Since Friday, the Israeli bombing of Iran has dominated public discourse, and some of President Donald Trump’s longest-standing loyalists have split with legacy media and Republican politicians on what the level of US involvement should be.
As is often the case with conflicts or wars, positions on the matter don’t necessarily break down into neat ideological boxes that correlate with the left-to-right spectrum.
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When Hamas launched terror attacks on southern Israel in October 2023, stances fell along more partisan lines. The American left was more sympathetic to the Palestinian cause and skeptical of the US alliance with Israel, while the right generally supported the alliance and Israel’s response.
However, as the war has gone on, the American right has begun to sour on Israel as well, with half of Republicans under age 50 now saying they have an “unfavorable” view of the country.
This shift is ostensibly rooted in the popularity of Trump’s “America First” platform, which saw Trump often railing against neoconservatism and the funding of foreign wars during the 2024 campaign.
Though Trump has always supported Israel, his populist campaign messaging seems to have awoken much of the populist “MAGA” right to take on more traditionally left-wing viewpoints, breaking with the traditional or “neoconservative” Republican right.
While Trump has reportedly said his administration “knew everything” about the strikes against Iran beforehand, it’s not fully clear yet what level of involvement the US had, aside from Israel’s arsenal relying heavily on US weaponry.
Nonetheless, immediately after the first round of bombing, Trump boasted about its success on Truth Social, writing, “I told [Iran] it would be much worse than anything they know, anticipated, or were told, that the United States makes the best and most lethal military equipment anywhere in the World, BY FAR, and that Israel has a lot of it, with much more to come - And they know how to use it. Certain Iranian hardliner’s spoke bravely, but they didn’t know what was about to happen. They are all DEAD now, and it will only get worse!”
MAGA Heavyweights Disapprove of War With Iran
Despite Trump’s apparent delight with how Israel’s attacks went, several of the MAGA movement’s fiercest and longest-standing supporters have expressed much more skepticism, if not outright discontent. Though most seem to avoid criticizing Trump individually, their messaging has split them from the position of many other Republicans and potentially even Trump himself.
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA) has been one of the most vocal. On June 16, she wrote: “Everyone is finding out who are real America First/MAGA and who were fake and just said it bc it was popular. Unfortunately the list of fakes are becoming quite long and exposed themselves quickly. Anyone slobbering for the U.S. to become fully involved in the Israel/Iran war is not America First/MAGA. Wishing for murder of innocent people is disgusting. We are sick and tired of foreign wars. All of them.” She added, I don’t want to see Israel bombed or Iran bombed or Gaza bombed. I don’t want to see Ukraine bombed or Russia bombed. And we do NOT want to be involved or required to pay for ANY OF IT!!!”
Everyone is finding out who are real America First/MAGA and who were fake and just said it bc it was popular.
Unfortunately the list of fakes are becoming quite long and exposed themselves quickly.
Anyone slobbering for the U.S. to become fully involved in the Israel/Iran war…
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (@RepMTG) June 15, 2025
Candace Owens (Right), who was fired from The Daily Wire (Right) in October 2023 after she questioned Israel’s actions in Gaza, has steadily expressed anti-Israel sentiments since. On June 13, she wrote: “Our foreign policy is dictated by Israel. Trump will continue to do as he is told by Netanyahu…. We are a colony of Israel. Your politicians are bought and paid for.”
On June 17, she wrote: “Donald Trump just completely fractured his base. And he did it for the very neocons who minted the #NeverTrump movement. Truly unbelievable.”
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Matt Walsh (Right) of The Daily Wire wrote on June 15, “The US has been at war with one random Middle East country after another for my entire adult life. It’s baffling that there are people who want this to continue. Can we focus on own problems for a change? Is that such a radical suggestion?”
He added on June 16, “How Trump can completely destroy his legacy in two easy steps: 1. Get us involved in a war in the Middle East. 2. Give amnesty to illegals on behalf of the hotel industry and Big Ag.”
