Deep in Rural Virginia, a MAGA Pro-Gun Push Takes an Unnerving Turn

MAGA lawmaker openly defies Trump — and pushes a foreign nation to do the same

Rep. Randy Fine (R-FL), a fierce supporter of President Donald Trump’s, broke ranks with the president Sunday night after openly defying his foreign policy agenda – and urging a foreign nation to do the same.On Sunday, Israel pounded Lebanon’s largest city amid its ongoing occupation of the Middle East nation, which has sparked a humanitarian crisis and killed more than 3,400 Lebanese since early March. Trump claimed he was “not happy” about Israel’s bombardment of Lebanon, which risked jeopardizing ongoing peace talks between Washington and Tehran.Iran responded to Israel’s attack on Lebanon with a series of strikes of its own Sunday, after which Trump reportedly called Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to “tell him not to retaliate,” according to Axios’ Barak Ravid.Instead of supporting Trump’s apparent de-escalation attempts, Fine, who is endorsed by Trump and previously said he didn’t believe there was a single thing he disagreed with Trump on, moved to call for open defiance of the president’s efforts.“Israel has every right to respond to rockets being fired at its civilians exactly as we would. Bombs away,” Fine wrote Sunday night in a social media post on X.Israel ultimately defied Trump and launched strikes on Iran, triggering a cascade of retaliatory moves: Yemen launched its own strikes toward Israel, and the Houthis announced a partial blockade of the Red Sea. Like the Strait of Hormuz, the Red Sea is another critical shipping waterway through which significant global trade flows.Former Director of the United States National Counterterrorism Center Joe Kent, who resigned from the Trump administration in protest of the U.S. war against Iran, hit back at Fine for his remarks.“This statement is only true if Israel can do it on their own. As of now, they cannot and they are not,” Kent wrote in response. “Currently, Israel is only able to take action with our support and our resources – because of this, we should be calling the shots. We aren’t, and that’s the crux of the issue.”Fine has long been a strong supporter of Israel and has frequently sparked controversy for remarks that mirror those made by far-right Israeli officials. Last year, for instance, Fine said Gazans should ‘starve away’ until all Israeli hostages were returned, a remark made in response to reports about rising famine deaths of Gazans amid Israel’s aid blockade. And in 2021, in response to a social media user who shared a photo of what appears to be a Gazan infant buried in rubble with the question “how do you sleep at night,” Fine responded “quite well, actually,” and “thanks for the pic!”This statement is only true if Israel can do it on their own. As of now, they cannot and they are not. Currently, Israel is only able to take action with our support and our resources—because of this, we should be calling the shots. We aren’t, and that’s the crux of the… https://t.co/RTSzaiGyQe— Joe Kent (@joekent16jan19) June 8, 2026

