Former White House director of speechwriting during the George W. Bush administration, Marc Thiessen, wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post on Thursday titled, ‘Trump’s Iran strategy is working. His vice president’s isn’t.’
Thiessen contends that Trump’s team has been largely successful in Iran, crediting Secretary of State Marco Rubio, Treasury Sec. Scott Bessent, Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth, and CIA Director John Ratcliffe for purportedly devastating Iran’s military and economic capabilities and delivering results for the “first president to fight back” against an Iran that Thiessen says has been “waging war on America for 47 years.”
Thiessen singles out Vice President JD Vance and those in the administration responsible for what he characterizes as an untenable ceasefire and an ambiguous Memorandum of Understanding (MOU), contending the negotiations have handicapped Trump and U.S. efforts.
Thiessen wrote: “After the Iranian regime’s ballistic missile attack on U.S. troops in Jordan, the time has come for Trump to take a good hard look at the advice he is getting on Iran — what has worked, what has failed and who is responsible for those successes and failures.”
After the Iranian regime’s ballistic missile attack on U.S. troops in Jordan, the time has come for Trump to take a good hard look at the advice he is getting on Iran — what has worked, what has failed and who is responsible for those successes and failures.…
— Marc Thiessen (@marcthiessen) July 30, 2026
Thiessen is receiving negative feedback from fellow Republicans, including The Federalist CEO and co-founder Sean Davis, who wrote: “Tell us more about garbage advice from failed experts, Marc.”
Davis’s post presented a screenshot of Thiessen’s January 2026 Post op-ed titled, ‘There is no U.S. downside to striking the Iranian regime.’
Tell us more about garbage advice from failed experts, Marc. pic.twitter.com/YmxB5OxJj3
— Sean Davis (@seanmdav) July 30, 2026
[NOTE: Davis categorizes Thiessen among the deep state neocons who represent, in his view, the enemy of the MAGA contingent that loathes foreign intervention, a view he expresses in a Federalist article titled, ‘Warmongering Neocons Don’t Just Want Iran War, They Want To Use It To Destroy MAGA.’ The short article is based on his appearance on The Charlie Kirk Show this week.]
On the program, Davis said: MAGA-hating neocons “constantly try to manipulate and distort what’s going on [with the Iran War] to get Trump to do something that’s not going to be good for him, not going to be good for America, but is going to be great for neocons who just want wars, and who want Trumpism and MAGA and America First … gone forever.”
Alex Bruesewitz, a political consultant working with the Trump administration, also replied to Thiessen: “Fun fact: no one is looking for unsolicited foreign policy advice from George W. Bush’s former speechwriter, Marc Thiessen.”
Fun fact: no one is looking for unsolicited foreign policy advice from George W. Bush’s former speechwriter, Marc Thiessen. https://t.co/OdQEz5RLQW
— Alex Bruesewitz
(@alexbruesewitz) July 31, 2026