Neocons Seethe Over Claim Rand Paul, Tucker Carlson Pushing For Trump to Appoint Col. Douglas Macgregor

Two prominent Trump administration allies are lobbying the president to tap retired Col. Douglas Macgregor as a top Pentagon policy official, setting up what could become be a contentious confirmation fight focused on Macgregor's history of controversial claims about American Jews and their alleged influence over the media and U.S. government.

Fox News host Tucker Carlson and Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) have urged Trump to nominate Macgregor to replace John Rood, the Defense Department's top policy official, who was ousted in February.

While Macgregor, a frequent guest on Carlson's primetime television program, shares Carlson's skepticism towards the Trump administration's Iran policy, it is his views on Jews that are most likely to threaten his potential nomination [...]

In a wide-ranging 2012 interview circulating among national security insiders, for example, Macgregor insisted that "neocons" are "making decisions in Washington that in their minds are beneficial to a foreign power and are not necessarily good for the American people or the United States."

"It is a mistake to insist, as I increasingly hear from people, that 'all Jews are somehow or another unconditional supporters of whatever the Israeli state wants to do regardless of what is in American interest," MacGregor told the Daily Bell. "That's simply not true. What you have are numbers of people who call themselves neocons. They operate in a variety of settings in the government and in the media, and they support or advocate, for all intents and purposes, unconditional support for whatever the Israeli government wants to do. They are no means the majority and they are by no means representative of what I would call Americans who happen to be Jewish."

[...] Paul adviser Doug Stafford told the Washington Free Beacon Macgregor would fit well in Trump's "America First" administration. "Senator Paul has always suggested to President Trump that he fill more foreign policy spots with people who agree with his foreign policy," Stafford said. "Colonel Macgregor agrees with President Trump and his America First policies."

[...] After publication, Tucker Carlson told the Free Beacon he has not spoke to President Trump about Col. Douglas Macgregor.