This crushing truth will have MAGA survivors fleeing Trump

There is nothing like spending well over a decade of life satiating the Left's unending "id" only to then corner fast and navigate having to talk politics "nicely," a duty one undertakes when doing consulting for candidates that somehow have to retain every Democrat in a district, while also reaching out to that 15-20% that voted for Trump but ah... isn't happy. There is great news to be had in that the 20% exists, and they've never been unhappier. The bad news is that, like many victims of traumatic abuse, even though they "see" the objective landscape, they've absorbed so much of their abuser's personality that the dynamic is now one more of "identity" than a set of beliefs, more feel than fact, less character than it is a culture. Take a dare. Have a friend or co-worker approach you and say, "But they said 'America-First' and that they'd bring costs down... " And try not to respond by screaming some variation of "The fact that he campaigned alongside Elon Musk didn't tip you off at all? The fact that Trump's made his fortune ripping people off didn't... Did you recently hit your head, you stupid piece of... " It is really, really, hard.But before you pat yourself on the back for being so sophisticated as to have seen all this coming, I would like you to list the top three to four biggest K-pop songs ever, or name the best second baseman in baseball, take a shot at telling us why someone was robbed of a Nobel prize recently. Yes, national politics should and does transcend most niche cultural ecosystems, but not by a lot, and — again, we're only talking about 10 to 20 percent of the people out there. Oh, and our group has never attended a rally, doesn't scoff at red hats, or know Trump is making a boatload of money for himself. Sadly, never doubt, they do watch Fox News because, of course, they do.My point is, a lot of these people are cops, coaches, nurses, farmers, the type that sits beside you at a football game and isn't the worst person on earth. They live around you and are not horrible or lost, no matter how much of your entire situational awareness overlaps with knowing just how horrible and lost their votes have been. This is not the hat-wearing crowd.So where do you even begin? Well, first, throw Donald Trump aside entirely because he's irrelevant at this point; no, that's not said facetiously, nor with a hint of smugness. Yes, Trump can still oust a Massie or Cornyn in red state primaries, that's fine — that's the section of committed MAGA voters that we cannot reach. On a broader, more practical landscape, with moderates, we're long past individual issues, even individual names, one being Trump. We're now doing nothing more than traversing the red to blue voting spectrum, picking up survivors along the way. One has to give them permission for "being taken advantage of and being lied to," not just because it's good politics and that saves them from being lectured to, but it also happens to be the truth. To someone without robust political experience and sophistication, especially if the media is all funneled appropriately, it was a lie and well-told. So who lied? Again, don't just simply point to Donald Trump and Mike Johnson because then you're back to that voter's "identity" in some sense, and that's still a sore spot. It is much easier to simply note, "Same as it always was, the billionaires controlled it from the beginning. No one, and I mean no one, has ever had it better than the globe's billionaires." That will get a knowing nod. Even Fox News can't hide that reality.You just established a beachhead. Without regard to literally anything else in the world, neither you nor the voter is a billionaire — an objective fact. Just as obvious, the billionaire has more overwhelming political power than ever. Moving forward on the "non-billionaire" platform, note that the price of gas has taken a significant slash out of our coach-nurse-cop's disposable income. That extra $25 to fill the gas tank is the difference between takeout and frozen in a lot of people's lives, something that matters, so turn and ask, "When was the last time a billionaire looked at a gas gauge, never mind prices?"Eyes wide.Now you're really moving because your moderate voter has a better chance of dancing to K-pop than actually envisioning life as a billionaire. "So, if a person sets aside 'what things cost' as a concern on any level, don't you see how something like a world shortage of oil might look as less of a concern for those in power? " (Resist it, resist it, it's right about there where you're going to feel a strong urge again to just start beating down on someone that just saved a life in the ER.)Because a world without consequences to one's lifestyle is a vastly different world than that of you and me. It is the only world in which a red congresscritter like mine can literally write the AI Deregulation bill and vote to support Trump's tariffs, despite the fact that such votes destroy the folks back home.