Charlie Kirk (Right) expressed “complete faith” in Trump’s ability to handle the situation between Iran and Israel on June 16.
Previously, on June 13, Kirk described the success of Israel’s first round of bombing as “great,” but also added, “Our focus must not be on seeking regime change or any further escalation of America's involvement. The last thing America needs right now is a new war. Our number one desire must be peace, as quickly as possible… Israel believed their existence was at stake, and they acted accordingly and impressively. This is Israel’s fight to finish as they see fit, not America’s.”
Former Rep. Matt Gaetz (R-FL), on his new TV show on One America News Network (Right), said, “Many of President Trump’s Pro-Israel friends and advisers are trying to pressure and convince him that the United States should join airstrikes against Iran. On this program, we strongly disagree with that assessment and that advice. President Trump should reject it.”
He added, “I’m old enough to remember the last time Israel coaxed the United States into a regime change war in the Middle East… The last time America listened to Netanyahu based on false claims of WMDs, we ended up pouring cash and blood all over the sands of Mesopotamia, and in the end, we only made Iran stronger.”
Fox News (Right bias) host Laura Ingraham (Right) voiced skepticism over US involvement on June 13, but has remained relatively quiet since. On June 13, she wrote, “Didn’t they say the same about Iraq & Afghanistan— that those wars would make us stronger? By what measure is America stronger or better off than we were before we launched those wars?”
Tucker Carlson (Right), who for months has raised alarms over the prospect of war with Iran, wrote on June 13: “Who are the warmongers? They would include anyone who’s calling Donald Trump today to demand air strikes and other direct US military involvement in a war with Iran. On that list: Sean Hannity, Mark Levin, Rupert Murdoch, Ike Perlmutter and Miriam Adelson.”
The real divide isn’t between people who support Israel and people who support Iran or the Palestinians. The real divide is between those who casually encourage violence, and those who seek to prevent it — between warmongers and peacemakers. Who are the warmongers? They would…
— Tucker Carlson (@TuckerCarlson) June 13, 2025
Steve Bannon (Right), Trump’s former chief strategist and host of the War Room podcast, has been more hawkish on Israel’s decision to attack Iran, but expressed strong opposition to the United States getting involved. Bannon compared the bombing of Iran to the American involvement in Iraq in the 2000s. Bannon said the US had troops in Iraq because “Fox News… and Bush lied to us.”
On June 16, Bannon and Carlson appeared on each other’s podcasts, with both assuming stiffer postures.
On the War Room, Bannon criticized the Trump administration for not involving Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard in meetings held at Camp David.
On The Tucker Carlson Show, Bannon said, “I think what’s most shocking is what you said – Hey, it was like Iraq… decisions kinda just happen. It’s like, what’s happened over the last 72 hours? How did we even get to this point? How did this actually happen? Who made these decisions when we had the intel out there that [Iran being close to a nuclear weapon] was not like a thing? This was something that was going to happen a year or two from now, and Bibi admitted to Bret Baier on Sunday night. And so the question before us is not simply the Israel-Persia situation, it’s what the f*** is going on in this city?.. Whether you’re Barack Obama or Donald Trump – And if we don't sort it out now, and I mean right now… we have to have a throwdown. We have to name names, we have to expose it. If we don't throw down now, in the summer of 2025, we’re not going to have a country.”
Trump has since fired back at Carlson, calling him “kooky” and saying, “I don't know what Tucker Carlson is saying. Let him go get a television network and say it so that people listen.”
Other MAGA Heavyweights Support War With Iran
Not all of Trump’s longstanding “MAGA” allies in the media are against the bombing of Iran, however.
