Key Points – The recent war between Israel and Iran is testing President Donald Trump’s long-standing claim of not starting new foreign wars, a key part of his appeal to the MAGA base.
-Following Israel’s massive June 12-13 strike on Iran’s nuclear facilities and Iran’s subsequent retaliation, prominent isolationist voices within the MAGA movement, such as Tucker Carlson and Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, have warned Trump against any US involvement.
-MAGA Civil War? They argue that supporting a wider war would betray “America First” principles. Trump, while not currently involved, has left the door open, stating, “It’s possible we could get involved,” creating a potential clash with his anti-interventionist supporters.
MAGA Breaking Apart over Iran?
A less-often-discussed aspect of Donald Trump’s appeal to the MAGA base is Trump’s claim that he started no foreign wars during the four years of his first presidency.
He came into office arguing against the Bush-Cheney-era foreign policy of wars of regime change, arguing in multiple political races that his opponents, whether Republican or Democratic, would return America to that era.
This isn’t to say that Trump did not ever exercise military power abroad; Trump did assassinate both ISIS leader Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi and Iranian Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps-Quds Force leader Qasem Soleimani in 2019 and 2020. And he pushed the withdrawal from Afghanistan out of his presidency and into Joe Biden’s.
As Responsible Statecraft argued in a 2021 analysis, Trump was never quite as anti-war as he claimed.
“Sure, Donald Trump didn’t launch a new all-out ground invasion on the scale of Iraq,” the analysis said. “But he did escalate conflict in every theatre of war he inherited, repeatedly brought the country to the brink of new wars, and recklessly threw around U.S. power with no regard for the many lives it would cost. The ‘anti-war’ candidate, like those before him, was a pro-war president.”
Now, with Israel attacking Iran and Iran retaliating, Trump’s insistence on staying out of new wars is being put to the test.
How It Started
Last Thursday, Israel launched strikes on Iran, aimed at striking at Iran’s nuclear capability, and reportedly struck both Iran’s chain of command and killed several nuclear scientists.
Israel has long stated that it cannot live with Iran having nuclear weapons, and has long asked the U.S. for assistance in that goal, including in 2008, when the Bush Administration reportedly rejected an overture by Israel to do so.
The U.S. and other Western allies, during the Obama Administration, negotiated with Iran, ultimately agreeing to the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA), but once Trump came into office he exited the agreement. Israel was opposed to those negotiations all along.
The U.S. had been in talks with Iran about a new nuclear deal. The U.S. has been somewhat vague about how involved they were in the strikes.
After Israel’s strikes on Iran, which have been met with retaliation that has struck Tel Aviv and other Israeli cities, the Trump Administration reportedly rejected an Israeli plan to kill Iran’s Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
“We’re not involved in it. It’s possible we could get involved. But we are not at this moment involved,” Trump told ABC News over the weekend.
Would “involved” mean breaking Trump’s promise about new wars? His base has some strong feelings about that.
MAGA Against War in Iran
Tucker Carlson already accused Trump of betraying the concept of America First by threatening war with Iran. Also weighing in on Sunday was Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who has traditionally been a Trump loyalist but has always been willing to break with the president when she thinks he’s getting away from what she sees as MAGA principles.
“Anyone slobbering for the U.S. to become fully involved in the Israel/Iran war is not America First/MAGA,” Greene said in a long message on X, which was directed at those who are “fake” about their allegiance to “America First/MAGA.”
“We have spent TRILLIONS in the Middle East and we have dealt with the aftermath of death, blown apart bodies, never-ending suicides, and disabling PTSD,” Greene added. “All because they told us propaganda as to why we must sacrifice our own to defend some other country’s borders and some other country’s borders.”
Also in that post, the woman known for her invocation of Jewish space lasers declared that “Taking this position is NOT antisemitic. It’s rational, sane, and loving toward all people.”
Trump said in an interview with The Atlantic that “America First” is what he personally says it is.
About the Author:
Stephen Silver is an award-winning journalist, essayist and film critic, and contributor to the Philadelphia Inquirer, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Broad Street Review and Splice Today. The co-founder of the Philadelphia Film Critics Circle, Stephen lives in suburban Philadelphia with his wife and two sons. For over a decade, Stephen has authored thousands of articles that focus on politics, technology, and the economy. Follow him on X (formerly Twitter) at @StephenSilver, and subscribe to his Substack newsletter.
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