As the conflict between Israel and Iran intensified over the weekend, the two countries took the entire region into no-man’s-land. Back in Washington, Donald Trump was navigating similar terrain.
Within Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement, a battle is raging of its own, between those Republicans who argue that US support for Israel must remain iron-clad, and those who cannot see the case that compels America to get involved in the conflict.
The debate is reminiscent of a political movement that is based on the cult of the leader's personality rather than a shared set of ideological principles. But it now threatens to hinder Trump’s response to the sudden escalation in the Middle East.
On Saturday night, even as he threatened Iran with reprisals for any military or terrorist action Tehran ignites against American interests, you could see Trump’s predicament in his messaging.
The US had nothing to do with the attack on Iran," he wrote on social media, before warning that "if we are attacked in any way, shape or form by Iran, the full strength and might of the US Armed Forces will come down on you at levels never seen before.
But after that familiar threatening refrain came a more conciliatory turn.
“We can easily get a deal done between Iran and Israel and end this bloody conflict,” insisted a President who has failed entirely to get a deal done in the months since his return to the White House.
Notably absent from the President's messaging over the weekend: any message of solidarity with Israel or promise of undiminished support for Benjamin Netanyahu throughout the conflict. Its absence may be due to the fact that the President is now conflicted himself, caught between two competing camps of his own supporters.
Tucker Carlson, the former Fox News personality and prominent Trump ally, is leading the charge of "America First" figures urging the President to bail on Netanyahu.
If Israel wants to wage this war, it has every right to do so…but not with America’s backing, thundered Carlson’s newsletter to his webcast subscribers. Arguing that an Israeli-led war with Iran will fuel terrorism, he urged Trump to “drop Israel. Let them fight their own wars.”
Prominent libertarians echo Carlson's position. Senator Rand Paul, Republican of Kentucky, urged Americans to "hope and pray for peace," but counseled the President "to stay the course, keep putting America first, and to not join in any war between other countries."
Far right influencer Candace Owens published a video on her social media accounts titled "No More Pointless Wars." She urged Trump to abandon Netanyahu, saying it would be "stupid" to continue backing the Israeli leader. "We don’t need to be involved in Bibi Netanyahu’s Middle East B.S. and expansion policies," she fumed, warning her American followers that Israel "wants you to be the people that go and die for it."
But other key figures in Trump’s entourage are pushing back. Ambassador Mike Huckabee, the President’s envoy to Israel, urged Americans to understand that US lives are already at stake in the conflict. “If you hear ‘Israel is no concern to USA’ remember 700,000 AMERICANS live in Israel,” he said on ‘X,’ noting there are “more Americans here than in any other country except Mexico! Iran isn’t just attacking Israel, but your fellow Americans.”
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Mike Pompeo, who served as Secretary of State in Trump's first administration, described Israel's fight as "the fight of all who seek a free and peaceful future" and said "the free world must unite in support of Israel." Like Huckabee, Pompeo is a Christian evangelical Who believes in the prophecy of 'the rapture,' the ascendancy of believers to the kingdom of God that is foretold by the gathering of Jews in Israel.
On Saturday, Trump weighed into the debate, insisting that when it comes to “America First” ideology, his will be the sole deciding voice.
He told The Atlantic "I'm the one that developed 'America First'... I'm the one that decides." He indicated irritation over efforts by Carlson and others to tie his hands. "For all those wonderful people who don't want to do anything about Iran having a nuclear weapon, that's not peace," he told reporter Michael Scherer.
Those comments suggest that Trump recognizes a vital security interest for his country in the ongoing conflict. But they do not indicate that he will give Netanyahu a blank check to plunge the region into chaos. In navigating the competing positions of his own supporters at a time of uncertainty, Trump remains in the business of keeping all his options open.
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