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Axios AM: MAGA war revolt
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View in browser PRESENTED BY META Axios AM By Mike Allen · Mar 03, 2026 Good Tuesday morning. Smart Brevity™ count: 1,979 words … 7½ mins. Thanks to Noah Bressner for orchestrating. Edited by Andrew Pantazi and Bill Kole. Situational awareness: The U.S. Embassy in Riyadh was attacked with two drones — resulting in a limited fire and minor material damage to the building, Axios’ Barak Ravid writes. The State Department called on Americans to “DEPART NOW” from Israel, Bahrain, Egypt, Iraq, UAE, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Lebanon, Qatar, Oman, Syria, Yemen and Jordan “due to serious safety risks.” 1 big thing: MAGA war revolt  Secretary of State Marco Rubio speaks to the media on Capitol Hill yesterday before briefing congressional leaders on the war against Iran. Photo: Ken Cedeno/Reuters MAGA’s ascendant “America First” wing erupted after Secretary of State Marco Rubio effectively blamed Israel for drawing the U.S. into war with Iran, Axios’ Marc Caputo, Barak Ravid, Alex Isenstadt and Zachary Basu write. Why it matters: Rubio’s remarks were the first time a Trump official had so explicitly acknowledged Israel as a driving force behind the war — landing at a moment when Americans’ public support for Israel has hit historic lows.“We knew that there was going to be an Israeli action” against Iran, Rubio told reporters on Capitol Hill yesterday. “We knew that that would precipitate an attack against American forces” by the Iranian regime.“And we knew that if we didn’t preemptively go after them before they launched those attacks, we would suffer higher casualties … And then we would all be here answering questions about why we knew that and didn’t act,” Rubio continued. Rubio added later: “Obviously, we were aware of Israeli intentions and understood what that would mean for us, and we had to be prepared to act as a result of it. But this had to happen no matter what. “The widely repeated translation: The U.S. couldn’t stop its ally — a far smaller nation that America arms, funds and protects — from attacking Iran on Saturday. So the U.S. had to strike Iran, too. Not quite, U.S. officials said later. Regardless of Israel, they said, Trump ordered the strikes because he felt Iran was negotiating a nuclear deal in bad faith, and the U.S. needed to destroy the country’s offensive military infrastructure. “This operation needed to happen,” Rubio told reporters, because Iran was developing too many missiles too quickly and was rebuilding its nuclear capabilities. The big picture: Rubio’s remarks were widely interpreted as making the U.S. look subordinate to Israel’s interests. And they inflamed already angry MAGA elites who had spent the day railing against President Trump’s decision to go to war. On their podcasts and social media, frustrated pro-Trump influencers argued the president had become beholden to the military hawks and neocons he explicitly ran against. Anti-Israel voices on the right — as well as openly antisemitic influencers who’ve clawed toward the mainstream in recent years — claimed vindication.  Between the lines: Even some traditional Trump allies think the White House’s messaging has been muddled. The Daily Wire’s Matt Walsh wrote on X as MAGA fractured over Rubio’s remarks: “So he’s flat out telling us that we’re in a war with Iran because Israel forced our hand. This is basically the worst possible thing he could have said.“But Philip Klein, editor of National Review Online, wrote that those who think Rubio “said that Netanyahu forced the U.S. into war … are conflating the question ‘Why?’ with the question of ‘Why now?'”  Screenshot: Fox News Reality check: The picture critics are painting — of a U.S. reluctantly pulled into war by a smaller ally — obscures deep coordination between the two countries in the weeks before the strike. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu had been urging Trump to strike Iran since December. But Israeli officials say he wouldn’t have moved without Trump’s explicit approval. It’s highly unlikely Netanyahu would’ve struck Iran without Trump’s green light, Israeli officials added. If Trump had preferred to keep negotiating, the strike would have been postponed. Over the past year, Trump has repeatedly reined in Netanyahu from aggressive military operations, including his bombing campaign last year in Syria. And Trump essentially forced the Israeli prime minister to accept a Gaza peace plan that resulted in Hamas releasing its remaining hostages and the remains of others. Netanyahu pushed back last night, telling Fox News’ Sean Hannity that Trump “can’t be dragged” into anything — and that the president acts on his own judgment.  A plume of smoke rises after a strike in Tehran yesterday. Photo: Mohsen Ganji/APMike Cernovich, a prominent pro-Trump social media figure, said on X: “Rubio’s comments are a record scratch moment. He said what most guessed was the case. That he said [this] out loud … is a sea change in foreign policy. There will be massive calls for a walk back. “Megyn Kelly said on her show that she has “serious doubts about what we’re doing. “White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt said that “President Trump’s courageous decision to launch Operation Epic Fury is grounded in a truth that presidents for nearly 50 years have been talking about, but no president had the courage to confront: Iran poses a direct and imminent threat to the United States of America and our troops in the Middle East.”Read Rubio’s full remarks … Share this story. |
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