Megyn Kelly warned that rhetoric from Ben Shapiro and Mark Levin on Iran could decimate Republicans in the midterms with key voter groups, citing polling showing weakening support for Trump among the coalition that won him the presidency in 2024. On “The Megyn Kelly Show” on Friday, the host argued that treating war and rising gas prices too casually will backfire on the party.

MEGYN KELLY: It’s not just Ben Shapiro’s fault, but I am going to show you something that Ben Shapiro is out there saying, because it’s insane. The way he’s talking about our troops, and he’s not the only one, Mark Levin too, he talks about the gas prices. So what? You’re going to have to pay another 50 cents a gallon. By the way, it’s more than that. It’s already up a dollar a gallon. In order to stop Iran from getting a nuclear weapon, you do it. Oh, easy for you to say. You’re a multimillionaire. And by the way, no one believes that we were about to get bombed by a nuke by Iran. But here’s Ben Shapiro talking about our troops. You served. You understand the sacrifice that our troops make and the risk they take when they sign up. I would submit to the jury, it is not to die in a war for Israel. But here’s Ben Shapiro talking about it. BEN SHAPIRO: And also, Americans are not dumb. We don’t believe that if you’re involved in military activity, you’re not going to lose anybody. Because again, if necessary military activity can only be pursued at zero cost, there’s no use in having a military. Literally, the point of a military is to do hard and dangerous things. That’s why our military members are heroes. During Vietnam, the Viet Cong counted on the idea that Americans would get tired, that Americans would get bored. And after a while, they were right. Americans did get tired. After a while, they were right. Americans did want out. We should know that there were 50,000 American dead by that point. In Iraq and Afghanistan too, reality is that there is no way to extricate ourselves from this situation right now. There’s no way to extricate ourselves from this situation by simply running away. That does not leave Iran in control of the Strait of Hormuz, which means 100 to $ 150 barrels of oil from here to forever. And here’s the thing. Once we get to the end of this, if the Iranian regime falls, energy will become cheap again because the Strait of Hormuz will be free again. KELLY: I’m sorry, but that’s disdainful… It’s happening. There have been, I think, 15 special elections for these state house races that have been happening over the past year. The Republicans have not won any of them. They’ve all gone blue in jurisdictions that were heavily red, that had gone for Donald Trump by some 19 points in the latest one down in Florida, or between 11 and 19. I can’t remember the specific number in Florida. But I saw the list, and there were many that had gone 19 Republican that have now swung blue. This is a terrible harbinger for things to come in these midterms. There are serious political pundits now predicting the Republicans genuinely may lose the Senate in addition to the House. What does that do in terms of the Republican positioning on the Senate in 28, when they have more seats? We weren’t supposed to lose the Senate Republicans in this midterm election. That was not supposed to happen at all. But now they’re seriously talking about it like it might. But then the next election in 28, where there’s a presidential race on the line as well, the Republicans are more exposed. Now we’re en route to a 60 seat Democrat majority. Do you know what that is? That’s a f*cking nightmare, because the Democrats could actually win the White House too with these approval numbers. President Trump’s approval numbers are in the basement. They’re the lowest that they have been. It is the economy, first and foremost, that’s dragging him down, and now the Iran war. By the way, he’s lost Hispanics too. The entire coalition that put him over the top is falling apart. As you point out, Joe Rogan’s come out against the war. Dave Smith is hardcore against Trump right now and has been for a while, a comic who’s brilliant. Theo Vaughn came out against it. He lost comedian Andrew Schulz on his podcast. He made a lot of friends a while ago. Shawn Ryan has same against it now very strongly. This is a coalition that the young men of America very much listen to, and young people are completely against this war. Even in the Republican Party, the latest poll that just came out from Pew showed the net approval among Republicans. 18 to 29 year old Republicans are against the war by a margin of minus two. So net net, they’re against. It’s not by a huge margin, but they are against as young Republicans. The next set up 30 to 49 year olds. They’re they’re for it, but only by a 20 point margin. And then when you get to the older people, 50 and up, it goes up. So it’s older Republicans who support this war, and it’s only older Republicans who support the war. Only that the independents are overwhelmingly against it. As you heard Harry Enton talk about, Democrats are united against it for their own reasons. And look at the numbers for Hispanics. Let me just show you, because that’s another part of the Trump coalition, right? You had the young people. You had a greater number of black voters. You had men. Harry Anton did a thing the other day showing men are against this, young men in particular, completely against this war. And look at Hispanics. FOX News just did a poll. The Trump net approval rating dropped 40 points among Hispanics in the new Fox poll in just December. In just December, the Hispanic approval of Trump was it was 48 percent approved, 52 percent disapproved. All right. So he was four points underwater. Now, March 20th to 23rd, approval has gone from 48 percent to 28 percent disapproval, 72 percent. Instead of a net negative of four, he’s now at a net negative of 44 with Hispanics. This is a Fox News poll broadening out to overall, not just Hispanics, the entire electorate. Do you approve or disapprove of the way Donald Trump’s handling Iran? Approved 36 percent, disapproved 64 percent. How concerned are you about gas prices? Not concerned, 20. Concerned, 80 percent. And then there’s Mark Levin. Here’s a poll question no media outlet asks. Would you prefer that the Iranian regime launches nuclear missiles at our country or paying 50 cents more a gallon for gasoline? Jesse, if they go with that Mark Levin approach between now, November and thereafter, then they deserve the giant effing they’re going to get.

RealClearPolitics Videos