National Review senior editor Charles C. W. Cooke argued on today’s edition of The Editors that the ongoing intra-MAGA fights — playing out now over America’s support for Israel in its strikes against Iran — stem from Trump adherents’ confusion about their leader.

“You have all of these people around him who don’t want to be cast out or deemed to be the other, and so are trying to be purer than pure,” said Cooke.

He recalled that Trump recently said that he gets to decide what “America first” means: “And he’s 100 percent right as a matter of practical politics. He gets to decide what that means. And the vast majority of Republicans, especially Trump Republicans, are going to go along with him.” Cooke reminded listeners that this “is often very unhealthy. In a lot of cases, that leads to outcomes that we don’t like. . . . But sometimes, Trump’s going to end up in a position that is very uncomfortable for those who follow him around.”

Such is the case with Israel and Iran.

“They believed that they had vanquished the so-called establishment or the neocons or what you will. And right now, Trump sounds like John Bolton. They don’t know what to do with it, because they haven’t grasped that there’s actually not much there, other than Trump’s own preferences, which can change from moment to moment.”

The Editors podcast is recorded on Tuesdays and Fridays every week and is available wherever you listen to podcasts.