel. People we admired, whose opinions we valued, have taken off their masks — and it’s not a pretty sight.

Susan D. Harris can be reached at www.susandharris.com.

Image generated by AI.