Benny Johnson
The aimless war Fox News hosts helped convince President Donald Trump to launch against Iran may be careening closer to an end. Trump and the Iranian regime say they have reached agreement on a memorandum of understanding that would reportedly extend a ceasefire and reopen the Strait of Hormuz while deferring further questions on Iran’s nuclear stockpile and other issues to future negotiations. But no text of the agreement has been released, Iran’s understanding of it may differ from Trump’s, analysts warn that further setbacks may occur — and the damage to America’s strategic position has already been done.
This vacuum of information about the reported agreement is deepening the rift between the MAGA movement’s hacks, who are eager to portray any deal as an historic victory for the president, and its hawks, who have called for further military escalation to destroy the Iranian regime and warn that any agreement could backfire and strengthen it.
Benny Johnson, a MAGA weathervane with no firm principles, epitomizes the former position. The right-wing influencer initially said he opposed launching the war because it wasn’t “America First policy,” and has occasionally warned against escalations. But last week, fearing the prospect of high gas prices impacting the GOP’s midterm chances, he called on the president to “go full dragon” and pursue “scorched-earth” strikes on Iran.
That’s obviously not what happened — but Johnson’s entire brand is based on supporting whatever Trump says and being rewarded by the administration for his sycophancy, so he is nonetheless elated with the results.
Recording from the White House on Sunday before the president’s birthday UFC fight, Johnson declared on Sunday that “something historic just happened that has changed the world forever — President Trump shocking the Earth by announcing a peace deal with Iran.”
Operating with no apparent information about the terms of the agreement beyond Trump’s Truth Social post declaring that “The Deal with the Islamic Republic of Iran is now complete. … I hereby fully authorize the toll free opening of the Strait of Hormuz, and, simultaneously herewith, authorize the immediate removal of the United States Naval blockade,” Johnson declared victory in the video, whose YouTube title describes a “Total Surrender From Iran.”
“What are the details of the deal?” he asked. “I don’t exactly know. I’m not certain.” But he added: “We won. I don’t know how else you could possibly frame this as anything other than America winning this conflict.”
“Again, we’re at the White House,” Johnson concluded. “This is a historic day. Hopefully the president will call us up and we’ll be able to actually listen from President Trump. What should I ask him if I get a chance to ask a question? It was a dodgy day, but it happened. Trust in Trump.”
“Iran surrendered,” Johnson announced in a second video.
“This is the deal that we all wanted, right?” he added. “President Trump has opened the Strait of Hormuz, Iran is — there’s stability back in the region. There is stability back in the markets. Iran is going to agree to not create a nuclear weapon, as President Trump has said time and time again. So this is just not an L as far as I’m concerned. This is a massive W, this is a surrender of Iran.”
Meanwhile, the MAGA hawks who support the president but have spent years campaigning for the overthrow of the Iranian regime are trying to pump the brakes.
“The question I have, with all the debate swirling around and so forth and so on, how will compliance be addressed and enforced beyond the Trump presidency? Isn't that the bottom line?” Mark Levin asked about the reported memorandum in a monologue on his Fox show Sunday night. Trump has taken advice from Levin on Iran and urged his supporters to watch the host’s coverage of the issue, which typically combines over-the-top praise of the president, furious denunciations of the Iranian regime, and calls for military escalation.
“Understanding further negotiations are to lead to a final deal,” Levin continued, “I am seeing precious little discussion or reporting or official statements about how the MOU or a final deal would be enforced to ensure compliance. In the end, this determines whether any deal can or will hold.”
Levin went on to question how the agreement would handle Iran’s nuclear stockpile, ballistic missile production, support for Hezbollah, and repression of its people. He praised Trump as “the only president in half a century to unleash our military” and touted his “unparalleled leadership,” but concluded the monologue by declaring himself “very skeptical about any deal.”
Likewise, hawkish Fox contributor Marc Thiessen expressed concern about a deal on Monday’s edition of Fox & Friends, the president’s beloved morning show. Thiessen, who has reportedly advised Trump privately about the war, called last week for a “decisive attack” on Iran to “finish the job.”
“We don't know the details of the deal yet,” Thiessen noted on Monday. “We don't know what has been agreed to, and the nuclear part is still to be negotiated. This is just an agreement to negotiate the nuclear side. So that's one problem.”
“Another problem is that Trump is only going to be president for two and a half years,” he continued. “At some point we could have another weak president like Barack Obama, like Joe Biden, and they're not going to comply with it. And the third problem is that the Iranian regime, thanks to all those military strikes, is on its back and a deal, even a good deal, helps them get up.”
Thiessen went on to say that lifting the U.S. blockade of Iranian ports provides “billions of dollars going into the Iranian regime's coffers without them having done anything,” in addition to reports of the MOU providing an economic “lifeline to revive their regime.”
“There is talk of a reconstruction fund of hundreds of billions of dollars. … That will be like doing the Marshall Plan for Germany while the Nazis were still in power,” he concluded. “I'm anxious to see what the details of the deal are and what gets negotiated, but I'm concerned.”
Reprinted with permission from Media Matters
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