President Donald Trump’s MAGA sphere of conservative media and influencers — many of whom had expressed skepticism before his decision to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities — is divided over the president’s dramatic move to strike.
Many of its most prominent figures rallied around Trump. But others sharply criticized the decision, said they want to see more explanation than his brief Saturday night speech, or warned of a drawn-out conflict.
Ahead of Saturday’s bombing, the prospect of United States involvement in another Middle Eastern conflict had opened rifts in the GOP. Trump himself had ripped the United States’ involvement in wars in the Middle East as a presidential candidate, and his “Make America Great Again” movement includes many more isolationist voices aligned with his “America First” vision. Those voices were at odds in recent days with GOP hawks who advocated a muscular US role in supporting Israel in its bid to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon.
But after Trump’s Saturday night announcement, some prominent MAGA voices rallied around the president.
“Iran gave President Trump no choice,” said Charlie Kirk, a pro-Trump media personality and founder of the activist group Turning Point USA.
“For a decade he has been adamant that Iran will never get a nuclear weapon. Iran decided to forego diplomacy in pursuit of a bomb. This is a surgical strike, operated perfectly,” Kirk said Saturday on X. “President Trump acted with prudence and decisiveness.”
Former Rep. Matt Gaetz of Florida, who withdrew as Trump’s first selection for attorney general, compared on X the president’s bombing of Iran to his first-term killing of Iranian military commander Qasem Soleimani, which was met with some predictions that it would ignite a regional conflict that did not come true.
“President Trump basically wants this to be like the Soleimani strike – one and done. No regime change war,” Gaetz said Saturday night on X. “Trump the Peacemaker!”
However, on Sunday, Gaetz expressed skepticism toward any broader mission in Iran.
“Just remember: every regime change war has been extremely popular at the start. But the historical trajectory isn’t good.” he said on X, later adding: “There will always be another Iranian mountain to bomb for the neocons.”
Georgia GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, a staunch Trump ally, posted Saturday night on X: “There would not be bombs falling on the people of Israel if Netanyahu had not dropped bombs on the people of Iran first. Israel is a nuclear armed nation. This is not our fight. Peace is the answer.”
It’s too early to tell how the American public — and particularly those within Trump’s MAGA movement — will react to the United States’ bombing of Iran.
On Wednesday, before the bombing, a Washington Post one-day survey of Americans, conducted with SSRS, found that 45% opposed US airstrikes against Iran, 25% supported airstrikes and 30% were unsure. Republicans were more likely than Democrats to say they viewed Iran’s nuclear program as a serious threat, and more likely to support airstrikes. Polls conducted in one day can be subject to larger potential errors than those fielded over multiple days, since not everyone selected to participate may be available to respond on that single day.
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