As conservative radio host Clay Travis opened his mouth Tuesday night on Fox News, he was hyper-aware of the viewer-in-chief.

President Trump is “probably watching” this show, Travis said to Fox host Sean Hannity as both men urged the president to eliminate Iran’s nuclear program.

“We have to do it,” Travis said, adding, “We can’t go halfway here.”

The president’s television habits once again have serious foreign policy implications as the Trump administration weighs further US involvement in Iran.

The Israel-Iran conflict has exacerbated a deep rift in MAGA media over how the US conducts itself abroad, especially when it comes to Israel. Republican hawks are clashing with MAGA isolationists, and many of the arguments are happening on social media sites like X, as well as podcasts like Steve Bannon’s “War Room.”

But Trump’s favorite network, Fox News, isn’t making as much room for debate. Guest after guest on Fox has played to Trump’s ego — simultaneously praising the president and pushing for US intervention through his television screen. (At one point, Fox host Kayleigh McEnany, a former Trump aide, waxed poetic about him being a Churchillian “man of action.”)

On Hannity’s show Tuesday night, weekend host Mark Levin literally screamed on-air as he depicted a battle of “good versus evil” and doubted the patriotism of the isolationist camp.

Levin’s view is dominant on Fox’s air. While some guests on Fox have warned against escalation, they’ve been few and far between, and not nearly as loud or omnipresent as Levin.

Tucker Carlson’s absence is palpable. After he was fired from Fox in 2023, Carlson built himself a digital media platform with a big megaphone on X, as he proved again Tuesday night by teasing a contentious interview with Sen. Ted Cruz.

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/06/18/media/fox-news-mark-levin-tucker-carlson-maga-media-israel-iran