MARY LOUISE KELLY, HOST:
President Trump campaigned on ending long foreign wars. In his inauguration speech earlier this year, Trump said his proudest legacy would be that of peacemaker.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: We will measure our success not only by the battles we win but also by the wars that we end and, perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into.
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KELLY: Well, now some of his most vocal supporters warn that Trump risks betraying those promises if the U.S. joins Israel in its battle with Iran. NPR White House correspondent Franco Ordoñez is covering the divide inside MAGA. He joins me now from the White House. Hey, Franco.
FRANCO ORDOÑEZ, BYLINE: Hey, Mary Louise.
KELLY: So I want to note that the White House said today Trump is pushing any action on Iran back, that he will decide within the next two weeks. That, however, has not dispelled criticism of potential U.S. involvement. Who are these MAGA figures-turned-critics? What are they saying?
ORDOÑEZ: Yeah. I mean, two of the big names are Tucker Carlson, the former talk show host, and Steve Bannon, who served as White House chief strategist at the beginning of the first Trump administration. Carlson actually explained his position this week on Bannon's podcast, the "War Room.".
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TUCKER CARLSON: My interest is really simple. I don't want the United States enmeshed in another Middle Eastern war that doesn't serve our interests.
ORDOÑEZ: Carlson also warned that the president's legacy was on the line, depending on what happens next. And then there's Bannon, who calls himself one of the biggest names in MAGA - and he really is - who also spoke in very dramatic fashion. Here he is at a breakfast yesterday hosted by the Christian Science Monitor.
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STEVE BANNON: We can't do this again. We'll tear the country apart. We can't have another Iraq.
KELLY: So strong cautions there from two strong supporters of Trump. How is the president responding?
ORDOÑEZ: Yeah. I mean, he's been very defensive about these comments, especially from Carlson. At the G7, Trump actually belittled Carlson for losing his TV show on Fox News, and then he referred to him as kooky Tucker Carlson. But he was actually more thoughtful when pressed about concerns about the U.S. being drawn into another long fight.
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TRUMP: Well, I don't want to fight, either. I'm not looking to fight. But if it's a choice between fighting and them having a nuclear weapon, you have to do what you have to do. Maybe we won't have to fight. Don't forget, we haven't been fighting.
ORDOÑEZ: You know, in announcing that two-week delay, the White House says Trump is following his own instincts and that Carlson and Bannon's position did not play a role. And I should also note that not everyone in MAGA world opposes U.S. involvement. Folks like Fox News' Mark Levin have enthusiastically called for Trump to help Israel in the war. And so have folks like Senator Lindsey Graham, who has traditionally taken a more hawkish stance on foreign policy.
KELLY: Speaking of more hawkish stances, Franco, all this talk about striking Iran. I mean, you can hear the echoes of hawkish Republican positions of the past. Is Trump aligning himself with mainstream Republicans?
ORDOÑEZ: I mean, you really can hear those echoes, and that is actually some of what I'm hearing from mainstream Republicans who I speak with. Ryan Williams is a Republican strategist who I spoke with - he helped lead Mitt Romney's presidential campaign - and he pointed out that regime change in Iran has been a longtime goal for several Republican administrations.
RYAN WILLIAMS: I think a number of people in the Bush administration who, at the time, thought of ways to address this issue, either with the military or other means, would be surprised today to find that the then-host of "The Celebrity Apprentice" is the one that could potentially take out the ayatollah.
KELLY: All right. Some thoughts there from Ryan Williams in our reporting from Franco Ordoñez at the White House. Thanks, Franco.
ORDOÑEZ: Thank you. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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