The war against Iran breaks, but it does not break the MAGA movement

Donald Trump has drawn criticism among his followers for campaign promises that he would not start any wars or intervene in other countries.

The mega-movement in the United States is waging war against Iran, but it is not broken

- Donald Trump campaigned on a promise that he would not start wars or intervene in other countries.

- LIVE: follow the last hour of the war in Iran

"I'm not going to start a war, I'm going to end wars," declared Donald Trump on the same night of his second electoral victory in November 2024.

"With me you will not have war, with me you will not have World War III", "we will kick the warmongers out of our government", "we do not want another war", "I will keep you out of war", "there will be no more endless wars".These are all the promises of the President of the United States during the last election, one of his pillars was insisting that in his first presidency he was "the first president in decades who did not start a war", accusing the Democratic Party and Vice President and Representative Kamala Harris of being the party of war.

He was equally critical of his Republican predecessors, especially the last one, George W. Bush, and of the neoconservative ideology that led the United States of America and some of its allies, including Spain, to invasions and long wars in Afghanistan and Iraq in this century.

The president chose JD Vance, a non-interventionist, as his vice president in this second presidency, and this led the Republican Party to campaign that they were the ticket (candidates) for peace.

Given this perspective, how will Trump voters, especially the MAGA (Make America Great Again) movement, react?Do they feel betrayed? Are they criticizing the president in public?Can it affect you between now and the legislative elections next November?

Several political and media figures spoke about the rise of Trumpism as a movement whose priority is not to get involved and, above all, to leave the politics of regime change in other countries.The MAGA movement, driven by the America First slogan, finds its leader now embarking on the kind of adventure they rejected when they voted for him.

Many critics have saved from the report some words from Charlie Kirk, the MAGA killer who was murdered last year at the university.Regarding the possible intervention in Iran, and comparing it with the cases of Iraq and Afghanistan, he said: "How do we know it will be better? Yes, the Ayatollah [Khameneí] is terrible, but maybe it is one of the few things that can unite the country, without a conflict between 90 million people. Is it important to change the culture?

Former Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Green has gone from unconditional supporter of the president, and champion of some of his extreme positions, to critical and confrontational in a matter of months.The rift began with Republicans' refusal to make Jeffrey Epstein's files public, continued with military intervention in Venezuela and now Iran.Taylor Green summed it up in the headline, "This isn't America First, it's America." is the last." It's not America first, but America last.

"Making America Great Again America should be first, not Israel, not a country, a nation, foreigners first," argued Greene.

Steve Bannon, a far-right ideologue and propagandist in the US and Europe who was an adviser to Trump during his first term, also showed his dismay: "It's not what was promised in the 2024 campaign. There will be a bleeding of our base."Bannon knows how to win or lose public opinion and votes.

Matt Walsh, a conservative commentator, expressed frustration: "We've been told that even if we kill the entire leadership of the regime, it won't change the regime. Even if we dismantle their nuclear program [in June], we have to do it for their nuclear program, even though Iran has no plans to attack the United States, and Iran has no plans to attack the United States."It doesn't belong to you, it doesn't belong to you, or it may depend on who is holding it, and we don't know who it will be.The message is, to put it mildly, confusing.

American Conservative director Kurt Mills, another columnist who votes for the president and opposes interventionism, is also deluding himself.Why is it possible for the price of oil to reach 100 dollars per barrel?Why is this administration more interested in this issue than Iran?'

Curt Mills' answer is what he calls the elite, a segment of power tied to the doctrine of foreign intervention for regime change that Trump has been unable to get rid of, and which is heavily influenced by the Israeli government because of affinity and fear that if he goes against it, they will label him as an enemy of Israel, as anti-Semitic, and end his career.

Another well-known Trumpist, now vociferously, and far more combative than journalist, Tucker Carlson, has also expressed his displeasure: "It's Israel's war, not the United States'". To tell the president he must stand up to Israel, "or he's going to destroy you and the country.Israel is a country of 9 million inhabitants with no resources, why do we follow their orders?"

Like Carlson, another former Fox News reporter, Megyn Kelly, who had to be ousted, summed up her criticism by saying that "this is clearly Israel's war."

