By the Staff of AFP
Unprecedented pushback from some of Trump’s strongest MAGA supporters, as well as many liberals, had the president thinking twice about dragging the United States into yet another disastrous war in the Middle East.
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On June 13, the Israeli military orchestrated a sneak attack on Iran, sabotaging Iran’s defenses from within while attacking from the air with jet fighters.
It took a day, but Iran struck back hard, launching hundreds of advanced missiles at Israeli cities, hitting Israel’s military command center, among other key locations, and killing dozens of Israelis.
Iran also reportedly disrupted Israel’s network of spies inside the Persian country, nabbing and executing multiple foreigners, who, they claimed, had helped Israel treacherously but temporarily take down Iranian air defenses.
In the following days, the Israelis claimed that they had coordinated with Trump, who, they claimed, had provided cover for the Israeli sneak by pretending to publicly disagree with Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and scheduling more phony nuclear talks with Iranian diplomats.
In the past, there would have been no doubt that the U.S. military would have come to Israel’s aid, but a strange thing happened. Some of the biggest names in the MAGA movement came forward to voice their opposition to the United States being dragged into another war in the Middle East.
Chief among them was well-known conservative commentator Tucker Carlson, who wrote on the internet on June 13:
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 U.S. 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.
On the same day, MAGA firebrand Steven Bannon said on his popular internet talk show:
We don’t oppose Israel being Israel first, but we have to be America first. The bottom line is we cannot be dragged into a war on the Eurasian landmass or in the Middle East. … If Israel’s gonna go alone, then take care of your business. You decided to go it alone. You said you didn’t need us. And, six hours in, not only do they want the U.S. to help, you want the U.S. to go on offense.
A day later, another of Trump’s most ardent supporters, Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), told her followers that the U.S. should not go to war for Israel, writing:
Everyone is finding out who are real America first/MAGA and who were fake and just said it because it was popular. Anyone slobbering for the U.S. to become fully involved in the Israel-Iran war is not 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, all because they told us propaganda as to why we must sacrifice our own to defend some other country’s borders.
And that is not all. Soon, many others joined the call for peace.
On June 15, conservative Rep. Thomas Massie (R-Ky.) introduced legislation that reasserts Congress’s power over declarations of war. Massie wrote:
This is not our war. But, if it were, Congress must decide such matters according to our Constitution. I’m introducing a bipartisan War Powers Resolution tomorrow to prohibit our involvement. I invite all members of Congress to cosponsor this resolution.
Liberal Reps. Ro Khana (D-Calif.) and Alexandria Ocasio Cortez (D-N.Y.) immediately announced they were signing onto the bill. Khana took to the internet to declare:
No war in Iran. It’s time for every member to go on record. Are you with the neocons, who led us into Iraq, or do you stand with the American people? I am proud to co-lead this bipartisan War Powers Resolution with Rep. Massie that is privileged and must receive a vote.
In the Senate, Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) announced:
Netanyahu started this war by attacking Iran. He assassinated Ali Shamkhani, Iran’s lead nuclear negotiator, deliberately sabotaging U.S.-Iran nuclear nego- tiations. The U.S. must not be dragged into another illegal Netanyahu war—either militarily or financially.
Other strong Trump supporters in the media joined in as well. Black conservative commentator Candace Owens posted to social media site “X,” “Get ready, white American men! It’s time for you to go die for Israel again.”
Conservative Matt Walsh wasn’t going got be cowed by his ardent pro-Israel boss Ben Shapiro, writing on the internet:
The U.S. has been at war with one random Middle East country after another for my entire adult life. It’s baffling that there are people who want this to continue. Can we focus on our own problems for a change? Is that such a radical suggestion?
