A top MAGA news anchor has warned President Donald Trump that his new war with Iran risks making a right mess of his second administration.
“I’ll be honest here, the pressure is mounting,” Carl Higbie told Newsmax viewers on Monday. “He has to tie this up in the next two or three weeks of these oil prices being high before it’s actually, like, a serious political problem, especially for the midterms.”
“We got to do something about it,” he added.
Higbie—whose full name is Carlton Milo Higbie IV—is a conservative activist and former Navy SEAL who previously worked for MAGA advocacy group America First Policies and the pro-Trump Great America PAC.
His comments about Trump’s war with Iran, which has plunged the region into chaos and driven a massive spike in global oil prices, make him the second host on MAGA network Newsmax to have openly questioned the president’s rationale in as many days.
Fellow network mainstay Michael Savage warned on Sunday the U.S. military is now “out of control” and called on viewers to call for Trump to pull out of the Middle East.
“My friends listen to me,” he said. “We all have to start pressuring this administration to call it a success and end this before it gets much worse.”
“If the midterm elections were held today, it would be all over for the Republican Party,” he went on. “The American people hate war. Never forget that.”
Both Higbie and Savage’s comments come amid a wider and widening MAGA civil war over the conflict in Iran.
Conservative pundit Tucker Carlson has called Trump’s strikes “absolutely disgusting and evil,” while podcast bro Joe Rogan, who backed the president in 2024, has slammed the administration for reneging on its pledge of no more U.S. military entanglements abroad.
Higbie nevertheless couched his Monday criticism of Trump with a few helpful suggestions. “How about a tax holiday til things get wrapped up?” he said.
The Daily Beast contacted the White House for comment on this story.
“President Trump has been clear that these are short-term disruptions,” spokesperson Taylor Rogers said. “Ultimately, once the military objectives are completed and the Iranian terrorist regime is neutralized, oil and gas prices will drop rapidly again, potentially even lower than before the strikes begin. As a result, American families will benefit greatly in the long-term.”
