The Republican president who vowed to “Make America Great Again” by ending “endless wars” now finds himself on the precipice of a potential new one.
Israel’s airstrikes on Iran Thursday came after President Donald Trump said he was hopeful for a nuclear deal and made clear publicly that he did not want Israel to interfere by acting militarily.
Israel defied Trump. Trump now says he knew about the strikes all along.
The president wrote on Truth Social early Friday, “I gave Iran chance after chance to make a deal. I told them, in the strongest of words, to ‘just do it,’ but no matter how hard they tried, no matter how close they got, they just couldn’t get it done.” He went on:
“Certain Iranian hardliner’s spoke bravely, but they didn’t know what was about to happen. They are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse!” Trump said. “Iran must make a deal, before there is nothing left, and save what was once known as the Iranian Empire. No more death, no more destruction, JUST DO IT, BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE.”
Trump’s next move is unknown. But some of the most prominent voices within his extended MAGA movement are pleading with the president not to drag the U.S. into another Middle Eastern war.
Tucker Carlson says Trump is complicit in the strikes and insists that this isn’t America’sfight.
“While the American military may not have physically perpetrated the assault, years of funding and sending weapons to Israel, which Donald Trump just bragged about on Truth Social, undeniably place the U.S. at the center of last night’s events,” Carlson wrote in his Friday newsletter to paid subscribers.
“Washington knew these attacks would happen,” he added. “They aided Israel in carrying them out.”
“It’s worth taking a step back and wondering how any of this helps the United States,” the newsletter reads. “We can’t think of a single way.”
Carlson continued, “If Israel wants to wage this war, it has every right to do so. It is a sovereign country, and it can do as it pleases. But not with America’s backing.”
Citing Trump’s foreign policy campaign promises, Carlson noted that direct U.S. involvement in a war with Iran “would be a middle finger in the faces of the millions of voters who cast their ballots in hopes of creating a government that would finally put the United States first.”
“What happens next will define Donald Trump’s presidency,” Carlson concluded. “Drop Israel...let them fight their own wars.”
Former Trump adviser Steven Bannon agrees with keeping the U.S. out of this conflict. "Last night was a decapitation strike against the Iranian Revolutionary Guard,” Bannon said. “And hey, you’re putting your defense first and that’s fine. But we gotta put our defense first. And what cannot happen is be drawn into another war."
These MAGA figures are unified in believing the U.S. should not be involved in a war between Israel and Iran, as the old guard, neoconservative voices like Sen. Lindsey Graham and talk host Mark Levin could not contain their excitement over the Israeli strikes. Graham started out with “game on” in a social media post and then it went downhill from here.
Breaking Points’ Saagar Enjeti said Israel made Trump look like a joke. “Israel has now made a mockery of the United States,” he wrote. “President Trump today said he did not want strikes ahead of negotiations scheduled for tomorrow and they did it anyways.”
“Their attack today is deliberate sabotage and a blatant attempt to force us into war. We must resist,” Enjeti added.
Turning Point USA’s Charlie Kirk said Israel can do what it likes with Iran, but that it was imperative that the U.S. not be involved, and also to ignore neocon voices urging another American war.
Kirk wrote in a lengthy post on X, “In the hours and days to come, there will be hawks who urge America to increase its involvement in this conflict. They will call for us to ‘finish off the mullahs,’ or to help Israel with ‘mopping up.’ They will claim (tell me if you've heard this before) that if we topple the Iranian regime, we will be welcomed as ‘liberators.’ We should be deeply skeptical of these arguments.”
“Our focus must not be on seeking regime change or any further escalation of America's involvement,” Kirk said. “The last thing America needs right now is a new war. Our number one desire must be peace, as quickly as possible.”
MAGA-adjacent libertarian comedian Dave Smith observed, “I thought Covid was the test of Trump’s life but it’s this. I really hope he doesn’t fail both of them and keeps us out of a war here.”
Sen. Rand Paul wrote, “No war with Iran. The Neocons latest plan must be opposed.”
Paul also used positive messaging, “I applaud POTUS for urging Iran back to the negotiating table and making clear the U.S. won’t be involved in Israel’s strike on Iran.”
“Diplomacy and deterrence, not endless war, should be our priority,” Paul said. “That’s what putting America First looks like.”
Rep. Thomas Massie, regular Paul ally and sometimes Trump foe, but still loved by large swaths of MAGA,, shared on X, “Israel doesn’t need US taxpayers’ money for defense if it already has enough to start offensive wars.”
“I vote not to fund this war of aggression,” Massie added.
One of the most vocal antiwar Republicans in Washington, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, kept it simple, “I’m praying for peace. Peace. That’s my official position.”
Peace is clearly MAGA’s position judging by these reactions. Whether it will have a “peace president” to make that happen remains to be seen.
