Will Trump heed calls by MAGA Republicans to stay out of Israel-Iran conflict?

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00:00Now I'm bringing in our international affairs editor, Philip Terrell.

00:03Philip, good to see you.

00:04There are a lot of questions of if or when the United States will join this war effort.

00:11There are many within the United States, the MAGA crowd, if you will,

00:16people like Tucker Carlson, American broadcaster,

00:20even Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene,

00:22who are calling on the U.S. president not to get involved with this conflict.

00:27This is a U.S. president who has said he would be non-interventionist.

00:31That is the big dilemma facing Donald Trump.

00:34And I think that can in a way explain why he's behaving the way he is behaving,

00:39because he knows that his support base is not really in favor of what they call forever wars.

00:45And this is something that Donald Trump is not in favor of either.

00:48And he's portrayed himself from the start of all of this right the way through his election campaigns

00:53as being the peace dealer, the man who's going to bring the different parties together

00:57to sign those deals that he's been talking about.

01:00And he hasn't managed to sign any deals so far, be it in Ukraine, be it in Gaza,

01:04and now a deal between Iran and the United States over Iran's nuclear program.

01:10So he's facing the increasing desire by Israel for the U.S. to join in,

01:17to finish off the Iranian regime and to help Israel achieve that goal

01:21and also destroy Iran's nuclear capacity.

01:27But at the same time, he doesn't want to cut ties too much with his base,

01:30because as you said, you have people like Tucker Carlson and Marjorie Taylor Greene

01:33who are saying, well, hold on a minute, this isn't what we voted for,

01:36and this is not something that we think President Trump should be doing.

01:40But on the other hand, you have other, more hawkish members within the Republican Party.

01:44For example, the Republican Senator Lindsey Graham, who's saying, yes,

01:48we should go in there and finish off Iran once and for all.

01:51This is an ideal opportunity because Iran is in a weak position,

01:54so the U.S. should get involved and move in there to make sure there is a regime change.

02:00So that is why there is this dilemma facing Donald Trump.

02:05Because on the flight back from Canada to Washington,

02:09Donald Trump was asked about what he was going back for

02:15and why, if it would be, in fact, a ceasefire between Israel and Iran.

02:19Take a listen to his response.

02:21I'm looking for a ceasefire.

02:23When I'm looking for a ceasefire, I didn't say I was looking for a ceasefire.

02:26That was Emmanuel, nice guy, but he doesn't get it right too often.

02:30But I'm looking for better than a ceasefire.

02:34What specifically is better than a ceasefire?

02:36What are you looking for here?

02:40An end.

02:41A real end, not a ceasefire.

02:42An end.

02:43So something that will be popular?

02:44Yeah.

02:45Or giving up entirely.

02:48Is that okay too?

02:49I mean, Donald Trump, Philip, is talking in riddles, essentially.

02:53An end to what?

02:55It's pretty open-ended.

02:56An end to Iran's supreme leader, an end to the conflict.

02:59It's open-ended.

03:01Well, to be honest with you, I don't think any of us know exactly what Donald Trump is alluding to there.

03:06There are several things that could mean an end.

03:08First of all, though, that snub to Emmanuel Macron, which is typical of Donald Trump,

03:14I think we can basically say that is because prior to this G7 summit, Emmanuel Macron went where?

03:19He went to Greenland, where he stood up for the Greenlandic people,

03:22saying this is part of a country that's part of Europe, belongs to Denmark,

03:26and it's not going to be given to the United States.

03:28That's obviously displeased Donald Trump, so it's a snub back to the French president.

03:33As far as the end of the conflict between Israel and Iran is concerned,

03:39Donald Trump wants a deal.

03:40He wants a deal that he can go back and say,

03:42I've got this deal, and that's going to help me get the Nobel Peace Prize.

03:46Remember, that's the way Donald Trump functions.

03:48He wants a deal with Iran.

03:51But he also knows that he's face-to-face with a very determined Israeli Prime Minister,

03:57Benjamin Netanyahu, and Benjamin Netanyahu wants to destroy Iran's nuclear agreement.

04:02We're not talking about a ceasefire here.

04:04We're talking about two different things.

04:06So if Donald Trump can pull off an agreement with the Iranians saying,

04:09OK, you've had 60 days, 60 first days when these attacks started,

04:14come back to the negotiating table, let's get that deal signed,

04:17that will be bigger than a ceasefire.

04:19But at the same time, there's this growing pressure, as you've been saying,

04:22from the Israelis for the US to join forces

04:25and also to finish off the Iranian regime to bring in regime change.

04:30Is that what Donald Trump is alluding to as something bigger than a ceasefire deal?

04:34Well, we really don't know.

04:36And at the moment, he's in the Situation Room meeting with his national security team.

04:40Maybe we'll have more information later in the day.

04:43But one has to beg the question,

04:46does Donald Trump himself actually know which way he's going to go in all of this?

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