Trump's own fans turn on him over new Iran deal: 'You can't fool your base'

Donald Trump's Truth Social post praising negotiations with Iran as "productive and professional" triggered an immediate backlash Sunday — not from Democrats, but from his own most fervent supporters, who accused him of repeating Barack Obama's mistakes and demanded military destruction of the Iranian regime instead.

"You cannot trust anything that Iran signs — it doesn't matter whether it is a good deal on paper or not," wrote one supporter in a reply that gained traction on the platform. "Neville Chamberlain had a great deal with Hitler, how did that turn out? I understand that the spin will begin on trying to convince people that you didn't pull an Obama, but you can't fool your base. They trusted you and you have now alienated your most vocal and rabid supporters."

The same commenter, identified as "Patriot and Retired Air Force," added a stinging verdict: "You are off the pedestal and merely a better alternative than them. Sad!" — deliberately echoing Trump's own signature putdown back at him.

The replies were thick with calls for military action rather than diplomacy. "Level them, they can't be trusted," wrote one MAGA user. "Anything they sign won't be worth the paper it's written on. Take them out now!" Another demanded "unconditional surrender" as "the only option," arguing that "leaving the current Radical Islamic Regime in power is a LOSS for the U.S."

Others drew the Obama comparison directly. "Lifting sanctions is as bad as Obama," wrote one commenter. Another called for the elimination of the IRGC entirely rather than any negotiated settlement.

An Iranian-American commenter cut to the heart of the base's frustration: "Any agreement with this criminal regime makes you no different from Barack Obama. Anyone who shakes hands with criminals is no different from Barack Obama — finish your job via military, not a deal with criminals."

The revolt on Truth Social mirrors a broader rupture that has been building in conservative circles over Trump's Iran diplomacy. Former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo — Trump's own top diplomat in his first term — warned Saturday that the deal being floated "seems straight out of the Wendy Sherman-Robert Malley-Ben Rhodes playbook," a reference to the architects of Obama's 2015 nuclear agreement. White House communications director Steven Cheung responded by telling Pompeo to "shut his stupid mouth."

Trump's post insisted his deal is "THE EXACT OPPOSITE" of Obama's approach and vowed the blockade of Iran would remain "in full force and effect" until any agreement is "reached, certified, and signed." But for a slice of his base that spent years calling for regime change, the optics of any deal, on any terms, appear to be a bridge too far.

Donald Trump took to Truth Social Sunday morning to praise what he called a "much more professional and productive" relationship with Iran — the same country he spent years branding the world's leading state sponsor of terrorism.

"Our relationship with Iran is becoming a much more professional and productive one," Trump wrote, describing ongoing nuclear negotiations as proceeding in "an orderly and constructive manner."

The statement landed with considerable whiplash for anyone who followed Trump's career. In 2018, Trump withdrew from the Obama-era nuclear deal and launched a "maximum pressure" campaign of crushing economic sanctions against Tehran. In January 2020, he ordered the assassination of Iranian General Qasem Soleimani, the head of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps' Quds Force, in a drone strike at Baghdad's international airport — an act that brought the two countries to the brink of open war.

Now, in his second term, Trump finds himself in the position of negotiating his own nuclear deal with the same government — and praising the relationship in terms his predecessor might have used.

The post also contained a swipe at Barack Obama — using his full middle name, a longtime Trump dog whistle — calling the 2015 Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action "one of the worst deals ever made by our Country" and "a direct path to Iran developing a Nuclear Weapon."

But in the very same post, Trump described his own negotiations in terms nearly identical to what Obama-era diplomats might have said: both sides taking their time, getting it right, no rushing, proceeding carefully toward a verifiable agreement.

The contradiction did not go unnoticed. Earlier Sunday, former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo — Trump's own top diplomat during his first term — warned that the deal being floated "seems straight out of the Wendy Sherman-Robert Malley-Ben Rhodes playbook," referring to key architects of Obama's Iran deal. White House communications director Steven Cheung responded by telling Pompeo to "shut his stupid mouth."

Trump closed his post with a notable flourish, suggesting that Iran might one day consider joining the Abraham Accords — the normalization agreements between Israel and several Arab states that Trump brokered in his first term.

A senior House Democrat predicted this weekend that Republican members of Congress will increasingly distance themselves from Donald Trump once they return home during recess and face their constituents — and he says the signs are already there.

"I think that as Republicans come back home after this recess and hear from their constituents, and as they get past their primaries, more and more will start to break away from Trump and some of his draconian and criminal behavior," Rep. Greg Meeks (D-NY), the ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told MS NOW on Saturday.

Meeks pointed to the growing revolt in the Senate over Trump's $1.8 billion slush fund — money that could flow to supporters convicted in connection with the January 6th Capitol attack — as an early sign of the fractures to come. Republican senators, he said, were "absolutely right" to call it a nonstarter.

"You heard these Republican senators and they were absolutely right — this is ridiculous, this is terrible," Meeks said. "Some are retiring and don't have to pay homage to him, others who he has double crossed. And so they seem to be wanting to stand up for what they know is disastrous."

Meeks drew a sharp distinction between the Senate and the House, where he sees far less independence. "I can't depend upon the House, because the members of the House — they will do whatever Trump says." But he suggested even that could change as political conditions shift.

As evidence that the Republican base is not as monolithic as Trump's primary victories suggest, Meeks argued that Trump's hold is essentially on about 30 percent of the electorate — primary voters — not the broader public that will decide general elections.

"That's 30% of the individuals," he said. "These are not the individuals that would be able to vote in a general election."

The congressman said the pattern — of Republican members privately opposing Trump while leadership runs interference — will become harder to sustain as midterms approach and members face voters directly.

"It's time for some of the Republicans to stand up and do the right thing by the American people," Meeks said, citing $5 gas prices, rising grocery costs, and health care as the kitchen-table issues driving discontent in districts across the country.

President Donald Trump's niece is publicly mocking the president after he gave a strange answer to a basic question: Was he going to attend his own son's wedding?

Mary Trump, a frequent critic of her uncle, used her Substack newsletter Trump Trolls Trump on Saturday to skewer the president over his response to reporters who asked about Donald Trump Jr.'s upcoming wedding to Bettina Anderson in the Bahamas.

Trump's answer, in the words his niece quoted, was difficult to parse.

"He'd like me to go, but it's going to be just a small little private affair and I'm going to try and make it," Trump said, according to Mary. "I'm in the midst. I said, 'This is not good timing for me. I have a thing called Iran and other things. That's one I can't win on. If I do attend, I get killed. If I don't attend, I get killed.'"

Trump then added a line about his son and Anderson that has drawn its own scrutiny.

"But he's got a very person who I've known for a long time and hopefully they're going to have a great marriage," the president said.

Mary Trump did not let any of that go.

"Apparently, very small weddings sometimes exclude the groom's father," she wrote. "Apparently Donald has 'known' his son Donnie for 'a long time,' which I assumed was implied in the parent child relationship. And apparently attending your child's wedding is now politically controversial."

She then suggested that her uncle may genuinely skip the wedding because he is more interested in something else entirely.

"The thing is, I actually believe Donald may skip the wedding because he is far too busy talking to reporters about his ballroom," she wrote.

She closed the broadside with a direct message to her cousin.

"So, sorry Donnie. Keep trying. Maybe one day your father will discover basic human attachment," she wrote.

Mary Trump, a psychologist who has written multiple books about her uncle and her family, has been one of the loudest voices in the broader Trump family criticizing the president. Saturday's column adds another scene to a family rift that has played out publicly for years.