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MAGA allies warn against 'forever war'

Trump, Vance promise no prolonger conflict

By: Zac Anderson
USA Today

..... After President Donald Trump finished his June 21 [2025] address to the nation about bombing Iran, close ally and MAGA leader Steve Bannon declared on his podcast that it may not have been what "a lot of MAGA wanted to hear."
..... Trump said he didn't want to escalate tensions with Iran further but "if peace does not come quickly, we will go after those other targets with precision, speed and skill."
..... Bannon said the situation has the potential to escalate. "This is incrementalist," said Bannon, Trump's first term White House chief strategist. "If they hit back at American troops, do we go back in and hit again? Next thing you know, brother, you're in a forever war."
..... Opposition to "forever war: has become one of the central tenets of the Trump GOP, something the president has repeatedly highlighted in casting himself as a "peacemaker" who would get the country out of war - not start new ones.
..... "We will measure our success not only by the ballets we win but also by the wars that we end - and perhaps most importantly, the wars we never get into," Trump said on Inauguration Day.
..... That stance makes this a delicate and legacy-defining moment for Trump. It's also a sensitive one for him with his own party.
..... A vociferous debate about whether Trump should bomb Iran;s nuclear facilities played out among conservatives in the lead-up to the June 21 [2025] attack. some prominent MAGA figures said a strike would go against Trump's anti -interventionist approach, which has tapped into deep discontent with prolonged wars in the Middle east and reshaped the party's foreign policy.
..... MAGA Stalwart Representative Mariorie Taylor Greene of Georgia wrote a long post on social media the day after the bombing that stated, "I don't know anyone in America who has been the victim of a crime or killed by Iran." She continued, "I can support President Trump and his grate administration on may of the great things they are doing while disagreeing on bombing Iran and getting involved in a hot war that Israel started."
..... Representative Thomas Massie, R-Kentucky, said Trump's Iran strike is "not constitutional" in a social media post and told CBS's "Face the Nation: June 22 [2025] that his "side of the MAGA base" is made up of "non-interventionsits" who are "tired form all these wars."
..... Trump lashed out at Massie, saying "MAGA should drop tis pathetic LOSER ... like the plague!"
..... Still many Republicans rallied around the president after the Iran strike. Everyone form Trump's former Vice President Mike Pence to a slew of congressional leaders and MAGA figure such as Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk praised the move.
..... Kirk said Iran gave Trump "no choice" and that he acted with "prudence and decisiveness." Even Bannon, while raising concerns about how the conflict could play out, said, "Not that it's wrong to take these actions: sometimes you must take these actions."
..... Some conservatives are dismissing concerns that Trump's bombing campaign could fracture the GOP. Longtime Trump adviser Roger Stone told USA Today Trump is "far too wise" to get drawn into a "prolonged never-ending war," which he said is the only thing that could divide the MAGA coalition.
..... Lanhee Chen, a fellow with the conservative Hoover Institution and former adviser to leading GOP figures, said on NBC June 22 [2025] that the debate inside the GOP has been muted since the bombs fell.
..... Chen argued that keeping Iran from having nuclear weapons has long been a unifying point for Republicans. If the attack ends up being similar to what Trump did in 2020 when he ordered a drone strike that killed an Iranian general - which didn't escalate into broader conflict - then Chen said he believes Trump is "going to be able to hold the coalition together."
..... Republican consultant Matt Gorman said on Fox News June 22 [2022] that Trump "threaded the needle beautifully."
..... Gorman, who served as an adviser to GOP U.S. Senator Tim Scott's 2024 presidential campaign, said the Trump administrations has been clear that the Iran attack is "a very limited, targeted, focused operation. They don't want anything long-term."
..... But tensions remain among conservatives. After the president;s strike, Bannon said that Iran could distract form Trump's domestic agenda, including immigration enforcement and passing his high-priority tax and policy legislation. Bannon pointed to the comments on his show's live chat in arguing Trump has "some work to do" to sell his Iran strike to his base, particularly among younger conservatives.
..... "There are a lot of MAGA that are not happy about this," Bannon said late on June 21, [2025] while predicting that he thinks Trump "will get MAGA on board."
..... What comes next will be key. Figures such as Bannon are concerned about seeking regime change in Iran, and don't want to see the situation ramp up more.
..... "American troops have been killed and forever torn apart physically and mentally for Regine change, foreign wars, and for military industrial base profits," Greene wrote June 22. [2025] "I'm sick of it. I can easily say I support nuclear armed Israel;s right to defend themselves and also say at the same time I don't want to fight or fund nuclear armed Israel's wars."
..... The Trump administration is attuned to such concerns. Vice President JD Vance appeared on two prominent television programs June 22 [2025] to make the case the Trump isn't pursing regime change.
..... "I certainly empathize with Americans who are exhausted after 25 years of foreign entanglements in the Middle East, I understand the concern," Vance said on NBC, adding, "This is not going to be some long, drawn-out thing.
..... On ABC, Vance addressed the appearance of a contradiction between the president casting himself as a peacemaker while drooping bombs on Iran: "We believe the way you achieve peace is through strength."
..... The president is gambling he can deliver a targeted strike without getting drawn into a prolonged conflict, something he has pledged to avoid. Iran's response could change the trump administration;s calculus, through - if Iran this back and Trump weighs whether to retaliate with more U.S. strikes, which he is promising to do.

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