There are two much-discussed problems the Republican Party faces at the moment. One, which is big and real, is that its ability to attract voters beyond the hardest core of the MAGA base is flagging. The other, which is small and largely a media phantasm, is that a noisy minority of said MAGA base has become alienated from Donald Trump, mostly due to his foreign-policy adventures. The first is on display in polls that almost universally show Trump with low job approval among the swing voters that gave him back the presidency in 2024. The second is encapsulated by yesterday’s separate but parallel announcements by Tucker Carlson and Marjorie Taylor Greene that they are leaving the Republican Party.

Carlson framed his decision with the classic “I didn’t leave my party; my party left me” formulation beloved of political turncoats throughout the generations, as the Associated Press reported:

He’s repeatedly criticized the [Iran] war as being at the behest of Israel at the expense of Americans, and attacked the party for failing to represent its own voters, citizens and nation.“They are making decisions on the basis of other criteria, what’s best for this company, what’s best for Israel, what’s best for our donors,” he said. “That’s not just, like, they are off in the wrong direction, like, that is unacceptable, that’s treasonous, it’s immoral, it can’t continue.”“I’ve been a consistent defender for 35 years of the Republican Party, I mean very consistent defender, but there’s no defending this,” he said. “So........

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