One area where Trump is highly critical of Israel's influence on US policy is exacerbated by statements this week from Secretary of State and National Security Adviser Marco Rubio.On Monday, Rubio explained why the country decided to join Israel in attacking Iran: "We knew Israel was going to act against Iran, we knew it would prevent an attack on American troops, and if we didn't strike first, we knew we would have more casualties."

With that statement, Rubio made what many dismissed as conspiracy theories or anti-Semitism take on a different nature.So much so that it became a mandatory question for every government representative.Is Israel pushing us to attack Iran?The next day, the president denied it and said that, if anything, it was another way he had hit Israel.According to Trump, he decided it was time to attack because he concluded that the negotiations in Geneva were going nowhere.

"I think they are equally to blame," said Mills in an interview with the New York Times: "Israel fixed the world, but President Trump is responsible. 50% each."but it still has a lot of potential."

When asked if he thinks Trump is afraid of Israel, that he can be called anti-Semitic, or that he can reveal "dark secrets about him," Mills replied, "The Epstein files have something to do with it, but I don't know how because the government is not transparent. I believe there is an alliance between Israel and Trump from the beginning, because they have given foreign policy to the initiators of Israel from his foreign partners."

Israel, and in particular Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, has always considered the Ayatollahs' Iran as a threat, and they have communicated this to all the country's presidents.The end of this regime is what Netanyahu has been pursuing for more than three years.As for President Trump, Mills made up his mind: "I think he's happy with 'urgent actions' like the assassination of Soleimani, the 12-day war with Iran in May, and the kidnapping of Nicolás Maduro, and he thinks they influence me a lot, that part of my coalition is obsessed with the Iran thing, and we may have won for doing the Iran thing."

The president and his warriors

During his second term, the president changed the names of many agencies, including the Department of Defense.He salvaged what would be considered archaic today and renamed it the War Department.Another obvious contradiction to those who promised "no more war".

The head of the Department, Pete Hegseth, never tires of repeating "we are not defenders, we are fighters", and this week he pointed out in phrases that look like a comic book or a video game: "The leaders of Iran look to the sky and see only the air power of the United States and Israel. Every minute of every day until we decide that almost never is a just war (just, balanced) and that we should not beat them to the ground.

From a progressive perspective, columnist Michelle Goldberg argued in The New York Times that Trump was never against war, and quoted the president himself: "I'm good at war, I like war, but only if we win."In this sense, his disapproval of George W. Bush's wars was not because of the war, but because they lasted forever and the United States could not claim victory, despite Bush's famous "mission accomplished".

"Because he didn't have a real fight with his base," Goldberg continued, "he's become a villain. In many places, Trump's behavior is one start, and he's going as far as he can, until someone stops him."

Question paper

Despite the prominent critical voices in the most powerful Trumpists, it is more silent than offensive.Even the critics agree that we have to wait, to see how long this war will be and how it will end.Nor should we assume unconditional obedience to the religion, to be with your leader, even though you don't like certain things.And it is important and also mentioned by the critics, The MAGA movement is only part of the election of Donald Trump and the Republican Party.

This war is very unpopular among Americans, with only 27% of respondents approving of it, according to a quick poll by Ipsos and Reuters.43 percent are against it, while 29 percent have no clear opinion.However, we should not conclude from this that Trump is unpopular among voters, because when we look at voting-based results, divisions and political polarization emerge.74% of Democratic voters reject it and only 7% approve.

The unique thing about the Trump administration and the war against Iran is that they did not make an effort to prepare, to persuade public opinion, as all previous presidents did in the same situations.Even if there is hypocrisy or false arguments, but they have tried.George W. Bush sought and won the support of Congress that the constitution requires, and sought a UN resolution to protect it, although, even after 23 years Again, it is very debatable in the case of the invasion of Iraq.

Donald Trump, no.In his State of the Union address on Tuesday night, February 24, the president had the perfect opportunity to prepare Congress and the public, and he didn't, he barely mentioned Iran.Less than four days later, on Saturday morning the 28th, it bombed Iran.Without the approval of Congress or a UN resolution.

To protect their honor that the president unconstitutionally overruled them, congressional Republicans closest to the president insist that this is not a war, a strategic offensive, a brief military operation and not an "endless war."They argue that this is not contrary to what was promised.Time will tell.

The longer it goes on, the more chaos will be unleashed and the more Americans will die in this war, which means the more Iran becomes like Iraq, the worse for Trump, he will be another American president caught in a hornet's nest in the Middle East.