by Steve Benen | Mar 17, 2026 | Iran Tensions, Maddowblog, News, Politics
Joe Kent, whom Senate Republicans confirmed last summer to serve as the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, has made headlines for a variety of unfortunate reasons, but on Tuesday morning, the Washington Republican made news in an entirely unexpected way: He announced that he’s resigning in protest from the Trump administration over the war in Iran.
In a brief item published to social media, Kent wrote:
After much reflection, I have decided to resign from my position as Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, effective today.
I cannot in good conscience support the ongoing war in Iran. Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation, and it is clear that we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.
Kent, who included an image of his formal resignation letter, added that he considers it an honor to have served under Donald Trump and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard. His tweet concluded, “May God bless America.”
He is the first and only prominent official from the Republican administration to step down over the U.S. military offensive in the Middle East.
Kent was a contentious figure long before he joined the president’s team. Indeed, The Associated Press published a memorable report during Kent’s 2022 Republican congressional campaign, for example, highlighting his “connections to right-wing extremists, including a campaign consultant who was a member of the Proud Boys.”
The Seattle Times later noted Kent’s “reported associations with white nationalists and other far-right groups, and embrace of conspiracy theories on an array of subjects.”
Kent insisted, for example, that the 2020 presidential election was “rigged and stolen” and that the FBI was “corrupt” and needed
by Steve Benen | Mar 16, 2026 | Iran Tensions, Maddowblog, News, Politics
Much of what has transpired in the war in Iran was predictable. One need not be a foreign policy expert, for example, to realize that Donald Trump would make a series of miscalculations while ignoring sensible warnings. Similarly, the crisis in the Strait of Hormuz was unavoidable; Iran’s efforts to widen the conflict into a regional war have long been envisioned; and pretty much everyone saw the economic consequences coming.
The one thing that I’ve found surprising, however, is the near-constant focus on the president’s feelings.
Just three days into the military offensive, an analysis in The New York Times noted that Trump’s decision “to order the attack on Iran … was mostly a matter of gut instinct.” A week later, a reporter asked about Trump’s argument that he feared an Iranian strike on U.S. targets within seven days, which he then bumped down to three days; in response, White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt referred to “a feeling the president had based on facts.”
Similarly, late last week, the president told Fox News’ Brian Kilmeade how he will know when the war is over: “When I feel it, when I feel it in my bones.”
KILMEADE: When will know the war is over?TRUMP: When I feel it. I gotta feel it in my bones.— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-03-13T19:26:33.919Z
There have long been concerns that the entire foundation of the war was built on the whims of a former television personality. Trump keeps confirming that those fears were well justified.
He’s not the first president to launch a dubious war, but he is the first to pursue a war policy based on vibes.
Complicating matters is the
by Steve Benen | Mar 16, 2026 | Iran Tensions, Maddowblog, News, Politics
During the first week of the war in Iran, multiple British news outlets reported that the HMS Prince of Wales aircraft carrier was preparing for possible deployment to the Middle East to assist the United States and Israel. Seven days into the conflict, however, Donald Trump, who has a habit of insulting and alienating our closest allies, used his social media platform to deliver a message to leaders in the U.K.: Don’t bother.
“The United Kingdom, our once Great Ally, maybe the Greatest of them all, is finally giving serious thought to sending two aircraft carriers to the Middle East,” the American president wrote. “That’s OK, Prime Minister Starmer, we don’t need them any longer — But we will remember. We don’t need people that join Wars after we’ve already won!”
Those attitudes were again on display on Friday when Trump appeared on a Fox News radio program and was asked whether Ukraine has helped the United States with drone defenses. “No, we don’t need the help,” the Republican replied — overlooking the inconvenient fact that our Ukrainian allies have offered and provided the United States with valuable assistance.
Roughly a day later, the American president started reading from a very different kind of script.
On Saturday morning, Trump published a self-defeating message to his social media platform in which he said Iran’s military capabilities have been “destroyed 100%,” except for its drones, mines, missiles, boats and ships. (This was not intended to be amusing.) He added, “Hopefully China, France, Japan, South Korea, the UK, and others, that are affected by this artificial constraint, will send Ships to the area so that the Hormuz
by Steve Benen | Mar 13, 2026 | Iran Tensions, Maddowblog, News, Politics
Among the many things Americans don’t know about the war in Iran is how much the U.S. military offensive costs and will continue to cost as combat operations continue. As of a week ago, congressional sources with knowledge of the matter said the war was costing the United States an estimated $1 billion a day.
