Analysis by WorldTribune Staff, November 19, 2026 Non-AI Real World News

Anyone using Google to search for news would conclude that all American newsrooms are anti-Trump. Such Big-Tech-compliant propaganda platforms, increasingly ignored by the body politic, are inescapable like the two-way telescreens in George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four.

Such “news media” thus seized on the story of Joe Kent’s resignation as director of the National Counterterrorism Center, with his parting shot alleging that Trump was pressured into attacking Iran by Israeli officials.

Now, with the media egging them on, Democrats are holding Kent up as a beacon of truth only a few short months after they had labeled him a white supremacist and nazi during his Senate confirmation hearings.

“Keep in mind, I think every Democrat voted against his nomination during his hearing,” former Trump aide Bill Stepien said during an appearance on CNN’s “NewsNight.”

As for Kent, he has been all over the map on Iran.

In previous public statements, Kent warned about threats posed by Iran and supported striking its ballistic missile and nuclear capabilities.

Such flip flops set him apart from President Trump who, as Free Press columnist Eli Lake noted, “has taken a hard line against Iran ever since he launched his presidential campaign in 2015.”

Kent has advanced a variety of lines in his foray into politics and the intelligence community, Lake wrote:

He talked tough on Iran when he ran for Congress two years ago in Washington State’s Third District. On October 7, 2023, he condemned the Hamas mass slaughter in southern Israel, and attacked President Joe Biden. “Biden has consistently enabled Iran and its proxies to indiscriminately attack Israeli civilians,” he said in a statement released by his campaign. “When I get to Congress I will not authorize one cent of financial aid to Iran or Hamas, and I will make sure Israel gets the weaponry they need to keep themselves secure.”

…. But Kent did not play well with others. He clashed with White House chief of staff Susie Wiles and FBI director Kash Patel, according to one former administration official. Meanwhile, former White House staffer Taylor Budowich posted on X that Kent “is a crazed egomaniac who was often at the center of national security leaks, while rarely (never?) producing any actual work.” Budowich added that Kent “spent all of his time working to subvert the chain of command and undermine the President of the United States.”

Kent stepped down March 17, 2026, as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, saying he “cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran.” In announcing his resignation, Kent added that Iran “posed no imminent threat to our nation” and said the war was started “due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”

In his resignation letter to Trump, Kent stated that continued Middle East conflicts “robbed America of the precious lives of our patriots and depleted the wealth and prosperity of our nation.” He added that he “cannot support sending the next generation off to fight and die in a war that serves no benefit to the American people.”

The stance contrasts with Kent’s earlier public posts on X, where he described Iran as a significant threat and advocated for direct action against its military capabilities.

On Jan. 8, 2020, Kent wrote:

“Trump’s restraint shows that he wants a deal with Iran & his red line is American loss of life & IR nuke development. Our fundamental venerability remains- Troops in striking range of IR weapons & proxies w/ no vital US mission.”

While many on the left and anti-Trumpers on the right somehow see Kent’s resignation as a crack in MAGA solidity, particularly on the Iran conflict, polls show that no such thing is happening.

In a new Rasmussen Reports poll, 81% of Republicans say the Iran operation has been successful. Among voters who backed Trump in the 2024 election, 83 percent say the operation has been successful, compared with 40 percent of those who supported Kamala Harris.

During a segment on CNN News Central, data analyst Harry Enten pointed to multiple surveys showing overwhelming support within Trump’s base, stating, “Look at this — nearly nine in ten, 89 percent approve of the U.S. military action in Iran. That is the MAGA GOP base.”

“Just nine percent disapprove of it,” Enten added. “This is tremendously popular among the Republican base.”

Citing recent CNN and NBC polling, Enten noted that the data show Trump’s core supporters remain firmly behind the military action, despite a small number of high-profile dissenting voices.

Other polling has reinforced the same pattern across multiple surveys conducted since the operation began.

An Economist/YouGov poll conducted in recent days found that 87 percent of MAGA supporters approve of Trump’s handling of Iran, while other surveys have placed support as high as 91 percent among MAGA-aligned voters.

Even Al Jazeera admitted in an opinion piece published Monday that “No, MAGA is not divided on the Iran war,” noting that Trump’s supporters remain loyal despite a handful of outspoken critics, while noting that polling continues to show durable support for the operation.

Similarly, in a Wall Street Journal opinion piece published Tuesday titled “MAGA Isn’t Really Against the Iran Operation,” Vandenberg Coalition senior policy director Corban Teague pointed to polling conducted with TargetPoint showing that 84 percent of Trump voters overall — and 94 percent of those identifying specifically as MAGA — support U.S. military action against Iran.

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