President Donald Trump's disastrous war in Iran is driving division in his MAGA base, as he bickers with big-name former allies breaking with him.

Is this MAGA schism an authentic rejection for Trump, who campaigned for a decade against American military misadventures abroad but then launched one? Or is this the work of foreign influencers, paying to destabilize Trump's support here at home?

Will Sommer wrote in an interesting April 9 article for The Bulwark about MAGA influencers who seem to relish not just the fight about the war in Iran but also the debate about who is instigating that fight. That centers on an unsubstantiated rumor that the Department of Justice is investigating whether some right-wing personalities are being paid by foreign sources to stir the controversy.

Two things jump out from that article.

First, so much about MAGA is built on a shoddy foundation, so it's not at all surprising that Sommer traced the claim about that investigation back to a short April 8 social media post from an anonymous right-wing account on X.

Second, at least one of the big-name MAGA personalities now shouting out support for the alleged investigation of foreign funders for right-wing content was revealed in 2024 to have received foreign funding – from Russia – to........

© USA TODAY