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Ex-Trump official pinpoints exact moment Trump’s ‘mentality changed’ — for the worse
Joe Kent, the former senior intelligence official who resigned from the Trump administration in protest of the Iran war, made a stunning claim Monday that “something” happened to President Donald Trump that “changed” him from that point forward.
“Something in the late spring, early summer time frame happened – I don’t know what happened,” Kent said during an appearance on the “Julian Dorey Podcast” published on Monday.
“I can’t tell you why his mentality changed, but it went from, ‘we’re gonna create the most space we can for [Iran] negotiations and we’re not interested in the war,’ to, ‘okay, we’re gonna support the Israelis, do Midnight Hammer and we’re gonna continue to entertain this.’”
A key pledge of Trump during his 2024 campaign was that he would not send Americans “to fight and die in stupid foreign wars that never end,” reiterating that promise during his victory speech: “I’m not going to start a war,” he said.
And yet, in late February, Trump launched Operation Epic Fury with a large-scale attack on Iran that months later now risks sparking a broader war.
Kent, who's long championed Trump's anti-interventionist rhetoric, said he was confused by the president's apparent shift, and while he could narrow down roughly when it happened, he still couldn't say what caused it.
“I don’t know what happened. And so for me, when something like that happens, from an intelligence background, you do have to step back and look at what else could be influencing the president,” Kent said.
“Did he just change his mind? For him to go through with [launching the Iran war], ultimately, I do think there’s potentially other factors there: so what could those other factors be? Why would a president make decisions that he doesn’t agree with?”
Other conservative figures have speculated as to why Trump launched a war against Iran despite his frequent anti-war rhetoric, including prominent conservative figure Tucker Carlson, who in April floated a disturbing theory that a “blackmail” operation perpetrated by the Israeli government could potentially have forced the president’s hand.
Shock as GOP leader moans that history’s ‘oppressors’ don’t get celebrated
A House Republican berated Smithsonian history director Anthea Hartig, suggesting that historical 'oppressors' should receive more celebration.
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN), chair of the House Oversight subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency, called the hearing Tuesday to challenge how the National Museum of American History tells the nation's story.
It marked the first time a top Smithsonian leader had been publicly grilled by Congress since President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing officials to "remove improper ideology" from the institution's museums.
Burchett opened Tuesday's session by accusing the museum of having "become infected by a woke ideology that has seeped into public displays, educational materials, and planning documents."
"But in the museum's current telling, history is just an ongoing power struggle between oppressors and the oppressed," Burchett said. "Only the oppressed are celebrated, especially illegal immigrants."
Burchett then challenged Hartig over exhibits on "race, identity, gender, and sexuality."
"Yes, sir," Hartig replied. "We strive to create a museum where our visitors will be inspired by the collections, programs, and exhibitions, and they will choose what they each will do to keep our American democracy strong and vibrant, and they'll play that chosen part with passion. That is our hope."
Burchett pointed to images he had posted on a display board behind him, describing what he called sexually explicit content in museum exhibits.
"You have pictures of bondage," the lawmaker complained. "You have some overtly sexual things up there. You have transgender folks...?"
"The exhibition and project you're referring to is Girlhood: It's Complicated, which was a temporary exhibit in our museum that closed —" Hartig began.
"Ma'am, I didn't ask you that," Burchett cut her off. "I asked you: do you think it is appropriate?"
Hartig said the exhibit had featured, with the author's permission, a 13-year-old's diary that covered sleepovers, Latin class, and math exams. She said the exhibit carried a parental advisory label at its entrance.
"Do you think that is appropriate for a child to see? Yes or no?" Burchett pressed.
"I understand your question, sir," Hartig said.
"No — don't. You're not answering. You're just running on, ma'am," Burchett shot back.
In his closing moments, Burchett cited three statements he attributed to Hartig — that America was founded on "the supremacy of white men," that loving America is "very complicated," and that the nation's 250th anniversary is worth "problematizing."
