This ultra-maga republican's resignation over Trump's Iran war (which he says is due to pressure from Israel) is wild

[bigtree]

...rats and sinking ships.

2022 MAGA Washington State 3rd District election loser-turned-Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, Joseph Kent, has resigned from his position over the US-Israel war against Iran.

In his resignation letter, Kent said that Iran posed no "imminent threat" to the US and that Israeli pressure pushed Trump to start the war.

Joe Kent @joekent16jan19
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.

It has been an honor serving under @POTUS and @DNIGabbard and leading the professionals at NCTC...

[walkingman]

1. Congress and US citizens should demand that America act in a way that is beneficial

to American citizens. It does not benefit Americans for us to be led around by the nose by Israeli foreign policy.

I am tired of my hard-earned tax dollars going to fund these meaningless wars and the disregard for human life. And if you want to wear a "Cross" around your neck and play righteous stop celebrating the deaths of those that do not look like you.

[yardwork]

14. It's not just Israel. Remember Russia and Saudi Arabia.

Trump is being led around by the nose by a lot of evil people who are smarter than he is.

[bigtree]

25. more a consequence of his malignant megalomania, I think

...and his compulsion to just pull every lever in his reach, like a toddler at a Playschool playstation, because he either doesn't know any better, or doing anything else is too hard for him, or beyond his understanding.

Every other influence or encouragement is just a permission structure for his disease at this point.

[dweller]

2. Yeh , because

COUNTERTerrorism … who’d want to be left holding that bag about now ?


🤔



✌🏻

[WSHazel]

3. Hardcore MAGA turning on Trump

Ironically, quite a few of the online MAGA influencers are also turning on Trump, and reigniting conspiracy theories like Trump's assassination was staged (which may not be a CT).

The 10% extreme Trump supporters are occasional voters at most. They are indifferent about mid-terms to start with, and if they are getting turned off from Trump, they will stay home since they don't agree with traditional Republicans about much.

[groundloop]

22. Yeah, I don't quite know what to believe about that "assassination attempt" after all, one man was shot and killed.

On one hand it makes perfect sense for tRump to pull a stunt like that, especially since he's good friends with the McMahons (who surely know a lot of tricks to make fake stuff look real).

BUT, one man was actually shot and killed (in addition to the shooter). And then again I certainly wouldn't put it past tRump to sacrifice another human being on his behalf.

[BattleRow]

35. Wonders never cease...

How to show,with this resignation,that it IS possible to gag a MAGAt.

[dalton99a]

4. Kick

Last edited Tue Mar 17, 2026, 12:18 PM - Edit history (1)

[Aristus]

5. I'm growing to really fucking hate that thumbs-up sign.

Especially since I know they pulled their thumbs out of their asses right before the camera clicked.

[llmart]

18. And that shit-eating grin of his.

[leftstreet]

6. Is he betting on the America Firsters?

The Tucker Carlson/MTG wing, and hoping for a political future as the GOP breaks over support for Israel?

Rhetorical question of course. Just fascinating watching this unfold

DURec

[Arazi]

7. Blaming Israel will only inflame the raging Jew hatred that's currently brewing

Joe Kent is an antisemite, white supremacist MAGAt who’s literally throwing a Molotov cocktail on his way out the door.

[yardwork]

16. Yes.

Meanwhile Saudi Arabia and Russia are getting everything they want out of this.

[Kid Berwyn]

8. Kent rightfully blames Israel for manipulating Trump

Including the “influential members” mass media “echo chamber.”

Wonder what he’d say about Jeffrey Epstein’s influence on Trump’s decision-making?

[yardwork]

15. Kent is a white supremacist who will blame Jews.

Don't let him distract you.

[leftstreet]

23. Both things appear to be true

Trump admitted early on he was acting for Israel.

Kent is a rabid anti-Semitic America Firster.

This is uncharted territory for the GOP and not good news for them

[bigtree]

26. and you have Rubio's (and Trump's) tacit admission that Israel goaded them

...along with several reports about how Netanyahu had lobbied Trump to do this for months previous until he relented; likely for political cover and distraction from his Epstein failure, and to divert from his deadly mass deportation assaults against American citizens and others in this country.

But this is Trump's essential base of political support in spades. Joe Kent is the posterboy for millions of once-dependable Trump voters.

Hell of a wedge here.

[Kid Berwyn]

24. I don't blame Jewish people. I blame Netanyahu.

ETA: And Likud, of course.

Bibi doesn't want to go to jail any more than Dimdonnie does.

[bigtree]

40. exactly

...but don't let that distract from his key assertion that there 'was no imminent threat' from Iran, which goes to the heart of Trump and his goons' justifications for the war.

And while Kent didn't have an actual operational role in the invasion, his intel branch is a 9-11 legacy which correlates ALL of the intelligence from myriad agencies, and as head, he'd have access to information that would allow him to make an informed assessment - and, if that's the actual case here, his charges are at least plausible.

