Welcome to the beat, everyone. We begin with a high-level defection from Donald Trump's administration over Iran.

We're talking about a top counter-terror official, the role huge, whether you know the name or not, Joe Kent,

resigning because of the Iran War. And this is an anti-war kind of conscience resignation, saying, I cannot, in good

conscience, support the ongoing war in Iran, noting it posed, quote, no imminent threat to our nation.

It's clear we started the war to the pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.

Kent, who is a magad diehard,

but also isn't exactly known for all factual mastery and election denier, among other things,

puts this in a kind of conservative, even somewhat conspiratorial format, but to many on the

right, that may resonate, saying Trump broke campaign promises. Until June of 25, he writes, kind of directly addressing the president, quote,

You understood the wars in the Middle East were a trap that robbed America of the precious lives of our patriots

and depleted the wealth and prosperity of our nation.

Democrats responding to this official speaking out, also noting some of the issues

in the nomination. Like MTG, this is one of those situations where you can see the people around

Trump and the MAGA movement are learning slowly late, delayed, or otherwise that he didn't

mean what he said. And yet that doesn't mean that they themselves have

always been credible. Now, Trump's pushing back. He says that Kent is weak. A White House official

tells MS now there were internal concerns that Kent's departure might lead to other officials

also resigning in protest. Again, this is Trump's war. We are in week three. Americans are

dead. Tankers are on fire. There's economic problems. And his own team, some of them, are resigning in

protest. It may not be Vietnam level opposition, but it is right-wing opposition coming from within

the MAGA world. As for the real world, Iran struck another

tanker off the coast of the UAE. That is the 17th. Iran is strangling with a giant chokehold

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