MAGA movement divided over Trump’s move to bomb Iran

President Donald Trump’s MAGA sphere of conservative media and influencers — many of whom had expressed skepticism before his decision to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities — is divided over the president’s dramatic move to strike.

President Donald Trump’s MAGA sphere of conservative media and influencers — many of whom had expressed skepticism before his decision to bomb Iranian nuclear facilities — is divided over the president’s dramatic move to strike. Many of its most prominent figures rallied around Trump. But others sharply criticized the decision, said they want to see more explanation than his brief Saturday night speech, or warned of a drawn-out conflict. Ahead of Saturday’s bombing, the prospect of United States involvement in another Middle Eastern conflict had opened rifts in the GOP. Trump himself had ripped the United States’ involvement in wars in the Middle East as a presidential candidate, and his “Make America Great Again” movement includes many more isolationist voices aligned with his “America First” vision. Those voices were at odds in recent days with GOP hawks who advocated a muscular US role in supporting Israel in its bid to stop Iran from developing a nuclear weapon. But after Trump’s Saturday night announcement, some prominent MAGA voices rallied around the president. “Iran gave President Trump no choice,” said Charlie Kirk, a pro-Trump media personality and founder of the activist group Turning Point USA. “For a decade he has been adamant that Iran will never get a nuclear weapon. Iran decided to forego diplomacy in pursuit of a bomb. This is a surgical strike, operated perfectly,” Kirk said Saturday on X. “President Trump acted with prudence and decisiveness.”