Eric Spracklen, a prominentMAGA media operative, publicly broke with Donald Trump in Washington on Tuesday 12 May, branding the former president's remarks on Iran and the US economy a 'disgusting betrayal' and warning fellow conservatives that 'the Trump era was fun while it lasted' but 'we're cooked.'

The news came after Trump, now 79 and en route to China for talks with President Xi Jinping, was pressed by a reporter outside the White House about whether Americans' worsening financial situations were influencing his negotiations to end the war in Iran.

Asked 'to what extent are Americans' financial situations motivating you to make a deal?', Trump replied: 'Not even a little bit.' He went on to say that 'the only thing that matters' in talks with Tehran is preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon and admitted: 'I don't think about Americans' financial situations. I don't think about anybody.'

For nearly a decade, Eric Spracklen has been part of the MAGA base. As communications director for the hard‑right activist group Project Veritas and a familiar face on conservative media, he was profiled as one of Trump's 'No. 1 supporters' and proudly wore that label.

On Tuesday, that relationship appeared to snap. Posting on X, Spracklen wrote: 'This is not the same man I voted for. I honestly can't even recognise him anymore. An absolutely disgusting betrayal. MAGA boomers please wake up, PRESIDENT TRUMP DOES NOT CARE ABOUT YOU.'

This is not the same man I voted for. I honestly can’t even recognize him anymore.An absolutely disgusting betrayal.MAGA boomers please wake up, PRESIDENT TRUMP DOES NOT CARE ABOUT YOU.https://t.co/x0EamFIfUZ

His follow‑up posts made clear this was not a heat‑of‑the‑moment wobble. Spracklen framed Trump's comments as the final straw after months of anger over the administration's handling of the Iran war and its domestic fallout.

Earlier in 2026 he had already spoken of feeling 'immense embarrassment' about his decade‑long support, and had questioned why Trump dismissed the Epstein files as a hoax while Melania Trump, according to his account, urged Congress to act.

Spracklen has increasingly cast Trump's Iran policy as chaotic and, more darkly, as a vehicle for profiteering. He highlighted a sequence in which the president declared the war 'practically over', only for Iran to close the Strait of Hormuz less than a day later.

In his telling, that volatility was not just diplomatic whiplash. Spracklen pointed to $760 million (£562 million) worth of oil short options allegedly placed just 20 minutes before Trump publicly announced that the key shipping lane was open.

Source: International Business Times UK