Some of President Donald Trump’s biggest political supporters say they are feeling abandoned after the U.S. joined Israel in bombing Iran, an operation that was launched without congressional approval and has so far left six U.S. service members dead.
Trump officials acknowledge “Operation Epic Fury,” as it’s formally named, comes with political risk, but they argue that the military operation will be short term and is in line with his “peace through strength” campaign pledge.
“We understand some will reflexively oppose this, people don’t love the idea of war,” said a Trump adviser who, like others in this piece, was granted anonymity to speak candidly. “But people like winners. They are drawn to it. If we do this quickly, I think it will be seen as what it is: successful.”
But the war is a stark departure from Trump’s long-held “America First” campaign pledge, which was predicated on the idea of focusing on domestic issues rather than foreign entanglements. Trump has indicated that there is no end date to the operation in Iran, which risks spiraling into a wider regional conflict.
For the MAGA base, the abrupt bombing of Iran seems like a drastic departure from one of Trump’s core policy promises, and one that could hurt him and Republicans in the key 2026 midterms.
I “don’t see how this helps Republicans in tight races across the country,” Curt Mills, executive director of The American Conservative magazine, said. “In fact, I think it may orient against them. This turns off a lot of independents.”
Former Fox News host and ardent Trump supporter Megyn Kelly said Monday she has “serious doubts” about the Iran strike, which drew a direct rebuke from Trump.
Kelly “was opposed to me for years when I ran the first time and nothing stopped me,” Trump said in an interview with The Inner Circle newsletter. “They always come back.”
Matt Walsh, a prominent right-wing provocateur who has supported Trump, said he sees nothing positive coming out of the attacks on Iran.
“What nobody has even come close to sufficiently explaining is how this war will first and foremost directly benefit American citizens,” he posted on social media. “That is a case that needed to have been made clearly and convincingly before this move, and it wasn’t. We’re also told how this will benefit Israel, and I’m sure it will. But Israel is not America. What does it do for America?”
The White House did not return a request for comment for this article.
Trump ran his 2024 campaign on the idea that foreign wars would end and his focus would be more on domestic issues.
“I will not send you to fight and die in stupid foreign wars that never end,” Trump said during a 2024 campaign stop in Pennsylvania. “I will not send our sons and daughters to go fight for a war in a country that you’ve never heard of. We’re not going to do it. We’re going to bring our troops home, and we’re going to focus on America First.”
Even Vice President JD Vance said Trump’s stance against foreign interventions was part of what drew him to the MAGA movement.
“My entire adult lifetime has been shaped by presidents who threw America into unwise wars and failed to win them,” Trump’s future vice president, JD Vance, wrote for The Wall Street Journal in a January 2023 guest column endorsing Trump’s 2024 bid, adding, “In Mr. Trump’s four years in office, he started no wars despite enormous pressure from his own party and even members of his own administration.”
The strikes have left some who worked to help elect Trump feeling both like they were duped, and worried that the war will hurt Republicans politically.
An adviser to Elon Musk’s super PAC during the 2024 campaign told NBC News that their work revolved around reaching three groups of voters who were perceived to be disillusioned with President Joe Biden and Democrats. He worried that after the war with Iran, they’ll all be lost.
“There are three tiers,” the adviser said. “One is what we called the ‘Zyn bros.’ Those who are men 18-40. The second was Hispanics, Trump did great with them in 2024. And the third was the Dearborn approach [Muslim voters]. Those are all gone.”