"It is the honor of my career to serve as the Elizabeth MacMillan Director of the National Museum of American History," Hartig replied when asked if she should continue leading the museum.
White House advisers scramble to derail Trump’s ‘barrage’ of new tariffs: report
Faced with the possibility that the Republican Party is headed for a wipeout in the November midterms, White House insiders are attempting to head off a Friday announcement by President Donald Trump of new tariffs.
Trump is preparing to impose what the Financial Times is calling a "barrage" of fresh tariffs on dozens of countries this week, but his own advisers are urgently counseling him to step back from the brink, the outlet's report states. Senior officials worry that resurrecting his trade war—which delivered economic shocks and voter backlash in his first term—could prove "catastrophic" heading into elections Republicans are already struggling to win.
According to the report, "Behind the scenes, senior officials have been counseling the president to maintain stability with trading partners and honor the deals that Washington struck with them to reduce their tariffs in 2025, according to two people familiar with the matter.”
The timing is particularly fraught. Existing 10 percent tariffs adopted after a Supreme Court decision in February struck others down are set to expire Friday and some in the White House are engineering probes "of forced labor practices, allowing Trump to avoid using the emergency authorities knocked down by the Supreme Court."
The prospect of renewed tariffs collides with an already-deteriorating economic landscape. The escalating Iran conflict has roiled energy markets, pushing gas prices back above $4 per gallon. Voters are already furious about the cost of living and recent polling found two-thirds of Americans disapprove of how Trump is managing affordability.
Adding tariff hikes to soaring energy prices risks "inflaming voter frustration over the high cost of living," a sign that even Trump's own team recognizes the political danger, the report notes.
"This does not mean that tariff hikes are in the rear-view mirror," Wendy Cutler, a former U.S. trade official now at the Asia Society Policy Institute, told the Financial Times. "But it does suggest that a more cautious approach is now called for, particularly in the lead up to the midterm elections."
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Ex-Trump official pinpoints exact moment Trump’s ‘mentality changed’ — for the worse
Joe Kent, the former senior intelligence official who resigned from the Trump administration in protest of the Iran war, made a stunning claim Monday that “something” happened to President Donald Trump that “changed” him from that point forward.
“Something in the late spring, early summer time frame happened – I don’t know what happened,” Kent said during an appearance on the “Julian Dorey Podcast” published on Monday.
“I can’t tell you why his mentality changed, but it went from, ‘we’re gonna create the most space we can for [Iran] negotiations and we’re not interested in the war,’ to, ‘okay, we’re gonna support the Israelis, do Midnight Hammer and we’re gonna continue to entertain this.’”
A key pledge of Trump during his 2024 campaign was that he would not send Americans “to fight and die in stupid foreign wars that never end,” reiterating that promise during his victory speech: “I’m not going to start a war,” he said.
And yet, in late February, Trump launched Operation Epic Fury with a large-scale attack on Iran that months later now risks sparking a broader war.
Kent, who's long championed Trump's anti-interventionist rhetoric, said he was confused by the president's apparent shift, and while he could narrow down roughly when it happened, he still couldn't say what caused it.
“I don’t know what happened. And so for me, when something like that happens, from an intelligence background, you do have to step back and look at what else could be influencing the president,” Kent said.
“Did he just change his mind? For him to go through with [launching the Iran war], ultimately, I do think there’s potentially other factors there: so what could those other factors be? Why would a president make decisions that he doesn’t agree with?”
Other conservative figures have speculated as to why Trump launched a war against Iran despite his frequent anti-war rhetoric, including prominent conservative figure Tucker Carlson, who in April floated a disturbing theory that a “blackmail” operation perpetrated by the Israeli government could potentially have forced the president’s hand.
Shock as GOP leader moans that history’s ‘oppressors’ don’t get celebrated
A House Republican berated Smithsonian history director Anthea Hartig, suggesting that historical 'oppressors' should receive more celebration.