It now appears that the price tag was even more. MS NOW reported Thursday as part of the network’s live blog coverage:
The Trump administration told Congress at a briefing this week that the first week of the Iran war cost at least $11.3 billion, a congressional source told MS NOW.
The figure, which was first reported by The New York Times, is not exhaustive and does not include the cost of the build-up before the war, the source said.
In other words, the initial estimate was $1 billion a day, and the administration has since revised that number to roughly $1.6 billion a day. Whether that number might yet grow again is unclear.
To state the obvious, the most important cost in any war is the human cost, and this avoidable conflict has already taken a brutal toll, from the American service members who have been killed and wounded to the massive casualties in Iran, including an apparent American missile strike on an Iranian girls’ school that killed 175 civilians, most of whom were children.
But given the broader circumstances, and the role of political leaders in shaping the war’s future, it’s important to acknowledge the fact that this is an election year, and many congressional Democrats have already seized on the growing financial costs.
Indeed, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries
by Steve Benen | Mar 12, 2026 | Iran Tensions, Maddowblog, News, Politics
At his political rally in Kentucky, Donald Trump told a curious story about Iranian ships destroyed by the U.S. military in recent days. According to the president’s version of events, he grew angry with his military leaders, asking, “Why the hell did we kill them? Why didn’t we just capture them and use them in our navy?”
Eventually, according to Trump, a U.S. general told him, “Sir, it’s a lot more fun doing it this way.”
Trump: “They knocked out 54 ships in two days. I got mad at my people. I said, ‘Why the hell did we kill them? Why didn’t we just capture them and use them in our Navy?’ They said they wouldn’t have qualified for that. One of my generals said, ‘Sir, it’s a lot more fun doing it this way.'”— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-03-11T21:12:41.267Z
The Republican told a nearly identical story to members of the House Republican conference two days earlier, again claiming that military leaders told him it’s “more fun” to sink Iranian ships than to capture them.
The use of the word “fun” was jarring for all of the obvious reasons. Trump was, after all, talking about a U.S. military offensive that has killed some American service members and left many more wounded — in addition to the massive casualties in Iran, including an apparent American missile strike on an Iranian girls’ school that killed 175 civilians, most of whom were children.
There are a variety of adjectives that a wartime American leader should use when talking about this avoidable crisis. “Fun” isn’t one of them.
But by all appearances, the White House has come to a very different
by Steve Benen | Mar 11, 2026 | Iran Tensions, Maddowblog, Politics
At a press conference last week, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth took a moment to push back against reporting that he disagreed with. The beleaguered Pentagon chief said he’s heard commentary that the war in Iran “might be expanding” beyond Iranian borders.
“Nothing could be further from the truth,” he said.
On Tuesday, the former Fox News host tried to re-emphasize the same argument.
Hegseth: “I see in the media banners that say, ‘War expanding’ or ‘War spreading’ — it’s actually the opposite. It’s actually quite contained.”— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) 2026-03-10T12:29:44.166Z
“It’s worth underscoring, I see in the media banners that say, ‘War expanding,’ or ‘War spreading,” Hegseth said. “It’s actually the opposite. It’s actually quite contained.”
Perhaps he was referring to some other war?
On the first day of the military offensive, the conflict involved three countries: The United States, Israel and Iran. But it wasn’t long before that list grew. By the sixth day of the war, The Washington Post noted that the violence had “touched 12 countries across the Middle East.”
Soon after, an Iranian drone strike hit Bahrain, injuring 32 people, and the day after that, the United Arab Emirates felt the need to shut down one of the larger oil refineries in the world in response to an Iranian strike. The developments coincided with related violence spreading to Iraq and Lebanon, where a conflict with Israel has intensified.
What’s more, other countries around the world have been economically impacted by the war, widening the conflict beyond the Middle East.
Donald Trump’s attack on Iran is already having profound effects on economies around the world.— MaddowBlog (@maddowblog.bsky.social) 2026-03-10T20:07:34.699Z
None of this is a secret. It’s been well
