Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump" by Haberman, Maggie; Swan, Jonathan

 "Privately, Kirk would tell associates that he was far more worried about what Trump might do than he was letting on in public, but recognized that airing those concerns could only backfire, reducing his ability to influence the President. As the leader of the nation’s preeminent organization for young conservatives, Kirk was constantly in touch with college-aged Republicans and he could see that many of them were turning against Israel. A rift was opening up inside MAGA. While older Republicans still overwhelmingly supported Israel, a sizable cohort of younger MAGA adherents were asking questions at Turning Point events that sounded remarkably similar to the types of questions floating at gatherings of young leftists. These young right-wingers wanted to know why America was supporting Israel’s “genocide” in Gaza, why the U.S. President was seemingly acting at the behest of a tiny client state. In darker corners of the movement—corners that were becoming more visible by the day—many of Trump’s supporters were becoming more brazenly antisemitic and conspiratorial about the role of Netanyahu and “world Jewry.” It wasn’t just the well-known white supremacist internet personality Nick Fuentes but enough other voices to cause rising panic among traditional pro-Israel lawmakers and donors in the Republican Party. Trump, however, was largely oblivious to this war within MAGA. He lived in a bubble, shuttling between his private clubs and the White House, and he was rarely shown anything but good news. He rarely browsed Twitter (now X), as he had in term one. His main inputs were Fox News, which was far more pro-Israel than the MAGA conversation on social media, and whatever snippets of information Natalie Harp printed out and brought him. Trump found Netanyahu exasperating, but the President was, some of his younger aides would say, a “Boomer” whose heart was with Israel. They speculated about whether he even cared so much anymore, knowing he would never have to again face the voters. He had the luxury now of thinking about his legacy. Few in the administration were more worried about the divide over Israel than Kirk’s close ally JD Vance. But as skeptical as the vice president was about Netanyahu, and as anxious as Vance was about a potential crack-up inside the MAGA coalition that could hurt him in 2028, the vice president had to be careful not to alienate Trump by pushing too hard against his instincts. Vance was worried about the U.S. getting pulled into an Israeli regime-change war in Iran—and his allies worked hard to make an anti-interventionist case to the President to counter Iran hawks like the right-wing commentator Mark Levin—but the vice president himself trod lightly. In a Situation Room meeting, he laid down a marker: “If we bomb their nuclear facilities, great. If we get sucked into a longer-term war, this will go down as a massive mistake.” But he became more reticent in front of Trump once it became clear that the President was moving closer to Netanyahu’s view."

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