Transcript: Trump 250 Turns Humiliating as MAGA Ally Harshly Mocks Him

The following is a lightly edited transcript of the June 8 episode of the Daily Blast podcast. Listen to it here.Greg Sargent: This is The Daily Blast from The New Republic, produced and presented by the DSR Network. I’m your host, Greg Sargent.Donald Trump is desperately trying to salvage the concert series celebrating America’s 250th anniversary after a number of celebrities pulled out. He unleashed a weird tirade on Truth Social in which he basically declared, don’t worry, I’ll be there, so it’ll be great. But we think this whole saga illustrates something deeper about Trump and MAGA’s growing toxicity inside the culture. Indeed, another Trump tirade about all this was strikingly revealing on that front. And this is all becoming apparent to even some MAGA figures who have reacted to all of it in surprising ways.New Republic senior editor Alex Shephard writes really well about Trump, MAGA, and cultural politics. So we’re asking him what gives about all this today. Alex, always good to have you on, man.Alex Shephard: It’s great to be back.Sargent: So the organizers of what’s being called the Great American State Fair, which is being produced by the Trump-backed group Freedom 250 to be held on the National Mall, recently announced the slate of celebrities and musical acts who are set to attend. But then people started pulling out—the rapper Young MC, Poison’s Bret Michaels, country music star Martina McBride, the Commodores, all out. Alex, can you recap what happened here?Shephard: Well, I mean, it’s a little hard to figure out, but based on the initial announcement and statements from the artists, what it seems like happened is that this group that is organizing the Great American State Fair went to artists and seems to have maybe downplayed the political nature of this, a sort of pro-Trump rally, essentially. Since it sort of has fallen apart after it became apparent what this actually was, Trump has tried to step in and save it with his own star power, essentially.Sargent: Well, Trump puts out this tirade on Truth Social in which he suddenly says, we don’t really want singers there. He goes on and he says, the “fabulous Lee Greenwood” will introduce me and the singer Christopher Macchio will sing, plus a few musical groups from the armed forces.And then Trump hits his climax, saying that the event will be attended by, “a fine and highly dignified gentleman known as President Donald J. Trump.”Boy, I don’t know, Alex, that doesn’t sound like a must-see, does it?Shephard: I mean, I think I would still probably rather sit through a Trump rally than watch Vanilla Ice and Milli Vanilli perform. But no, it does not seem very good. I mean, this is a farce, right? Because how much can a concert featuring Vanilla Ice and Milli Vanilli really celebrate America? But still, the idea here was to have some sort of event befitting of the country’s 250th anniversary, birthday, whatever you want to call it. And instead, we’re just going to get another Trump rally on the National Mall.Sargent: Exactly. I just want to highlight one other thing Trump says here in this tirade. He says this: “We don’t want singers with no talent. We’ve told them all to stay home.” I mean, Alex, that’s basically, you’re not breaking up with me, I’m breaking up with you. Your thoughts on that?Shephard: Where’s the lie? I think he’s not wrong. But as with many of, you know, him calling out Omarosa or whatever, you’re like, you invited them to begin with. It’s embarrassing for you that you invited them. It’s even more embarrassing that they pulled out. And it’s even more embarrassing than that that you’re doing a rally with Lee Greenwood, who, by the way—I had to look this up before—is even older than Donald Trump. He is at least three years older than Trump. And this guy who’s like an imitation of Pavarotti. It’s preposterous. But again, I think it does kind of capture where we are, less than two years into the second term.Sargent: Well, let’s talk about that because you’ve written really well on it. You’ve written on the fact that after Trump won in 2024, there was kind of an opening for Trump and MAGA to really make inroads into the culture. It was like there was a little Trump boomlet. There was sort of a passing sense—or at the time it didn’t even feel passing, it felt like scary, durable. At that moment it felt like Donald Trump has tapped into something that we didn’t know is there. And that was a scary feeling for a while there. Can you talk about that atmosphere at the time and what people kind of concluded about it?Shephard: Yeah, I mean, it was something that I was writing about and reporting on a fair amount right after Trump won. But I think that there was a sense that for the first time since his movement really started in the summer of 2015, there was carte blanche to just love Trump if you wanted to, or to embrace Trump without repercussions.

US Takes Out More Iranian Drones, As Bessent Reportedly Assesses New Action the Regime Will Not Like

Israel says it has struck Iran after taking missile fire

Israel has launched airstrikes targeting central and western Iran in response to missile fire. Iranian state television has reported the sound of explosions being heard in Isfahan, Tabriz and Tehran.

MAGA melts down as Dem overtakes Spencer Pratt in LA mayoral primary: 'This is egregious'​

Fans of President Donald Trump's Make America Great Again movement melted down on Sunday after reality TV personality Spencer Pratt fell out of his second-place spot in Los Angeles's mayoral primary race. Pratt, who ran as a Republican, had held a strong lead against Los Angeles City Councilmember Nithya Raman, a Democrat, in the primary race until Sunday. The Los Angeles Times reported that mail-in ballots were the key reason why Raman was able to make such a large comeback, and the trend seems likely to continue as the state allows mail-in ballots to be counted for several days following an election. MAGA fans weren't happy to see their favorite candidate lose his lead and shared their reactions on social media. "Spencer Pratt was robbed. This is egregious," MAGA influencer Laura Loomer posted on X. "A woman with absolutely zero following, no groundswell of support, and no name ID absolutely killed it in mail-in voting in Los Angeles. It's just the way this state counts ballots, guys!!" Andrew Kolvet, a spokesperson for Turning Point USA, posted on X. "Free PSA: If you don't want us to assume cheating, maybe make it a little less obvious.""Stolen election in broad daylight," Dana Loesch, a MAGA radio host, posted on X. "Total. F------. Fraud," Mike Davis, a lawyer for the Article III project, posted on X. "I feel genuinely terrible for all my Southern California friends who worked so hard. It was always going to go this way because that’s how communism works. Once you vote it in, you can’t vote it out," MAGA pundit Jesse Kelly posted on X.

Graham Platner, Deep Water Man

It's going to be a red-flag weekend on the coast of Maine after new claims about his treatment of women.

US Pushes Iran Rebuke Over Uranium Missing Since Bombings Began

The US is moving to censure Iran at the United Nations atomic watchdog, escalating diplomatic pressure on the Islamic Republic over its nuclear activity as their ceasefire is seriously tested by fresh attacks involving Israel.