Alex Bruesewitz built his reputation on knowing how to make the internet work for Donald Trump.

Now, as Trump’s online coalition begins to splinter over Iran, Jeffrey Epstein files and the direction of the Republican Party, the president’s social media adviser is warning that the outrage consuming MAGA may be manufactured.

The irony has not been lost on his critics.

Bruesewitz, the 29-year-old strategist credited with helping bring Trump’s 2024 campaign into the podcast and influencer era, appeared on Tucker Carlson’s show in late June to confront the growing rebellion among right-wing voices angry about the administration’s approach to the war with Iran.

His message was clear: the online pressure campaign against Trump may not be organic.

“I believe there definitely is a coordinated effort to put pressure on the president and the administration to continue the conflict in Iran,” Bruesewitz told Carlson. “And I believe there is even potentially foreign influence involved.”

The claim landed with force because of who was saying it.

Bruesewitz is not an outsider watching the machinery of political influence from a distance. He is one of its most prominent architects.

He is the co-founder and chief executive of X Strategies, a political consulting firm built around online messaging and conservative mobilization. He became a senior adviser to Never Surrender, Trump’s leadership PAC, after helping the president use alternative media and high-profile podcasts to reach younger male voters during the 2024 campaign.

That history made his complaints about “coordinated influence campaigns” especially provocative.

In the Carlson interview, Bruesewitz also criticized what he called “hysterics” on social media who were pressuring the administration over the Iran agreement and the handling of Epstein-related files.

“I think giving control of the government process to a handful of hysterics on social media is bad,” he said.

But critics quickly asked: Who better to understand the power of online hysteria than someone who has openly described his political beginnings as “trolling”?

Bruesewitz has previously said he entered political consulting through online trolling and has continued using social media as a weapon for conservative causes. His own company describes him as a figure who worked to defeat Republicans seen as insufficiently loyal to Trump and replace them with MAGA-aligned candidates.

That contradiction became the heart of the backlash.

For years, Bruesewitz has helped shape the kind of digital ecosystem he now says is being corrupted by foreign influence, special-interest money and low-quality outrage. Critics argue he is not merely observing the system. He helped perfect it.

The split inside Trump’s coalition is becoming harder to hide.

Carlson, once one of Trump’s most influential media allies, has grown increasingly hostile toward parts of the administration’s foreign-policy direction. Other figures in the MAGA world have also expressed anger over the Iran conflict and the administration’s handling of the Epstein files.

Bruesewitz’s appearance on Carlson’s platform appeared to be an effort to pull the conversation back under Trump’s control.

But instead of calming tensions, it exposed how divided the movement has become.

The adviser suggested that online accounts criticizing Trump’s efforts to end the war with Iran may be part of a broader campaign. Yet he acknowledged there was no evidence connecting a specific influencer, Eyal Yakoby, to foreign government funding for criticism of the administration.

Yakoby told Raw Story that he had received payment from marketing agencies for some social posts, but denied receiving money from any government or being paid to criticize Carlson or Trump’s Iran policy.

“Every single thing that Alex has accused me and others of, he is literally guilty of,” Yakoby said. “That’s the irony of it.”

The accusation cut directly at the political dilemma facing Bruesewitz.

Trump’s digital operation has long relied on a decentralized network of influencers, meme accounts, podcasters and online provocateurs. It gave Trump unmatched reach during the 2024 campaign. But it also created an ecosystem that cannot always be controlled.

When that network is united, it can amplify Trump’s message at lightning speed.

When it turns against him, it can become a political nightmare.

Bruesewitz acknowledged the danger during his media tour, warning that the internal conflict was tearing apart what he described as an “unbeatable juggernaut.”

“We used to have this unified movement on social media,” he said, arguing that it had once been focused on defeating the radical left.

But now, the movement is fractured.

The same influencers who once boosted Trump’s campaign messaging are openly questioning the administration. The same online platforms that helped build MAGA into a digital force are now magnifying disagreements over war, foreign policy, Epstein and loyalty to the president.

For Bruesewitz, the solution appears to be unity behind Trump.

“At the end of the day you’re either going to ride with Trump and us for the next two years,” he said, “or you’re going to let the radical left lunatics take back control.”

But for many critics, that demand only highlights the deeper problem.

Trump’s online empire was built on outrage, conspiracy, viral attacks and influencers who refused to follow traditional rules.

Now that the outrage is aimed inward, the people who built the machine are discovering that it may no longer obey them.