MARCH 2, 2026
Plumes of smoke rise following reported explosions in Tehran on March 1, 2026, after Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was killed a day earlier in a large U.S. and Israeli attack, prompting a new wave of retaliatory missile strikes from Iran. – FARIBA, Middle East Images/AFP via Getty
After unleashing operation “Epic Fury” in Iran, President Donald Trump is facing MAGA skepticism at home as the military campaign threatens to strain his political coalition heading into the midterm election.
Trump campaigned as a staunch critic of U.S. wars in the Middle East, and his aggressive foreign policy moves since returning to office have sparked backlash within the MAGA movement, including accusations he has betrayed those who subscribed to his anti-interventionist, “America First” pledges.
Polling indicates many Republicans are wary of military involvement in Iran, presenting a challenge as the president works to keep them motivated in a crucial election year. That skepticism has been aired publicly by prominent voices on the right since the U.S. and Israel launched a military campaign targeting Iran’s leadership, missile sites and nuclear program.
Tucker Carlson, a long-time Trump backer and former FOX News host who recently attended a White House event, was scathing in an ABC News interview, describing the Iran operation that was launch on Feb. 28 as “absolutely disgusting and evil.”
Others in the MAGA sphere questioned how the operation squares with the spirit of the president’s political movement, which over three White House campaigns centered around a more populist approach that eschewed years of GOP foreign policy orthodoxy on utilizing American military might.
“I don’t see how this is in keeping with the president’s MAGA commitment. I’m disappointed,” Trump ally Erik Prince, a private military contractor, said March. 1 on a podcast hosted by Steven Bannon, who served as White House chief strategist during Trump’s first term.
Former GOP Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who has become a fervent Trump critic after years as one of his top supporters in Congress, accused the president and his team in a flurry of social media posts after the initial attack on Iran of betraying their promises.
Greene called the Trump administration “sick (expletive) liars” in a Feb. 27 post declaring, “We voted for America First and ZERO wars.”
Regime change war
The Trump administration’s focus on regime change in Iran is adding to the backlash. The president announced that Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei had been killed along with other top leaders, and has called on the Iranian people to rise up and replace the regime, even as he has warned against regime change efforts in the past.
“We must abandon the failed policies of nation building and regime change,” Trump said at the 2016 Republican National Convention.
The deaths of three U.S. troops in the operation also has heightened tensions.
Former U.S. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene, Republican from Georgia, speaks to reporters as she arrives for a closed-door meeting with House Republicans, at the Republican National Committee office on Capitol Hill on March 25, 2025, in Washington, DC. – DREW ANGERER, AFP via Getty Images
“This was absolutely unnecessary and is unacceptable,” Greene said in a March 1 social media post. “Trump, Vance, Tulsi (Gabbard), and all of us campaigned on no more foreign wars and regime change. Now, America soldiers are dead.”
Many GOP lawmakers and other conservatives are rallying around Trump as the military operation unfolds, with some dismissing the idea that the president is out of synch with MAGA.
Let Trump ‘cook’
Longtime Trump adviser Jason Miller said MAGA’s priorities are the same as the president’s, “Full stop.”
“We voted for President Trump because we believe in HIS decision-making & HIS judgment to keep us safe,” Miller said Feb. 28 on social media.
FOX News host Laura Ingraham asked conservative podcaster and former Trump FBI Deputy Director Dan Bongino what his message is to “some of our friends on the right” who point out that Trump campaigned against regime change and is now pursuing that goal.
“Can you give the man a chance to cook a little bit?” Bongino responded Feb. 28, adding: “Maybe give the guy five minutes before you’re already crapping on everything he did.”
Sen. Lindsay Graham, R-South Carolina, said on NBC’s Meet the Press that the Iran military operation is fully aligned with Trump’s America First agenda.
“America First is not isolationism, America First is not head in the sand,” said Graham, one of the most outspoken GOP hawks. “America First is not to get entangled. We’re not going to have any boots on the ground in Iran.”
Election questions
Trump also faced MAGA criticism after his decision to bomb Iran’s nuclear sites last year. It quickly quieted down, though. That attack was a single event that didn’t spiral into a broader conflict and there were no U.S. deaths. Polls since then have shown overwhelming support for the president among Republicans.
The latest conflict already has resulted in American casualties, though, and is more open ended, with the U.S. and Israel already launching multiple strikes and the president offering an uncertain timeline for how long it could last.
U.S. Navy sailors prepare to stage ordnance on the flight deck of the Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Abraham Lincoln during the U.S. attack on Iran at an undisclosed location, Feb. 28, 2026. – US Navy, via REUTERS
A University of Maryland survey conducted two weeks before Trump struck Iran again found that just 21% of U.S. adults favored launching an attack, including just 40% of Republicans. After the operation began, a Reuters/Ipsos poll found 27% of Americans approved, including 55% of Republicans.
With a sizeable portion of his party opposed or unsure of his use of force in Iran, Trump could be treading into politically perilous ground as he seeks to rally the GOP ahead of the midterms and maintain enthusiasm.
Mercedes Schlapp, a Trump ally who served in his first administration and in the administration of former Republican President George W. Bush, said in a CSPAN interview shortly before Trump struck Iran that it’s not something his MAGA base wants and that the midterms will be fought on the economy.
“I think that if the administration moves towards… more military tactics, a more aggressive posture into Iran, I think that that could be detrimental for Republicans going into the midterm elections,” Schlapp said, noting she worked for Bush during the Iraq War and “it became a very unpopular war quickly.”
Courtesy/Source: This article originally appeared on USA TODAY
