At the Turning Point USA conference in Phoenix last week, the mood was combative.
MAGA strategist and organizer Steve Bannon accused Ben Shapiro of being “Israel First” and of pushing a “Greater Israel” agenda that “drags the United States into wars.” He called Shapiro “a cancer.” This exchange typified the conflict within the MAGA movement between those that see Israel as an ally and those that see it as a liability.
No media figure has done more to advance the idea of Israel as a liability than Tucker Carlson. Speaking at the Qatari-government-funded Doha Forum earlier this month, Carlson dismissed Israel as “a completely insignificant country” with “no resources,” and argued that the United States has “no overriding strategic interest” in the relationship, asking, “What are we getting out of this?”
Carlson’s question has several answers.
