MS NOW’s “Morning Joe” called out President Trump Friday morning for only showing a willingness to criticize divisive right-wing media figures like Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly, Candace Owens and Alex Jones after they have turned on him, rather than for their own, “outlandish” views.
Trump went on a lengthy Truth Social tirade against Kelly, Carlson, Jones and Owens Thursday, calling them “losers” and “nut jobs,” after they all outright condemned his threats against Iran this week. Owens, for her part, went so far as to demand that the 25th Amendment be invoked to remove Trump from power.
In his Truth Social post, Trump wrote of the four, “They’re not ‘MAGA,’ they’re losers, just trying to latch on to MAGA.” Speaking on Friday’s edition of “Morning Joe,” The Dispatch Senior Writer David Drucker took issue with Trump’s selective outrage against his more divisive, on-again, off-again supporters.
“It’s all personal, right? He didn’t criticize Owens or Tucker Carlson or Megyn Kelly for stoking antisemitism, for being antisemitic in Owens’ case for sure,” Drucker observed. “It’s all because they’re angry at him. It’s all because they’re criticizing him.”
“He’s brought figures like this along with him and he’s accommodated their sometimes very outlandish, wacky views and never said that it wasn’t welcome within the party,” Drucker added. “But when they turn on him, now they’re idiots who are not welcome in the party.”
You can watch the full “Morning Joe” segment yourself below.
Drucker argued that the divide between Trump and some of the Right’s biggest online podcasters and media figures has revealed that the president’s original, self-identifying MAGA supporters have never been podcast listeners.
“I don’t think that things have really changed politically vis-a-vis support for the war among Republican voters,” Drucker said. “I still think the president has the broad support of Republican voters and particularly voters who self-identify as MAGA. But I think one of the things we’re learning is that voters that self-identify as MAGA aren’t necessarily a podcast listener [like the ones] that were so crucial to the president’s reelection in 2024.”
Politico Senior Political Columnist Jonathan Martin, meanwhile, told “Morning Joe” viewers Friday that Trump is at risk of losing both extreme sides of the Republican Party in the coming months.
“The factions on the either extreme of the party, so the Alex Jones on one front, the real ‘winger,’ as they would say — conspiratorial types — are dissatisfied with Trump because of the Iran decision,” Martin explained. “Then you’ve got the other extreme of the party, which is the pre-Trump party. Never liked him in the first place. Finds his conduct really embarrassing, but basically has sort of grinned and beared it.”
“I think he’s at risk of losing those two factions this fall,” Martin concluded. “In part because they will stay home on one hand, and also some of them will just vote for a Democrat to send a message this fall, and that’s a big challenge for the Republican Party.”
