Megyn Kelly argued that unwavering Republican support for Israel has eroded, especially among younger conservatives, because of the war in Gaza, and said Donald Trump misread his base by backing military action against Iran. “I think Republicans started to feel it, too, young Republicans first, and they started to migrate away from Israel,” Kelly said on her SiriusXM program. “So the stakes changed, like this ardent support of Israel no longer became totally acceptable within Republican politics. And the coalition that was totally pro-Israel started to fracture.” “The Democrats left, the independents left, the Republicans started to trickle away with the youth first going entirely, entirely,” Kelly said. “Now the only people who really support Israel are senior citizen Republicans, people basically who are 65 or around there or older and Republican. Those are the ones who are still pro-Israel, which includes Trump.” <\/p>\n
MEGYN KELLY: In the Republican Party, there’s never been any downside to being 100% pro-Israel. From the time I started at Fox News in 2004 until only very recently, in the Republican Party, there was no downside to saying you were 100% on Team Israel, to promote Israel, to go visit Israel, to take money from AIPAC. No one in the Republican politics would ever second-guess it or judge it. It’s only been more recent because, well, I mean, Gaza, I mean, that’s really one of the main things. It was happening on the left prior to Gaza, but the violence that Israel unleashed on civilians in Gaza just got to pass the point where you could overlook it as a friend who was looking at your friend who got attacked viciously on 10-7 and trying to look the other way, like, some of these civilian casualties are going to happen. It’s war. It happened when we did wars, too, but to the point where it’s like, jeez, this is out of control. It defended you a lot of times on the genocide claim, you know, tens of thousands more and more and more. You’re kind of undermining my ability to root for you, never mind defend you. And I think Republicans started to feel it, too, young Republicans first, and they started to migrate away from Israel. So the stakes changed, like this ardent support of Israel no longer became totally acceptable within Republican politics. And the coalition that was totally pro-Israel started to fracture. The Democrats left, the independents left, the Republicans started to trickle away with the youth first going entirely, entirely. And now the only people who really support Israel are senior citizen Republicans, people basically who are 65 or around there or older and Republican. Those are the ones who are still pro-Israel, which includes Trump. And he didn’t get it. Like, he did not have his finger on the pulse of where the party was on Israel and still, I think, thought he could do something that would be great for Israel, which is start a war with Iran. And it would go over well, that his core base would applaud him for it. And I believe him that he never wanted Iran to have a nuclear weapon. I think those statements were sincere. But more than that, he promised no, no new wars and no wars in the Middle East, which last time I checked includes Iran. And so but if Trump had looked at us and said, and Tulsi Gabbard had looked at us and Joe Kent looked at us, and the IAEA had looked at us and said, Iran is within a month of getting a nuclear bomb, the country would have stood behind Trump. We would have believed them. But that’s not what happened. The IAEA and Tulsi and Joe Kent, they all said no, they’re not. They don’t have the capacity to get a nuclear bomb. They’re nowhere close to getting a nuclear bomb. And by the way, those strikes we did last June were very effective in dismantling whatever nuclear program they had, whether it was civilian or not, and they’d been enriching beyond civilian needs. So it wasn’t true that they were about to get it. If it had been the country would have gotten behind him. And we would have looked at that secret escape hatch from no new wars of unless Iran’s about to get a nuclear weapon. It wasn’t true. He used that that excuse that he had always said they can’t have a nuclear bomb to do what Netanyahu wanted him to do and what Netanyahu convinced Trump to do, which was to start a war with them. And he did that because he was razzle-dazzled by Netanyahu into believing that the Ayatollah is going to be above ground. So are his top adversaries. We can take them out. They tried to kill you. Now you can get him before he gets you. It’ll be like Venezuela. You’ll get in, you’ll get out. You’ll be a hero. You’ll change the whole world because a kinder, gentler, Jed Bartlett type is going to take over Iran and be the new Ayatollah, the sweet, loving one who sends his cookies upon his ascension. And Trump listened. Netanyahu played him like a fiddle. He played to his hubris, which is exactly how you’re supposed to manipulate Trump. All these world leaders know it. Look how they bend the knee at NATO now. You know, it’s ridiculous. Oh, my daddy or daddy. It’s like, oh, my God, that’s what they do. Look at the cabinet members at the cabinet meetings. Oh, thanks to you, Mr. President. It’s like they all have to kiss his ass before they give their updates because they’re trying to manipulate him into keeping them in their roles and into liking them. And that’s all well and good. It never really bothered me that much. I don’t love it, but it doesn’t. But when it’s working to start wars, it’s deeply problematic. And it’s how we got in this mess. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n