Fox News host Mark Levin wrote, “THIS IS THE MAGA FOREIGN POLICY!.. Trump and Bibi are together demonstrating how to deal with a genocidal terrorist regime, how to use diplomacy and military power, how to use Intel and special forces, how to use the media and public statements, and more, to defeat the biggest terror-supporting regime on the planet. It is and has been brilliant… Yet, the isolationists, like Chatsworth Qatarlson, are now turning on our president, as they’ve spent months demeaning Bibi. They prefer the likes of Putin who, apparently, is more MAGA than Trump! They wind up turning themselves into pretzels, actually characterizing the Iranian regime as oppressed and victimized! These reprobates have never been MAGA."
THIS IS THE MAGA FOREIGN POLICY!
So tired of the isolationists barking about the old and failed foreign policy of the past and insisting that they’ve uncovered the secret, new way forward — isolationism. There’s nothing new or good about isolationism which, in a word, is…
— Mark R. Levin (@marklevinshow) June 14, 2025
Levin’s Fox News colleague Sean Hannity (Right) said on-air, “As an American, ask yourself a simple question: How many missiles would it take from a foreign country and their proxies that would be fired into the USA, into our country, killing American citizens, terrorizing American citizens, before you would want that country stopped? What’s your threshold? Two missiles? A hundred missiles? A thousand? Ten thousand? You know, what would you expect American leaders to do if this country, the number one state sponsor of terror, was, according to reports, a month, six months away, from arming themselves with a nuclear weapon?”
Republican Politicians Mostly in Favor of War With Iran
Several prominent Republican politicians have voiced hawkish rhetoric on Israel’s bombing of Iran and US involvement.
One of the most insistent has been Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-SC). On June 13, he wrote, “I applaud President Trump for urging Iran back to the negotiating table… However, if Iran refuses this offer, I strongly believe it is in America’s national security interest to go all-in to help Israel finish the job.”
He used the exact same phrase, that the US “should be all-in to help Israel finish the job,” again later on June 13, June 14, and June 15.
Again, I applaud President Trump for urging Iran back to the negotiating table, in order to end the regime’s nuclear ambitions through diplomacy, avoiding further bloodshed.
However, if Iran refuses this offer, I strongly believe it is in America’s national security interest to…
— Lindsey Graham (@LindseyGrahamSC) June 13, 2025
In a now-deleted X post from June 14, former Ambassador to the United Nations Nikki Haley wrote, “Finish them. #EndTheTerrorism.”
On June 13, Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) wrote, “Israel is acting to defend itself. I stand with Israel. America stands with Israel.”
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-AR) wrote on June 13, “Iran is the world’s worst state sponsor of terrorism, has the blood of thousands of Americans on its hands… We back Israel to the hilt, all the way. And if the ayatollahs harm a single American, that will be the end of the ayatollahs.”
On June 16, he wrote, “The forever war is the war that Iran has waged against the United States, Israel, and the civilized world since 1979.”
But some top elected Republicans, who like the aforementioned, have notably split from Trump on several key issues in the past, voiced more non-interventionist sentiments.
Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) wrote on June 13, “Israel doesn’t need US taxpayers’ money for defense if it already has enough to start offensive wars. I vote not to fund this war of aggression.”
On June 16, he added, “This is not our war. But if it were, Congress must decide such matters according to our Constitution. I’m introducing a bipartisan War Powers Resolution tomorrow to prohibit our involvement. I invite all members of Congress to cosponsor this resolution.”
Sen. Rand Paul (R-KY) wrote on June 13, “No war with Iran. The Neocons latest plan must be opposed.”
A few minutes later, he added, “The American people overwhelming oppose our endless wars, and they voted that way when they voted for Donald Trump in 2024. I urge President Trump to stay the course, keep putting America first, and to not join in any war between other countries.”
Andy Gorel is a News and Social Media Editor at AllSides. He has a Center bias.
This piece was reviewed by Julie Mastrine, Director of Marketing and Media Bias Ratings (Lean Right, Evan Wagner, News Editor and Project Manager (Lean Left), and Johnathon Held, News and Bias Analyst (Lean Right).
