I love the phrase "horseshoe theory." Truth could never be the domain of extremism on either the Left or the Right, and the one common feature of the extremists, whether religious (Islam) or political (Totalitarianism) will be antisemitism.
Very well stated Batya, you’re 100% correct about MAGA republicans. I’m very disappointed in joe Kent, clearly he’s very damaged by what happened to his wife.
As well as debunking the 'Maga Divide' myth, Batya notes that Joe Kent blames his wife's death fighting Isis in the Syrian civil war on... Israel! Not someone who should have been anywhere near intelligence and counterterrorism. Goodbye and good riddance!
What a lightweight. Glad he is gone. To resign during a war when DHS is not being funded and terrorism is occurring on a regular basis is not admirable. The nation can do better.
“MAGA is united with the President—against the Podcastariat.”
That overstates what the polling actually shows. Yes, there is a real pro-war and pro-Israel majority inside the Republican base. If by your “9 in 10” line you mean the recent CNN/NBC figure Harry Enten cited, then yes: roughly 89–90% of self-identified MAGA Republicans approved of the strikes on Iran. So on the narrow question of the initial strike, the podcast critics are plainly not speaking for the median MAGA voter.
But then you smuggle in two bigger claims that number does not prove. First, “9 in 10 Republicans support the President’s war in Iran” is sloppy. The very high figure is about a MAGA subset, not all Republicans. Broader Republican polling is lower: Quinnipiac found 85% of Republicans supported U.S. military action against Iran, Reuters/Ipsos found 55% approved of the strikes with 31% unsure, and YouGov found 76% of Republicans approved of the attacks. Those are still hawkish numbers, but they are not all measuring the same thing, and they do not amount to a blank check for every phase of a wider war.
Second, “support for Israel is rising on the Right” is misleading. The NBC chart you posted earlier shows Republicans were already overwhelmingly pro-Israel in 2013: 67% said their sympathies were more with Israelis then, versus 69% now. That is not some dramatic upward surge; it is basically a stable, very high baseline. The real story in that chart is not a great Republican move toward Israel, but that Democrats and independents moved sharply toward the Palestinians while Republicans stayed anchored on the Israeli side.
And even among Republicans, support gets softer once it moves from abstract approval to concrete costs. Quinnipiac found that while Republicans strongly backed military action, 52% opposed sending U.S. ground troops into Iran. Reuters/Ipsos found 42% of Republicans said they would be less likely to support continued action if U.S. troops were killed or injured (already happening), and 34% said they would be less likely to support it if gas and oil prices rose(also already happening).
You are taking a real number but using it to carry more than it can bear. MAGA backed the initial strike. That does not automatically mean MAGA wants a long war, American casualties, higher fuel prices, or total fusion with the Likud party’s Greater Israel “spiritual mission.”
And there is a generational fault line inside the GOP that your framing misses. Younger Republicans are still more pro-Israel than young Democrats, but they are plainly less attached to Israel than older Republicans and much less sold on unconditional support. A December 2025 YouGov survey of Republicans found that 51% of Republicans under 45 would prefer a 2028 GOP candidate who supports reducing taxpayer-funded weapons to Israel, while only 27% preferred a candidate who would increase or maintain that support; 53% of Republicans under 45 opposed renewing the current $38 billion U.S.-Israel weapons agreement, and Netanyahu’s net favorability was only +2 among Republicans under 45, compared with +40 among Republicans over 45. Gallup’s recent trend data point the same way: among young Republican-leaning voters, support for Israel fell from 69% in 2018–2020 to 52% in 2024–2026.
The coalition is not as seamless as your pompom optimism suggests. The older Fox-right may still be reflexively pro-Israel, but the younger podcast right is noticeably more skeptical, more transactional, and less eager to fuse American policy to Israel’s wars and Netanyahu’s agenda. That does not make Republican youth rabidly “anti-Israel”; but it does make your “MAGA is united” line sound less like analysis than messaging designed to cover or cope with an obvious and growing rift.
And that growing rift is being foreshadowed by the "Podcastariat" that you loathe. As time passes, I wager that rift will become a chasm. I understand why you are acting the cheerleader.
One of my favorite sayings is that "truth" holds opposite extremes in tension. The solution or best decision is often somewhere in the middle. We are seeing this play out with the far left and far right. The majority are planting themselves in the middle and are not following the mindset of the extremes.
Great points! I like Leland's--no beating around the bush style of questioning--and of course Batya's clear concise answers..
Beautiful, Batya. From your lips to God‘s ears. Thanks for standing up for our country USA.
And our people, Jews
New Left and New Right finding a common enemy - Jews as predicted by “horseshoe theory”.
