Megyn Kelly commented on the collapse of the “MAGA” movement as a result of the war in Iran and the Epstein files situation on the “Hodge Twins Podcast.”

MEGYN KELLY: I do, however, think it’s interesting that the size of that – what’s now MAGA – I don’t even know. MAGA is not what it was. MAGA is now this very, very small group of Trump diehard loyalists who have to love Mark Levin. And so that’s, by definition, an increasingly tiny group. They’ve upper-limited, basically, thanks to Trump’s own definition of his followers. It’s a small group. So I guess I’ve been so surprised to see how quickly it’s shrunk down to something less formidable, by far, than it used to be. … It’s stunning to me that the people who voted for the man who said over and over, not only no new wars, but no war with Iran, no Middle East wars, and specifically over and over said Iran – and also said the Democrats are going to get us into a war with Iran. That was not a small thing. That was not a throwaway line. That was a massive part of his campaigning and his promising – that those people, on a dime, were like, Yes, we’re pro-war with Iran. Yes, Iran cannot have a nuclear weapon. We all know that’s a lie. It’s so obvious that that’s a lie to get us into this conflict, that they were not on the verge of developing a nuclear weapon. I mean, truly, you don’t have to do a lot of fact-checking to figure that out. Trump’s own intelligence agency said they’re nowhere close. The IAEA – there was no one other than Israel saying they’re on the verge, and they’d been saying it for years. So you’d really have to be willing to delude yourself to go along with that. But it’s been shocking to see how many people to whom that seemed to be important just immediately pivot to, No, it’s no longer. Same on Epstein. It’s been shocking to see the same group that’s been like, We need answers on Epstein. There’s a cabal that gets protected. Finally Trump’s going to get to the bottom of it. Soon as Trump shocked us all by coming out and saying, Epstein? Who cares about Epstein? they all turned on you.

Kelly primarily blamed the “Israel lobby” for the defeat of Republican Congressman Thomas Massie by a Trump-backed primary challenger, and said: “I’m sorry to see it that way, but it’s tough to argue” with the idea that Trump is now influenced by Israel. “And it’s not American Jews,” she said. “I’m with the neocons on the protection of American Jews. I don’t want to see American Jewish citizens harassed or bullied.” “This is something different entirely. This is about Israel,” she said. “That’s a foreign country. I don’t care about them. I care about my country. I don’t care about Israel.”

KELLY: I think that it was the Israel lobby that got Thomas Massie defeated, and I think the voters of Kentucky were probably moved by the massive ad campaign that was unleashed against them. The Israel crowd moved in – AIPAC and the Republican Jewish Coalition and Miriam Adelson, all these big Jewish billionaires who were not keeping it secret that they were funneling money into this campaign – creating ads that made Thomas Massie look like a sex pest, right? That made him look like he was against Trump on virtually everything, whereas he voted with Trump, I think, 91% of the time. So, overwhelmingly positive, but on a couple things, obviously, was true to himself, as he had been all along. And that hadn’t been a problem with the voters at any time prior. So I think that money went a long way. And people are living their lives. They’re not like us, who are in the news all the time following the latest developments. They’re working. They’re raising their families. They don’t have the time to do that much with the news. So they can be misled by these ubiquitous ads telling you everywhere what a turncoat Massie is, that he’s turned Democrat now. It wasn’t true, and there was an agenda behind it, and those donors got their way. So I don’t know if it was about the pedophile thing, but it definitely was about the Israel thing.

She said she was shocked by how quickly Trump has “turned” on supporters who disagree with him on any single issue. “It was Ronald Reagan, I think, who said if somebody disagrees with you 20% of the time and agrees with you 80% of the time, then that’s an 80% friend. It’s not a 20% enemy,” Megyn Kelly said. “Loyalty only goes one way with Donald Trump, and it’s toward him. He will never show it toward you.”

