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WASHINGTON – US President Donald Trump on April 9 angrily lashed out at multiple well-known conservative commentators who have criticised his war against Iran, slamming his one-time allies as attention-seeking “nut jobs”.
“They’re stupid people, they know it, their families know it, and everyone else knows it, too!” Mr Trump wrote in a nearly 500-word social media diatribe.
In the President’s crosshairs were Mr Tucker Carlson and Ms Megyn Kelly – two former Fox News hosts turned independent podcasters – as well as Ms Candace Owens and Mr Alex Jones, also podcasters and prominent conspiracy theorists.
All four have vocally criticised Mr Trump over the war, slamming him for abandoning his anti-war campaign promises and – to varying degrees – accusing him of bowing to pressure from Israel to launch the conflict.
Their criticism has highlighted a divide among Mr Trump’s supporters over the war, a potential major political risk for the Republican Party heading into the November midterm elections.
“They don’t have what it takes, and they never did! They’ve all been thrown off television, lost their shows, and aren’t even invited on TV because nobody cares about them, they’re nut jobs, troublemakers, and will say anything necessary for some ‘free’ and cheap publicity,” he complained.
While all four have been backers of the President’s “Make America Great Again” movement, some have feuded with the President.
During Mr Trump’s first presidential campaign, Ms Kelly – then a Fox News host – asked the billionaire businessman and reality TV star about disparaging remarks he had made against women.
Mr Trump retorted with a joke about comedian Rosie O’Donnell, his long-time nemesis, and later prompted controversy by seeming to suggest that Ms Kelly had asked the tough question because she was menstruating.
“You can see there was blood coming out of her eyes, blood coming out of her wherever,” Mr Trump said at the time.
Mr Trump referred to the saga on April 9, saying Ms Kelly “nastily asked me the now famous” question.
He also personally attacked the other three, slamming Mr Carlson for not obtaining a college degree, saying he hoped French First Lady Brigitte Macron wins her defamation suit against Ms Owens, and that Mr Jones deserved to go bankrupt after losing his own suit over calling a mass school shooting a hoax.
Ms Owens, 36, has accused France’s First Lady of being a man.
“Actually, to me, the First Lady of France is a far more beautiful woman than Candace, in fact, it’s not even close,” Mr Trump wrote on April 9.
Ms Owens snapped back with a short post on social media platform X.
“It may be time to put grandpa up in a home,” she said.
Mr Jones, for his part, said on X that he has “made it very clear that I no longer support Trump and I’m very thankful to him for making it clear that I have nothing to do with him”.
“The new Trump is a rotting husk of the old Trump,” he added. AFP