I love the phrase "horseshoe theory." Truth could never be the domain of extremism on either the Left or the Right, and the one common feature of the extremists, whether religious (Islam) or political (Totalitarianism) will be antisemitism.
Very well stated Batya, you’re 100% correct about MAGA republicans. I’m very disappointed in joe Kent, clearly he’s very damaged by what happened to his wife.
As well as debunking the 'Maga Divide' myth, Batya notes that Joe Kent blames his wife's death fighting Isis in the Syrian civil war on... Israel! Not someone who should have been anywhere near intelligence and counterterrorism. Goodbye and good riddance!
What a lightweight. Glad he is gone. To resign during a war when DHS is not being funded and terrorism is occurring on a regular basis is not admirable. The nation can do better.
“MAGA is united with the President—against the Podcastariat.”
That overstates what the polling actually shows. Yes, there is a real pro-war and pro-Israel majority inside the Republican base. If by your “9 in 10” line you mean the recent CNN/NBC figure Harry Enten cited, then yes: roughly 89–90% of self-identified MAGA Republicans approved of the strikes on Iran. So on the narrow question of the initial strike, the podcast critics are plainly not speaking for the median MAGA voter.
But then you smuggle in two bigger claims that number does not prove. First, “9 in 10 Republicans support the President’s war in Iran” is sloppy. The very high figure is about a MAGA subset, not all Republicans. Broader Republican polling is lower: Quinnipiac found 85% of Republicans supported U.S. military action against Iran, Reuters/Ipsos found 55% approved of the strikes with 31% unsure, and YouGov found 76% of Republicans approved of the attacks. Those are still hawkish numbers, but they are not all measuring the same thing, and they do not amount to a blank check for every phase of a wider war.
Second, “support for Israel is rising on the Right” is misleading. The NBC chart you posted earlier shows Republicans were already overwhelmingly pro-Israel in 2013: 67% said their sympathies were more with Israelis then, versus 69% now. That is not some dramatic upward surge; it is basically a stable, very high baseline. The real story in that chart is not a great Republican move toward Israel, but that Democrats and independents moved sharply toward the Palestinians while Republicans stayed anchored on the Israeli side.
And even among Republicans, support gets softer once it moves from abstract approval to concrete costs. Quinnipiac found that while Republicans strongly backed military action, 52% opposed sending U.S. ground troops into Iran. Reuters/Ipsos found 42% of Republicans said they would be less likely to support continued action if U.S. troops were killed or injured (already happening), and 34% said they would be less likely to support it if gas and oil prices rose(also already happening).
You are taking a real number but using it to carry more than it can bear. MAGA backed the initial strike. That does not automatically mean MAGA wants a long war, American casualties, higher fuel prices, or total fusion with the Likud party’s Greater Israel “spiritual mission.”
And there is a generational fault line inside the GOP that your framing misses. Younger Republicans are still more pro-Israel than young Democrats, but they are plainly less attached to Israel than older Republicans and much less sold on unconditional support. A December 2025 YouGov survey of Republicans found that 51% of Republicans under 45 would prefer a 2028 GOP candidate who supports reducing taxpayer-funded weapons to Israel, while only 27% preferred a candidate who would increase or maintain that support; 53% of Republicans under 45 opposed renewing the current $38 billion U.S.-Israel weapons agreement, and Netanyahu’s net favorability was only +2 among Republicans under 45, compared with +40 among Republicans over 45. Gallup’s recent trend data point the same way: among young Republican-leaning voters, support for Israel fell from 69% in 2018–2020 to 52% in 2024–2026.
The coalition is not as seamless as your pompom optimism suggests. The older Fox-right may still be reflexively pro-Israel, but the younger podcast right is noticeably more skeptical, more transactional, and less eager to fuse American policy to Israel’s wars and Netanyahu’s agenda. That does not make Republican youth rabidly “anti-Israel”; but it does make your “MAGA is united” line sound less like analysis than messaging designed to cover or cope with an obvious and growing rift.
And that growing rift is being foreshadowed by the "Podcastariat" that you loathe. As time passes, I wager that rift will become a chasm. I understand why you are acting the cheerleader.
One of my favorite sayings is that "truth" holds opposite extremes in tension. The solution or best decision is often somewhere in the middle. We are seeing this play out with the far left and far right. The majority are planting themselves in the middle and are not following the mindset of the extremes.
Bullshit, stop making excuses for your favorite pedophile.
Unplug you're overheating.
what BS
The democrats have a major 2028 problem. https://radicalrino.substack.com/p/the-democrats-2028-wasteland?r=1r7m1u&utm_medium=ios