Mr. Trump campaigned as a staunch critic of previous U.S. wars in the Middle East, and some in his MAGA coalition are dissatisfied with the Iranian campaign.
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After launching Operation Epic Fury in Iran, President Donald Trump faces skepticism about MAGA at home, as the military operation threatens to strain the coalition ahead of the midterm elections.
Trump campaigned as a staunch critic of America’s wars in the Middle East, but his aggressive foreign policy moves since returning to office have sparked a backlash within the MAGA movement, including accusations that he betrayed those who subscribed to his anti-interventionist “America First” pledge.
Polls show many Republicans are wary of military involvement in Iran, posing a challenge for the president as he seeks to keep Republicans motivated in a critical election year. This skepticism has been publicly expressed by prominent figures on the right ever since the United States and Israel launched military operations targeting Iran’s leadership, missile bases, and nuclear program.
In an interview with ABC News, former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, a longtime Trump supporter who recently attended a White House event, called the Iran operation, which began on February 28, “absolutely disgusting and evil.”
Other MAGA officials have questioned how the maneuver fits with the ethos of the president’s political campaign, whose three White House campaigns have eschewed the long-standing Republican foreign policy orthodoxy of using American military power and centered on a more populist approach.
“I don’t see how this fits in with the president’s MAGA pledge, and I’m disappointed,” Eric Prince, a private military contractor and ally of President Trump, said on a podcast hosted by Stephen Bannon, who served as White House chief strategist during Trump’s first term, on February 1.
Former Republican congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, who over the years became one of Trump’s leading supporters in Congress and has become an ardent critic of the president, made a flurry of social media posts after the first attack on Iran, accusing the president and his team of betraying their promises.
In a Feb. 27 post, Greene called the Trump administration a “terrible (expletive) liar” and declared, “We voted for America First and zero wars.”
regime change war
The Trump administration’s focus on regime change in Iran is spurring the backlash. The president announced that Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khamenei had been killed along with other leaders and called on Iranians to rise up and replace the regime, having previously warned against regime change efforts.
“We must abandon our failed policies of nation-building and regime change,” President Trump said at the 2016 Republican National Convention.
The death of three US soldiers in this operation has also heightened tensions.
“This is completely unnecessary and unacceptable,” Greene said in a March 1 social media post. “Trump, Vance, Tulsi (Gabbard) and all of us campaigned for no more foreign wars and regime change. Now American soldiers are dying.”
As the military operation unfolds, many Republicans and other conservatives have rallied behind Trump, with some rejecting the idea that the president is not aligned with MAGA.
Let Trump “cook”
Jason Miller, a longtime adviser to President Trump, said MAGA’s priorities are the same as the president’s “full stop.”
“We voted for President Trump because we trust his decision-making and his judgment to keep us safe,” Miller said on social media on Feb. 28.
Fox News host Laura Ingraham asked Dan Bongino, a conservative podcaster and former Trump FBI deputy director, what his message was to “some of his friends on the right,” who Trump has campaigned against and is now pursuing that goal.
“Can you give the guy a chance to cook a little bit?” Bongino said on February 28, adding, “Maybe we should give him five minutes before he ruins everything he’s done.”
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina) said on NBC’s Meet the Press that the Iranian military operation is fully consistent with President Trump’s America First policy.
“America First is not isolationist, and America First is not head over heels,” said Graham, one of the most outspoken Republican hawks. “America first is don’t get caught up. We’re not going to wear boots in Iran.”
election questions
President Trump also faced MAGA criticism after his decision to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities last year. However, it soon became quiet. The attack was a single event, did not lead to a broader conflict, and did not result in any U.S. casualties. Polls since then have shown overwhelming support for the president among Republicans.
But the conflict has already resulted in American casualties, the United States and Israel have launched multiple attacks, and the president has given an uncertain timeline for how long the conflict will last, making it more open-ended.
A University of Maryland poll conducted two weeks before President Trump attacked Iran again found that only 21% of American adults and just 40% of Republicans supported launching an attack. A Reuters/Ipsos poll after the operation began found that 27% of Americans supported it, including 55% of Republicans.
Mr. Trump could be walking into a politically dangerous position as he seeks to rally the Republican Party and maintain enthusiasm ahead of the midterm elections, when a significant portion of his party opposes or is unsure about the use of force in Iran.
Mercedes Schlapp, an ally of President Trump who served in his first administration and in the administration of former Republican President George W. Bush, said in an interview on CSPAN shortly before Trump attacked Iran that that is not what his MAGA base wants and that the midterm elections will be fought over the economy.
“It quickly became a very unpopular war,” said Schlapp, who worked for Bush during the Iraq War. “If the administration…moves toward more military tactics, more aggressive stance toward Iran, I think that could be detrimental to Republicans going into the midterm elections.”