The ones who last are the ones who are the most loyal. I have to say, it’s unfortunate because it’s spreading. It’s one thing to make your inner circle that way. I don’t think that’s what creates a great leader. I do think you should hear dissenting points of view. But it’s another thing to then take that beyond your inner circle and require it of everyone in your party and their representatives – that there can be no dissent. Look at how Trump has turned, for example, on Tucker. Obviously, I’m in there, too, but Tucker was very close with Trump, much closer than I ever have been, and campaigned for Trump and was actually a very critical voice in support of Trump. And the only thing he was really pushing Trump on, where they were split, was, Don’t go to war with Iran. Please don’t do the bombing campaign in June. He got overruled. He stayed loyal to the president. And then: Please, please don’t launch this war. This is an Israel war. Don’t do it. Trump heard him out. To his credit, Trump did allow that POV to come into the Oval Office, and he overruled him. Then Tucker was very critical of it, but wasn’t saying, Now we need to completely go against Trump. Now Trump’s wrong on everything. He was very critical on Israel, and Trump completely wrote him off as though he were public enemy number one and continues to do that. I just think it makes no sense. It’s so shortsighted. You can have critics. It was Ronald Reagan, I think, who said if somebody disagrees with you 20% of the time and agrees with you 80% of the time, then that’s an 80% friend. It’s not a 20% enemy. It’s an 80% friend. Focus on the stuff that you agree on. Build coalitions. Use people, if you’re a politician, for what you can. He should be using Tucker. There’s no valid outcome to alienating a guy as powerful as that for Trump. But he just requires absolute loyalty on every issue. He doesn’t care how loyal you’ve been. He doesn’t care what you’ve done for him. I could say the same about Alex Jones, who backed Trump completely in ’15 and ’16 when nobody wanted Trump in the Republican Party. It was like, just on a dime. Loyalty only goes one way with Donald Trump, and it’s toward him. He will never show it toward you. … HOST: I didn’t think I would ever say this, but Trump is bought and paid for by Israel, right? Is that fair to say? MEGYN KELLY: I’m sorry to see it that way, but it’s tough to argue with you. I’ve got to be honest. Trump has taken $ 200 million from Miriam Adelson. She’s made hundreds of millions of dollars of campaign contributions to him. She’s put $ 100 million into the White House ballroom, or pledged to. She is a bottomless pit of money, and she has one issue, and it’s not American Jews. I’m with the neocons on the protection of American Jews. I don’t want to see American Jewish citizens harassed or bullied or not be able to make it across campus because they’re wearing the yarmulke. That stuff was [expletive], right after Oct. 7. I felt nothing but empathy for them. This is something different entirely. This is about Israel. Israel – that’s her issue. That’s a foreign country. I don’t care about them. I care about my country. I don’t care about Israel. I’m sorry. I don’t. I was fine with it when I was on Fox, like, Okay, fine. We like Israel. We get it. It’s the only democracy in the Middle East. Yeah, it’s fine. We’re supposed to cheerlead for them. I’ve got no problem with them. I’ll do it. But now what we’ve seen is that support of Israel seems to mean our guys are going to die. Our men in uniform and women in uniform are going to have to die or risk death and possibly even get drafted. Now I’m raising three children who are approaching draft age who could have to go fight a war for Israel. Hard no. If Israel just sort of kept its house in order and kind of did its own thing, as its defenders will claim is its goal and its approach – it’s not true – that would have been one thing. But they are 100% the reason that we bombed Iran in June and then we launched this war. Marco Rubio told the truth when he said it was because of Israel. Benjamin Netanyahu did make the case to Trump seven times at the White House. He’d done it with every other president in modern history, all of whom saw through him. But not Trump. Trump fell for it. You’re going to be a hero. Venezuela – look how well it went. You were universally praised. The June strike, you got in, you got out. Everyone’s going to praise you as having taken out this terrible leader. The ayatollah, he’s above ground. We’ve got the information on this specific date. Meanwhile, Obama came and he was like, They told me that same stuff, but I knew quagmire awaits and didn’t do it. And he’s probably telling the truth because they say that they’ve done this with every president who’s been there. So I just think there’s no denying that Miriam’s donations and those of some very, very powerful billionaires who are Israel-firsters – not to mention the push he got from people like Mark Levin, and not just Jewish Americans like Levin and Shapiro, but Christian Americans too, like my old pal General Jack Keane, my old pal Marc Thiessen, Lindsey Graham, Mike Lawler – there are a lot of Christian Zionists who are extremely pro-Israel who helped push him into it. And he fell for it all, hook, line, and sinker.

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