War-weary Americans are worried their country is about to be dragged into another Middle East quagmire. Their concern is well founded. The United States military is already helping Israel shoot down Iranian missiles and moving more military assets into the region.
MAGA support for President Donald Trump has remained consistent and bulletproof so far. But war with Iran may prove a red line for the president’s most loyal cohort.
“I can tell you right now, our MAGA base does not want war,” MAGA influencer and founder of Turning Point USA Charlie Kirk said Friday during a segment of his popular show. Kirk said he received a pile of messages from the MAGA faithful, and emphasized:
I can say concretely, here is where I stand and where the MAGA base stands. We do not want U.S. boots on the ground, we do not want American kinetic involvement. This is Israel’s war. This is Israel’s self-determination in play.
Kirk, who campaigned for President Donald Trump in 2024, reminded his audience that the U.S. has not walked away from a conflict with a full declaration of victory in a long time. “The Middle East has a tendency to draw you in. It is the land of sand and death, as president Trump would say,” he added.
Another major MAGA figure, perhaps considered second only to the president himself, a man who has rarely, if ever, disagreed with Trump’s actions and who worked for the president, has made clear that MAGA has not an inkling of desire to get involved in what he predicts is going to metastasize into a characteristically long and drawn-out Middle East slugfest. Steve Bannon said Friday on his War Room show:
We don’t oppose Israel being Israel first. We get it. They should be Israel first. But we have to be America first.… The bottom line is we cannot be dragged into a war on the Eurasion landmass in the Middle East….
Tucker Carlson is another respected figure in MAGA media with a large audience, and someone who went on tour in 2024 indirectly stumping for Trump. He published a message on his X account reaffirming his long-held opposition to intervention in Iran, and called out by name a number of warmongers, including one he previously worked for:
The real divide isn’t between people who support Israel and people who support Iran or the Palestinians. The real divide is between those who casually encourage violence, and those who seek to prevent it — between warmongers and peacemakers. Who are the warmongers? They would include anyone who’s calling Donald Trump today to demand air strikes and other direct US military involvement in a war with Iran. On that list: Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Rupert Murdoch, Ike Perlmutter and Miriam Adelson. At some point they will all have to answer for this, but you should know their names now.
As for Congress, there appears to be a slight correlation between legislators whose voting record indicates a respect for the U.S. Constitution and anti-intervention. Rep. Thomas Massie, a Kentucky Republican, said:
Israel doesn’t need U.S. taxpayers’ money for defense if it already has enough to start offensive wars. I vote not to fund this war of aggression.
Massie conducted a poll on X asking if the U.S. should be giving weapons to Israel. The results were extremely lopsided, with 85 percent of Americans indicating they wanted to stay as far away as possible from this war.
Republican Senator Rand Paul, also from Kentucky, said:
The American people overwhelming[ly] oppose our endless wars, and they voted that way when they voted for Donald Trump in 2024. I urge President Trump to stay the course, keep putting America first, and to not join in any war between other countries. Every American should hope and pray for peace.
Republican firebrand and MAGA loyalist Marjorie Taylor Greene said she doesn’t care about Iran. Anticipating Israel’s strike, she posted a tweet Wednesday, saying:
Americans don’t want to bomb Iran because the secular government of Israel says that Iran is on the verge of developing a nuclear bomb any day now. We’ve been told that for the past 20 years. The same story.
Everyone I know is tired of US intervention and regime change in foreign countries. Everyone I know is disgusted with Democrats for supporting a literal war against America by foreign nationals and communist anarchists waving Mexican flags while they violently riot, burn, and [attack] police in American cities. Everyone I know wants us to fix our own problems here at home. Not bomb other countries that have nothing to do with our own self inflicted problems.
Even leftist legislators oppose interventionism, but almost assuredly due to their hatred for Israel as opposed to principle. The socialist senator from Vermont, Independent Bernie Sanders, said:
The world is more dangerous and unstable as a result of the extremist Netanyahu’s government[‘s] ongoing defiance of international law… The U.S. must make it clear that we will not be dragged into another Netanyahu war. Along with the international community we should do everything possible to prevent an escalation of this conflict and bring the warring parties to the negotiating table.
