On The Weeknight, Angelo Carusone discusses the “fracturing” in MAGA media over Trump's war in Iran
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From the March 10, 2026, edition of MS NOW's The Weeknight
LUKE RUSSERT (CO-HOST): It feels as if the messaging has gotten completely away from this White House in a way that they have not necessarily faced to this degree. People don't trust him domestically. People are not now trusting them in terms of foreign policy, and the economy, which is what they used to win in 2024, is flashing big yellow lights. You also see gas is going up. You see the housing market is cratering. You see the feds now saying they might delay a rate cut because of the war in Iran. Given all of this, is it not tailor-made now for Democrats to push that issue and say, "Listen, Donald Trump and the Republicans, they do not care about you in any way, and this is proving it beyond doubt."
ANGELO CARUSONE (GUEST): Yeah, without a doubt. Because the one thing -- you know, they've lost control of the messaging, but it's something even bigger than that. And that's the to your point, why there's a real opportunity here. And I'm usually the naysayer at the table. And that is because they've never really had to do this type of messaging. What happens is Trump makes a claim, and then there's this massive right-wing media narrative engine behind him that backfills it and turns it into reality for a very large part of the American population and his base. And that engine is not doing that right now. What they're doing is sort of fracturing over gas prices, over how it's going to affect farmers, how it's going to affect their home issues. And of course, just the fact that they thought they were being sold no wars, not new wars.
And so that means that they can't just get out there and make these claims and do it. So, what does that mean in practice? One, he doesn't have the thing backing him up. So, these numbers are going to get worse, not better. Two, there's a real opportunity for Democrats to actually break through and actually project a narrative because that engine does want things to spin. Now, they may not carry water for Democrats, but they'll certainly carry water for the storyline around the economy. And there's a warning. So, even if that's not enough of an incentive to do it, there's another thing to avoid. He's putting little poison pills out there to try to pull people back in. When he says he's not going to sign legislation, he's starting to say, "Well, let's start going after trans people again."
The right-wing media is slowly starting to consolidate around this narrative that, look, maybe the Iran war actually means more deportations. We can target mass populations of Muslims in this country. And that's starting to simmer that down a little bit. He's beginning to inject the SAVE Act into the conversation. So, he's trying to poke around to say is there something new that could help people reconnect? So, that's the moment to drive forward, not just that there's a big opportunity, and there is. There's actually an urgency to it because eventually they will find their footing.