Tell It to Marco

On March 17, Joe Kent, a subordinate of Tulsi Gabbard, sent a letter to President Trump announcing his resignation as director of the National Counterterrorism Center. Therein, he stated "Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby." because of the war in Iran. 

This energized a disturbing sentiment among this nation's conservative. It included  a "moderate" from Nebraska who announced months ago that he is not running for re-election. Representative Don "The Pig" Bacon*  posted this:

 

I respect differences of opinion on Iran, but blaming the “Israeli lobby” for the war echoes some of the oldest anti-semitic tropes, dating back centuries, the false idea of a hidden Jewish cabal secretly controlling our country. That has no place in our party. I will not be a… pic.twitter.com/Ck9MUuwhMd

— Rep. Don Bacon 🇺🇸✈️🏍️⭐️🎖️ (@RepDonBacon) March 18, 2026

The same day, remarks by a CNBC host made Trump apologists giddy:

CNBC’s Sara Eisen sends the women of The View into a SPIRAL after DEFENDING President Trump: “I think what jumps off the page here about this resignation letter, which I think we have to just call out here, is that [Joe] Kent writes it is clear we started this war due to pressure… pic.twitter.com/tuKSSzQJ9y

— RedWave Press (@RedWavePress) March 18, 2026

The tweeter transcribes the discussion as

 “I think what jumps off the page here about this resignation letter, which I think we have to just call out here, is that [Joe] Kent writes it is clear we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”

“Now, there are two things about that. Number one, I think it’s disrespectful and wrong to assume that the United States and the president, especially this president, whatever you think of him, does not act on his own agency and on behalf of the United States of America.”

Sunny Hostin: “This corrupt president? You don’t think he acts in his own benefit?”

Sara Eisen: “I’m saying that he acts. He does not get coerced by other nations, like Israel.”

Sunny Hostin: “Really?! Okay.”

Sara Eisen: “It’s also an old-school anti-semitic trope to blame the Jews and Israel. It’s as old as time. When you have problems in the world, you know, blame the media. Blame the bankers, blame the Jews.”

The Trump Administration did not launch a war against Iran because of pressure from Israel's American lobby, AKA the American Israel Public Affairs Committee. However, as Kent argued, Iran posed no imminent threat to the USA and pressure from Israel was a factor in the timing of the American attack.

Take it from Marco Rubio, whom both Eisen and Bacon pretend never to have heard of, who in his news conference of 3/3/26 explained 

The second question I’ve been asked is: Why now?  Well, there’s two reasons why now.  The first is it was abundantly clear that if Iran came under attack by anyone, the United States or Israel or anyone, they were going to respond and respond against the United States.  The orders had been delegated down to the field commanders.  It was automatic, and in fact it beared to be true because, in fact, the – within an hour of the initial attack on the leadership compound, the missile forces in the south and in the north for that matter had already been activated to launch.  In fact, those had already been pre-positioned.

 The third is the assessment that was made that if we stood and waited for that attack to come first before we hit them, we would suffer much higher casualties.  And so the President made the very wise decision.  We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action, we knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces, and we knew that if we didn’t preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties and perhaps even higher those killed, and then we would all be here answering questions about why we knew that and didn’t act.

The Administration promptly went into cleanup mode, with the Secretary of State backtracking that evening and the President issuing an ambiguous statement the next day. The star of the Access Hollywood tape once boasted "I just start kissing them. It's like a magnet.Just kiss. I don't even wait. And when you're a star, they let you do it. You can't do anthing."  After that tape was disclosed, the underdog Trump turned his campaign around and won the election. It would not do- would not do at all!- for such a man to admit that he didn't have the strength to tell another country (Israel) "no".

Yet, Sara Eisen apparently is as easily conned as those women Trump said succumbed once he started kissing them. She says "it's disrespectful and wrong to assume that... the President, especially this president, whatever you think of him, does not act on his own agency and on behalf of the United States of America."

Obviously, Donald acts most of all on behalf of his own personal wealth, but that has been clear for a long time. Moreover, if Marco Rubio was to be believed, Trump has taken to war at this time not out of his own agency.  

The "anti-Semitic trope" gaining traction now is reprehensible. But it didn't start with Joe Kent, who was a known, rabid anti-Semite well before Donald hired him for an important national security job. Just as a car with an internal combustion engine cannot run without fuel, most of the anti-Semitism now rearing its ugly head would have laid dormant without President Trump, without consultation with allies or Congress, launching a war against an enemy resonding more robustely than expected with repercussions more dramatic than the President anticipated.

We have a President.whose antics and avarice should be of greater concern to Bacon, Eisen, and others than the bias of a few opponents- and some supporters- of this war. Being a leader requires more than being belligerent, bombastic, and bellicose. It requires actual leadership where and when it counts, and that we don't have.

 *not a real pig or real nickname.

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