[MarineCombatEngineer]

9. This is my response:

”Never interrupt your enemy when he is making a mistake”

Sit back, grab some popcorn, soda and enjoy the coming shit show.

[bigtree]

10. absolutely, this is the wedge

...for folks concerned with such things as undermining the republican vote.

An effective political tactic the late Lee Atwater institutionalized in republican politics in his time.

[orangecrush]

20. Unfortunately

We may become victims of said shit show.

[skypilot]

37. Exactly what I came here to post.

I don't know that this is a shitshow that anyone should be or will be enjoying. If Iran wasn't an imminent threat before, it probably is now. This is not the time to be losing any counterterrorism people.

[2naSalit]

11. He's an interesting case...

Looking at his wiki page, it shows that he, at least, has some wartime experience, was at the first battle of Falluja and his first wife was military and was killed in a bombing in Manjib. He became outspoken against the war on terror but was writing columns for brietbart.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Joe_Kent

He sounds politically confused.

[Nevilledog]

12. He's a really bad guy

https://www.splcenter.org/wp-content/uploads/2025/06/coalition-letter-oppose-joe-kent.pdf

[2naSalit]

13. EEwwe...

Thanks!

[Mustellus]

17. and after Trump killed...

.. the Iran Supreme Leaders (the current one) entire family... what do you suppose will happen next? Want to be the Head of Counter Terrorism ... when Iran's Supreme Leader takes supreme revenge?

[orangecrush]

21. Glad someone realized this

[orangecrush]

19. What does he know

As Director of Counterintelligence that brought this on?

[Grins]

27. "He was never any good. Low IQ person." in 5...4...3...2...

Whatever happened to "the best people?"

Good riddance. He was the wrong person for the job.

"It was an honor to serve in your administration..." Really? Really?

[bigtree]

28. close, very good

Trump says Joe Kent was ‘weak on security’ in reaction to his resignation

“I always thought he was weak on security. Very weak on security. It’s a good thing that he’s out.”

Trump added that if someone in his administration did not believe Iran was a threat, “we don’t want those people.”

“They’re not smart people, or they’re not savvy people,” the president said. “Iran was a tremendous threat.”

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/other/donald-trump-reacts-to-joe-kent-resigning-over-iran-war/ar-AA1YQud4


...from Trump's 2021 endorsement of Kent in the WA-3 primary in which he defeated Jaime Herrera Buetler – one of the 10 House Republicans who voted to impeach him after January 6th – and then lost in the 2022 general to Dem now-Congresswoman Marie Gluesenkamp Perez:

"Joe Kent is a retired Green Beret and Gold Star husband running against RINO and incompetent Congresswoman Jaime Herrera Beutler in the 3rd District of the State of Washington. Joe served his country proudly for many years and understands the tremendous cost of America's wars in the Middle East, and elsewhere. In Congress, Joe will be a warrior for the America First agenda, unlike Jaime Herrera Beutler who voted, despite the facts, against the Republican Party and for the Democrats' Impeachment Scam […blah blah blah…] I met Joe at Dover Air Force Base on the evening that his wife was being brought back from the Middle East, where she had been killed in combat. It was a very sad moment in Joe's life, but I was incredibly impressed with him and told him that he should someday run for office – we need his voice and leadership in Washington, DC…"

ht: https://nationalzero.com/2026/03/17/hardcore-maga-counterterrorism-official-quits-rips-trump/

[leftstreet]

29. Trump never met him

[Mblaze]

30. I'm not a Kent fan but he got this right

Except that there is no honor serving under Gabbard and Trump. There are only criminals desperately working to stay one step in front of the hand of Justice. Lies are not honorable.

[LudwigPastorius]

31. So, this war really isn't really Donald's fault?

It's all those sneaky Jooos in the fake media that made him do it?

This guy is a fucking Trump cultist to the very end.

[bigtree]

39. more or a Tulsi cultist, I'd guess

...a close friend of Tucker Carlson, too, which makes them all decidedly Putinist.

[czarjak]

32. Wee-Bee-Doomed?

[pat_k]

33. My bet: Positioning to run against Gluesenkamp Perez again.

[WA-03 Democrat]

36. Ding ding ding - we have a winner!

Marie is bad but Joe is much worse

[bigtree]

41. there's always an ulterior plot

...self-interest at it's heart.

This exit left an ugly stain on the administration he sloughed off of.

Next republican (Putin party) presidential nominees?

[David__77]

34. Trumps slavishness to Israel is truly remarkable.

[bigtree]

38. it's opportunistic to his own power play, I think

...more than any fealty to Bibi.

Trump likely sees himself as the maverick here.

He did resist Israel's president lobbying him for over a year to do this, and whatever he's acquiesced to in Gaza or elsewhere looks to be more a part of his own political production using Bibi or anyone else who allows him to advantage his own petty interests to distract or divert or profit as he pulls on every lever available to him like a toddler.

I'd guess that Netanyahu is one of just a few foreign leaders who are craven enough about something like this to give Trump free reign or encourage him to blunder forward, ostensibly on their behalf.