Rep. Tim Burchett (R-TN), chair of the House Oversight subcommittee on Delivering on Government Efficiency, called the hearing Tuesday to challenge how the National Museum of American History tells the nation's story.
It marked the first time a top Smithsonian leader had been publicly grilled by Congress since President Donald Trump signed an executive order directing officials to "remove improper ideology" from the institution's museums.
Burchett opened Tuesday's session by accusing the museum of having "become infected by a woke ideology that has seeped into public displays, educational materials, and planning documents."
"But in the museum's current telling, history is just an ongoing power struggle between oppressors and the oppressed," Burchett said. "Only the oppressed are celebrated, especially illegal immigrants."
Burchett then challenged Hartig over exhibits on "race, identity, gender, and sexuality."
"Yes, sir," Hartig replied. "We strive to create a museum where our visitors will be inspired by the collections, programs, and exhibitions, and they will choose what they each will do to keep our American democracy strong and vibrant, and they'll play that chosen part with passion. That is our hope."
Burchett pointed to images he had posted on a display board behind him, describing what he called sexually explicit content in museum exhibits.
"You have pictures of bondage," the lawmaker complained. "You have some overtly sexual things up there. You have transgender folks...?"
"The exhibition and project you're referring to is Girlhood: It's Complicated, which was a temporary exhibit in our museum that closed —" Hartig began.
"Ma'am, I didn't ask you that," Burchett cut her off. "I asked you: do you think it is appropriate?"
Hartig said the exhibit had featured, with the author's permission, a 13-year-old's diary that covered sleepovers, Latin class, and math exams. She said the exhibit carried a parental advisory label at its entrance.
"Do you think that is appropriate for a child to see? Yes or no?" Burchett pressed.
"I understand your question, sir," Hartig said.
"No — don't. You're not answering. You're just running on, ma'am," Burchett shot back.
In his closing moments, Burchett cited three statements he attributed to Hartig — that America was founded on "the supremacy of white men," that loving America is "very complicated," and that the nation's 250th anniversary is worth "problematizing."
"It is the honor of my career to serve as the Elizabeth MacMillan Director of the National Museum of American History," Hartig replied when asked if she should continue leading the museum.
White House advisers scramble to derail Trump’s ‘barrage’ of new tariffs: report
Faced with the possibility that the Republican Party is headed for a wipeout in the November midterms, White House insiders are attempting to head off a Friday announcement by President Donald Trump of new tariffs.
Trump is preparing to impose what the Financial Times is calling a "barrage" of fresh tariffs on dozens of countries this week, but his own advisers are urgently counseling him to step back from the brink, the outlet's report states. Senior officials worry that resurrecting his trade war—which delivered economic shocks and voter backlash in his first term—could prove "catastrophic" heading into elections Republicans are already struggling to win.
According to the report, "Behind the scenes, senior officials have been counseling the president to maintain stability with trading partners and honor the deals that Washington struck with them to reduce their tariffs in 2025, according to two people familiar with the matter.”
The timing is particularly fraught. Existing 10 percent tariffs adopted after a Supreme Court decision in February struck others down are set to expire Friday and some in the White House are engineering probes "of forced labor practices, allowing Trump to avoid using the emergency authorities knocked down by the Supreme Court."
The prospect of renewed tariffs collides with an already-deteriorating economic landscape. The escalating Iran conflict has roiled energy markets, pushing gas prices back above $4 per gallon. Voters are already furious about the cost of living and recent polling found two-thirds of Americans disapprove of how Trump is managing affordability.
Adding tariff hikes to soaring energy prices risks "inflaming voter frustration over the high cost of living," a sign that even Trump's own team recognizes the political danger, the report notes.
"This does not mean that tariff hikes are in the rear-view mirror," Wendy Cutler, a former U.S. trade official now at the Asia Society Policy Institute, told the Financial Times. "But it does suggest that a more cautious approach is now called for, particularly in the lead up to the midterm elections."
