President Donald Trump led an insurgent takeover of the Republican Party. Now one prominent MAGA dissident believes the same playbook could be used by conservative critics of the Iran war.
Afterresigning from the Trump administration over his opposition to the conflict, Joe Kent has been exploring how to channel anti-war sentiment into political action. Trump led the MAGA movement astray with the war, he believes. War critics could take a lesson from the president and "hijack" the GOP, he told USA TODAY in an interview.
Kent is at the center of growing MAGA backlash to the war, which has sparked outrage among some on the right who believe the conflict clashes with Trump's campaign pledges to avoid foreign military entanglements. He met with other
prominent MAGAwar dissenters last month to plot their next steps.
It's unclear how deep the appetite is for a GOP reckoning on Iran. A recent AP-NORC survey found most Republicans still back Trump on the conflict. That support has slipped and Kent believes the war could have lasting political repercussions.
A gathering he attended at the Maine home of conservative media personality Tucker Carlson fueled speculation about a new political movement centered around conservative criticism of the war. The meeting included Rep. Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky, and former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Green, who resigned from her position earlier this year and said she no longer supports the Republican Party.
Massie, Greene and Carlson have all clashed with Trump on Iran. Greene posted a photo on social media afterward with the caption “the movement has begun."
Kent shared details of the confab, saying he believes an anti-war political coalition could be a force in future elections and offering different scenarios for the shape it might take, while noting it’s still in the early stages.
“We still just have to flesh out what this coalition is all about,” he said.
'No military solution'
Kent joined the Trump administration last year as the director of the U.S. National Counterterrorism Center.
An Army veteran and close ally of former Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, another military veteran who has embraced MAGA non-interventionism, Kent said he was drawn to the president by his foreign policy platform. He resigned from the administration on March 17, less than three weeks into the Iran war.
In his resignation letter, Kent wrote about his 11 combat deployments and losing his wife, who was killed by a suicide bomber while serving with the Navy in Syria. He told Trump he opposed sending “the next generation off to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people nor justifies the cost of American lives.” There have been 18 U.S. service members killed in the war, and concerns about troop morale amid complaints about living conditions on the USS Abraham Lincoln,
Five months after resigning, Kent is continuing to press his case publicly while taking tentative steps to organize politically. He told USA TODAY that the president is too focused on a formal peace deal and should simply walk away.
“There’s no military solution,” Kent said “If there was one, then he just would simply execute it.”
The White House responded by calling Kent a "quitter."
“President Trump has destroyed nearly all of Iran’s military capabilities and is crushing what’s left of its abysmal economy with the most powerful naval blockade in world history" White House spokesman Davis Ingle said in a statement. "In quitter Joe Kent’s twisted mind, that somehow means Iran is winning."
Trump told reporters after Kent's resignation that "I always thought he was a nice guy. But I always thought he was weak on security, very weak on security."
War shadows midterms
Trump has struggled to end the war. He announced a peace deal in June, but it quickly fell apart amid jockeying over the Strait of Hormuz, a vital waterway for oil shipments. Iran has continued to threaten shipping in the strait. Trump said Aug. 18 that the U.S. is not engaged in talks with Iran amid an ongoing naval blockade, suggesting a stalemate.
The unpopular war is shadowing the 2026 midterm elections, hurting Trump’s approval rating and threatening to drag down his party as it seeks to maintain control of Congress. Just 39% of voters approve of Trump's job performance in the Real Clear Politicsaverage of recent polls. But Kent believes the political fallout could extend further, with the war continuing to be a potent issue in the 2028 presidential contest.
Kent and other MAGA war critics are looking ahead and plotting how to influence future elections. Massie, Greene and Carlson also were among the first wave of prominent MAGA figures opposing the war, a group that has been growing as the conflict nears the six-month mark. Kent said the four have been in "regular contact" through phone calls and text messages. Carlson eventually suggested the in person meeting at his house.
The Maine gathering was “just kind of putting our heads together . . . like, what do we think the future is?” Kent said.
The MAGA rebels agree that the GOP establishment has failed. Where they go next remains to be seen. Carlson and Greene have talked about backing a new political party amid their criticism of Trump.
Yet while everyone gathered around Carlson’s wooden table liked “the idea of a third party,” Kent said, he noted there are significant hurdles to getting a new party on the ballot. He spoke with individuals involved in Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s 2024 independent presidential bid, who talked about the challenges and expense of getting ballot access in all 50 states.
“I don’t know how viable the third-party independent lane actually is,” Kent said.
Instead, Kent pointed to the “Trump model” in floating the idea of trying to “hijack” the Republican Party. He also suggested that an existing third party, such as the Libertarian Party, could serve as a vehicle to channel a coalition of voters who oppose foreign conflicts and want to focus on domestic needs.
Those scenarios would require unifying behind an anti-war candidate. But nobody at Carlson’s house was eager to be that person, Kent said.
“We all kind of did the ‘One, two, three not it,’” he said.
Carlson was a “hard no,” he said, while Greene ruled out running in an interview this month with Politico. After twice losing races for Congress in Washington state against Democrat Marie Gluesenkamp Perez, Kent said "I've got that out of my system" and won't be a candidate again.
GOP 'reset'
Whoever runs, Kent suggested there could be an effort to “reset” the Republican Party on foreign policy in the 2028 presidential primary. Vice President JD Vance is a likely contender for the party’s nomination, but Kent said he could face a “credibility” problem after serving in an administration that launched a new war despite Trump campaigning against foreign entanglements.
“It’s going to be hard to go to the 77 million voters who voted for Trump who are probably going to be mad and feel a certain degree of betrayal, and say ‘Yeah I was a part of that but trust me it’s going to be different this time,’” Kent said. “I just think that’s going to be really, really hard.”
Vance has been a skeptic of American military intervention abroad, and Trump said his vice president was "less enthusiastic" about launching the Iran war. He has since defended the conflict, though, while working to negotiate its end. He led negotiationson a peace deal that eventually collapsed.
MAGA war critics have faced their own backlash, with Trump targeting many of them. Kent also has been criticized for his rhetoric on Israel.
In his resignation letter, Kent wrote that "we started this war due due to pressure from Israel and it's powerful lobby," and went on to say that Israeli officials and members of the media "deployed a misinformation campaign that wholly undermined your America First platform and sowed pro-war sentiments." Sen. Mitch McConnell, R-Kentucky, said the letter displayed "virulent anti-Semitism."
Kent said he's focused on the Israeli government and "could care less what the religion is."
"I don't care if they all go to the same church as me, if they're from a foreign country I don't want them dictating our foreign policy," he said.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Exclusive: MAGA dissidents plot next move after splitting from Trump on Iran
