'A red line': Trump alarms MAGA hosts after Leavitt’s Iran 'draft' remarks
Three pro-MAGA hosts on Real America's Voice and Rep. Bob Onder (R-MO) pushed back on White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt after she refused to rule out a draft of young Americans to fight in Iran.
In an interview on Sunday, Leavitt declined to say there would not be a draft when asked by Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo.
"Mothers out there are worried that we're going to have a draft, that they're going to see their sons get in and daughters get involved in this," Bartiromo said at the time. "What do you want to say about the president's plans for troops on the ground?"
"It's not part of the current plan right now," Leavitt replied. "But the president, again, wisely keeps his options on the table."
On Monday, Real America's Voice co-host Terrence Bates called the draft a "red line."
"Boots on the ground, I think we've all agreed, would be a red line. And a draft, I think, would probably be another red line," he said.
"It's not going to be a draft," co-host David Brody insisted. "First of all, you don't answer hypotheticals... First of all, Congress has to authorize a draft. It has nothing to do with President Trump. He just signs it."
"She can't get ahead of the president," he continued. "She's not going to say that. She'll get in trouble."
"I don't know. David, you know, maybe she could have said what you said," co-host Gina Loudon noted. "And I think it might have given, might have given moms — just a thought — I think it might have given moms across the country a little bit of, you know, we just, this is the thing. No war ever starts out as a big war, right? They always start out slow. We're always told it's not going to be a forever war."
Loudon noted that Trump only had three years left in his term.
"The military-industrial complex in this country loves war. Our Congress people are paid to love war," she said. "And I just don't like, I don't like the way this whole thing is sounding. I'll tell you what, I talked to someone very inside this weekend who told me this war is going to expand dramatically. I don't like that.
"I don't like the sound of that. I don't think that's what people voted for... I think it is up to the voices within MAGA, our audience, this audience, to be sure we are constantly reminding that we don't want a long, drawn-out war."
Brody, however, was all for expanding the war.
"Yeah, but that's the reason why they're going to expand it because victory is paramount and it has to happen quickly," he told Loudon. "We're not going to just sit around and just kind of go one toe in the water. We're going all in for victory. I'm all for it."
Onder also slammed Leavitt's answer.
"There's not going to be a draft," he insisted. "And I don't think Karoline Leavitt should have answered that hypothetical question."