What the Iran Strikes Reveal About MAGA

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“The article describes the reactions of the MAGA movement to the Iran strikes. The author suggests that while some MAGA figures supported the strikes, others expressed concern about the potential for escalation and the possibility of a repeat of the Iraq War. The article concludes by noting that while the Iran strikes may not have caused a split within the MAGA movement, they may have revealed underlying tensions within the movement.

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The movement has survived all sorts of political stress tests, but there’s one schism that could actually pose a problem.

By Jon AllsopJune 27, 2025

Since Donald Trump returned to office, in January, a number of controversies have appeared to expose tensions within his MAGA movement, or to alienate key members of it: visas for skilled workers (actually, that dispute flared beforeTrump returned to office); the decision to bomb Yemen; the fact that officials in his Administration added the editor of The Atlantic to a group chat about bombing Yemen, then tried to dodge the blame; tariffs; spending; the deportation of a gay makeup artist to a Salvadoran mega-prison; Trump’s acceptance of a luxury jet as a gift from Qatar; the conspiracy theory that Jeffrey Epstein wasn’t actually murdered; the conspiracy theory that files relating to Epstein’s crimes haven’t been released because Trump appears in them.

Recently, media talk of a “MAGA civil war” reached its apex over the question of whether the U.S. should bomb Iran’s nuclear infrastructure. The former Fox host Tucker Carlson, who opposed such an operation, sparred with two boosters: the current Fox host Mark Levin, and the Republican senator Ted Cruz, whom Carlson revealed to be ignorant of basic facts about Iran in a clipthat went viral. Last week, as Israel attacked the Islamic Republic and Trump increasingly seemed keen to join in, MAGA personalities like Charlie Kirk expressed fear that doing so could profoundly fracture Trump’s movement; Kirk polled his X followers on whether the U.S. should get involved, and, of the nearly five hundred thousand respondents, ninety per cent said “No.” Candace Owens, a far-right commentator, accused Trump of betraying his promise not to enter foreign wars. In response, Laura Loomer, another far-right commentator, who earlier this year persuaded Trump to fire various national-security officials, said that she was “screenshotting everyone’s posts” and “going to deliver them in a package to President Trump so he sees who is truly with him and who isn’t.” She added, “I am the loyalty enforcer.”