Joe Kent, the now-former Director of the National Counterterrorism Center, set off a political firestorm on Tuesday when he resigned from his position over his opposition to the war in Iran. The twice-failed congressional candidate made a big splash when he posted his resignation letter to his former ally, President Donald Trump, on X.
Kent’s letter may have been the hottest story on the internet on Tuesday afternoon. Given that he is a veteran and a Gold Star husband, he had a certain amount of credibility. The legacy media were delighted that he had defected from the Trump administration and had done so with such fanfare.
He claimed in his missive that “Iran posed no imminent threat to our nation” and that it was clear “we started this war due to pressure from Israel and its powerful American lobby.”
Perhaps Kent’s most astonishing comment was the following:
Early in this administration, high-ranking Israeli officials and influential members of the American media deployed a misinformation campaign that wholly undermined your America First platform and sowed pro-war sentiments to encourage a war with Iran. This echo chamber was used to deceive you into believing that Iran posed an imminent threat to the United States, and that should you strike now, there was a clear path to a swift victory. This was a lie and is the same tactic the Israelis used to draw us into the disastrous Iraq war that cost our nation the lives of thousands of our best men and women. We cannot make this mistake again.
The Daily Caller’s Reagan Reese asked Trump for a comment on Kent’s very public stunt. His response can be viewed in the video below.
Karma came quickly for Kent.
Shortly after Trump’s remarks to reporters, he dug up an old tweet Kent had posted on January 7, 2020, that directly contradicted what he’d stated in his resignation letter. The tweet was written several days after the Trump administration’s targeted assassination of Qasem Soleimani, the powerful commander of Iran’s Quds Force, the clandestine division of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
Kent wrote:
@realDonaldTrump We should not sit and wait for the next attack, wipe Iran’s ballistic capability out and get our troops out of Iraq – they are only targets now.No US WIA/KIA is a tribute to the professionalism of our military and intel professionals not Iranian restraint.
Trump promptly posted a screenshot of the tweet on Truth Social, bringing a quick end to Kent’s attempt at virtue signaling.
The reaction on social media was fierce and immediate. Here are some of the replies:
Others have dug up several more recents posts from Kent that run counter to the thoughts he expressed in his letter. In the post below, dated April 12, 2024, Kent wrote that “Iran is poised to attack.”
In another post dated September 25, 2024, Kent discussed Iran’s assassination threat against Trump.
One X user inquired, “Curious whose payroll you’re on…what a traitor you[‘ve] become.”
Others asked, “What changed since you wrote this, Joe?” and “So did they stop being a threat in 2025?”
The internet is forever, Kent. How did you forget that?
Elizabeth writes commentary for Legal Insurrection and The Washington Examiner. She is an academy fellow at The Heritage Foundation. Please follow Elizabeth on X or LinkedIn.
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