WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump on Wednesday downplayed any notion that his supporters are cooling on him amid uncertainty over whether he will order a U.S. strike on Iran, addressing a rift between some of his most vocal MAGA backers and national security conservatives.
“My supporters are more in love with me today, and I'm more in love with them, more than they even were at election time where we had a total landslide,” Trump told reporters as a new flagpole was erected at the White House, with machinery whirring in the background.
“I may have some people that are a little bit unhappy now, but I have some people that are very happy, and I have people outside of the base that can't believe that this is happening, they're so happy,” he said.
Trump huddled Tuesday in the Situation Room with his national security team, and on Wednesday, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told lawmakers on Capitol Hill that the Pentagon was providing Trump with possible options on Iran but would not say whether the military was planning to assist with Israeli strikes.
“I may do it, I may not do it,” Trump said Wednesday, in the exchange with reporters. “I mean, nobody knows what I’m going to do.”
Trump’s comments came as some longtime defenders of his America First mantra are calling him out for weighing a greater U.S. role in the conflict between Israel and Iran after a week of deadly strikes and counterstrikes.
Georgia GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, commentator Tucker Carlson and conservative firebrand Charlie Kirk are among those reminding their own devoted audiences of Trump’s 2024 promises to resist overseas military involvement.
Here's a look at the others who have chimed in:
Shortly before Trump spoke, Steve Bannon, one of his 2016 campaign's top advisers, told an audience in Washington that bitter feelings over Iraq were a driving force for Trump’s first presidential candidacy and the MAGA movement, saying that “one of the core tenets is no forever wars” for Trump's base.
But Bannon — a longtime Trump ally who served a four-month sentence for defying a subpoena in the congressional investigation into the U.S. Capitol attack on Jan. 6, 2021 — went on to suggest that Trump will maintain loyalty from his base no matter what. On Wednesday, Bannon acknowledged that while he and others will argue against military intervention until the end, “the MAGA movement will back Trump.”
Ultimately, Bannon said that Trump will have to make the case to the American people if he wants to get involved in Iran — and he hasn’t done that yet.
“We don’t like it. Maybe we hate it," Bannon said, predicting what the MAGA response would be. "But, you know, we’ll get on board.”
The far-right conspiracy theorist and Infowars host on Wednesday posted on social media a side-by-side of Trump's official presidential headshot, and an AI-generated composite of Trump and former President George W. Bush, whom Trump and many of his allies have long disparaged for involving the United States in the so-called “forever wars” in Iraq and Afghanistan.
Writing “What you voted for” above Trump's image and “What you got” above the composite, Jones added: “I hope this is not the case…”
The commentator's rhetoric toward Trump has been increasingly critical, with the longtime supporter — who headlined large rallies with the Republican during the 2024 campaign — this week suggesting that the president's posture was breaking his pledge to keep the United States out of new foreign entanglements. Trump clapped back at Carlson on social media, calling him “kooky.”
During an event at the White House later Wednesday, Trump said that Carlson had “called and apologized” for calling him out, saying Carlson “is a nice guy.”
On Wednesday, his conversation with GOP Texas Sen. Ted Cruz laid bare the divides among many Republicans. The two sparred for two hours over a variety of issues, primarily potential U.S. involvement in Iran, and Carlson accusing Cruz of placing too much emphasis on protecting Israel in his foreign policy worldview.
“You don't know anything about Iran,” Carlson said to Cruz, after the senator said he didn't know Iran's population, or its ethnic composition. “You're a senator who’s calling for the overthrow of a government, and you don't know anything about the country.”
Kinnard reported from Chapin, South Carolina, and can be reached at http://x.com/MegKinnardAP.
FILE - Republican presidential nominee former President Donald Trump speaks with Tucker Carlson during a Tucker Carlson Live Tour show at Desert Diamond Arena, Oct. 31, 2024, in Glendale, Ariz. (AP Photo/Julia Demaree Nikhinson, File)
President Donald Trump speaks with reporters as a flag pole is installed on the South Lawn of the White House, Wednesday, June 18, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Evan Vucci)
ST. LOUIS (AP) — World champions Ilia Malinin and the ice dance duo of Madison Chock and Evan Bates will anchor one of the strongest U.S. Figure Skating teams in history when they head to Italy for the Milan Cortina Olympics in less than a month.