Sanders’ fellow Vermont senator, Democrat Peter Welch, also opposes U.S. intervention, as does Virginia Democratic Senator Tim Kaine. Kaine told told CNN:
I was very surprised that Israel launched this strike three days before the U.S. was to have a diplomatic discussion with Iran about their nuclear program. That discussion might have gone well, might have gone bad, but to launch a military attack before a diplomatic discussion, I was surprised and disappointed in that. … I’m a U.S. senator, and I’m going to do everything I can to keep the United States from getting involved in another war in the Middle East. That’s my sole focus right now….
Then there’s Rashida Tlaib, the anti-American Democrat from Michigan who never passes up an opportunity to pile on Israel:
The Israeli government bombing Iran is a dangerous escalation that could lead to regional war. War Criminal Netanyahu will do anything to maintain his grip on power. We cannot let him drag our country into a war with Iran. Our government must stop funding and supporting this rogue genocidal regime… The president cannot circumvent congressional war powers and unilaterally send U.S. troops to war with Iran.
And of course there’s also the usual coterie of war supporters. At the top of the list is a man who’s never met a war he didn’t like. The Republican Senator from South Carolina, Lindsey Graham, said:
In a contest for their very survival, hats off to Israel for one of the most impressive military strikes and covert operations in Israeli history — which is saying something.
I very much appreciate President Trump’s strong statement in support of this Israeli operation and his urging for the Iranian Regime to make a deal to abandon their nuclear enrichment program to avoid further bloodshed.
Others who agree with Graham include Sen. Jacky Rosen (D-Nev.), Sen. John Barrasso (R-Wyo.), Rep. Darren Soto (D-Fla.), Sen. Dan Sullivan (R-Alaska), and more.
Trump ran as the president of peace. During his reelection campaign, he repeatedly bragged about and took credit for the relative global calm that prevailed during his first term. And it resonated loudly with the throngs of people who packed his rallies. Propelling the U.S. into war with Iran is one of the very few wrong actions the president can take, as far as his supporters go.
And there are signs Trump is about to disappoint millions of people who’ve stood beside him for a decade.
On Friday, Iran launched waves of missiles at Israel in retaliation for a remarkable and initially successful multifaceted strike that included hits on nuclear enrichment sites and assassinations of several top military officials and nuclear scientists. Reports say Iran fired at least 200 ballistic missiles at Israel and launched flocks of drones. Israel’s Iron Dome defense intercepted most of the missiles, but not all. Footage from various news outlets confirms that some struck civilian areas in Tel Aviv. An Israeli military official told The New York Times that Iran had struck at least seven sites in Israel’s economic and cultural center. Overall, at least three people in Israel have been killed and dozens hurt, according to reports.
The war seems to have just begun. There is little chance Iran’s leadership, having suffered great humiliation, will heed international calls to de-escalate. The best chance of that happening is if Israel gets its wish and the Iranian people overthrow their oppressive leaders.
Back in America, concerns that the U.S. military will be embroiled in another quagmire are well founded. America is already in the fight. “The U.S. military is operating in the air, on land and at sea to shoot down Iranian missiles fired at Israel … tilting Washington toward more direct involvement in the widening conflict,” The Wall Street Journal noted Saturday.
And this looks to be just the beginning. According to Military.com, the U.S. military is ramping up assets in the region:
The United States also is shifting military resources, including ships, in the Middle East in response to the strikes.
The Navy has directed the destroyer USS Thomas Hudner, which is capable of defending against ballistic missiles, to begin sailing from the western Mediterranean Sea toward the eastern Mediterranean and has directed a second destroyer to begin moving forward so it can be available if requested by the White House, U.S. officials said.
There are now two conflicts involving nuclear armed powers. This would be a good time for the world’s leading superpower to use its influence to bring about peace.