Malinin, fresh off his fourth straight national title, will be the prohibitive favorite to follow in the footsteps of Nathan Chen by delivering another men's gold medal for the American squad when he steps on the ice at the Milano Ice Skating Arena.
Chock and Bates, who won their record-setting seventh U.S. title Saturday night, also will be among the Olympic favorites, as will world champion Alysa Liu and women's teammate Amber Glenn, fresh off her third consecutive national title.
U.S. Figure Skating announced its full squad of 16 athletes for the Winter Games during a made-for-TV celebration Sunday.
"I'm just so excited for the Olympic spirit, the Olympic environment," Malinin said. “Hopefully go for that Olympic gold.”
Malinin will be joined on the men's side by Andrew Torgashev, the all-or-nothing 24-year-old from Coral Springs, Florida, and Maxim Naumov, the 24-year-old from Simsbury, Connecticut, who fulfilled the hopes of his late parents by making the Olympic team.
Vadim Naumov and Evgenia Shishkova were returning from a talent camp in Kansas when their American Airlines flight collided with a military helicopter and crashed into the icy Potomac River in January 2025. One of the last conversations they had with their son was about what it would take for him to follow in their footsteps by becoming an Olympian.
“We absolutely did it,” Naumov said. “Every day, year after year, we talked about the Olympics. It means so much in our family. It's what I've been thinking about since I was 5 years old, before I even know what to think. I can't put this into words.”
Chock and Bates helped the Americans win team gold at the Beijing Games four years ago, but they finished fourth — one spot out of the medals — in the ice dance competition. They have hardly finished anywhere but first in the years since, winning three consecutive world championships and the gold medal at three straight Grand Prix Finals.
U.S. silver medalists Emilea Zingas and Vadym Kolesnik also made the dance team, as did the Canadian-born Christina Carreira, who became eligible for the Olympics in November when her American citizenship came through, and Anthony Ponomarenko.
Liu was picked for her second Olympic team after briefly retiring following the Beijing Games. She had been burned out by years of practice and competing, but stepping away seemed to rejuvenate the 20-year-old from Clovis, California, and she returned to win the first world title by an American since Kimmie Meissner stood atop the podium two decades ago.
Now, the avant-garde Liu will be trying to help the U.S. win its first women's medal since Sasha Cohen in Turin in 2006, and perhaps the first gold medal since Sarah Hughes triumphed four years earlier at the Salt Lake City Games.
Her biggest competition, besides a powerful Japanese contingent, could come from her own teammates: Glenn, a first-time Olympian, has been nearly unbeatable the past two years, while 18-year-old Isabeau Levito is a former world silver medalist.
"This was my goal and my dream and it just feels so special that it came true,” said Levito, whose mother is originally from Milan.
The two pairs spots went to Ellie Kam and Danny O'Shea, the U.S. silver medalists, and the team of Emily Chan and Spencer Howe.
The top American pairs team, two-time reigning U.S. champions Alisa Efimova and Misha Mitrofanov, were hoping that the Finnish-born Efimova would get her citizenship approved in time to compete in Italy. But despite efforts by the Skating Club of Boston, where they train, and the help of their U.S. senators, she did not receive her passport by the selection deadline.
“The importance and magnitude of selecting an Olympic team is one of the most important milestones in an athlete's life,” U.S. Figure Skating CEO Matt Farrell said, "and it has such an impact, and while there are sometimes rules, there is also a human element to this that we really have to take into account as we make decisions and what's best going forward from a selection process.
“Sometimes these aren't easy," Farrell said, “and this is not the fun part.”
The fun is just beginning, though, for the 16 athletes picked for the powerful American team.
AP Olympics: https://apnews.com/hub/milan-cortina-2026-winter-olympics
Amber Glenn competes during the women's free skating competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Friday, Jan. 9, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Alysa Liu skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Maxim Naumov skates during the "Making Team USA" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Madison Chock and Evan Bates skate during the "Making the Team" performance at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Sunday, Jan. 11, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Stephanie Scarbrough)
Gold medalist Ilia Malinin arrives for the metal ceremony after the men's free skate competition at the U.S. Figure Skating Championships, Saturday, Jan. 10, 2026, in St. Louis. (AP Photo/Jeff Roberson)
