The Iran War Is Tearing Trump’s Coalition Apart
It’s safe to say that President Donald Trump has lost the American people’s support for the war in Iran, if indeed he ever had it. As of mid-April, less than a quarter of those polled say that the war has been worth it, a number likely only to decrease as the war’s economic costs continue to mount globally.
Yet as a lame-duck president, Trump is in many ways immune to much of the pressure that would normally dog a highly unpopular leader. The war and associated inflation are likely to cost Republicans more seats in the midterms—certainly more than they might have lost otherwise—but the president faces no imminent revolt from Congress. He is remarkably unconstrained for a man who has started one of the most unpopular wars in U.S. history.
It’s safe to say that President Donald Trump has lost the American people’s support for the war in Iran, if indeed he ever had it. As of mid-April, less than a quarter of those polled say that the war has been worth it, a number likely only to decrease as the war’s economic costs continue to mount globally.
Yet as a lame-duck president, Trump is in many ways immune to much of the pressure that would normally dog a highly unpopular leader. The war and associated inflation are likely to cost Republicans more seats in the midterms—certainly more than they might have lost otherwise—but the president faces no imminent revolt from Congress. He is remarkably unconstrained for a man who has started one of the most unpopular wars in U.S. history.
More interesting, however, is the debate about whether the president is losing his base of support. High-profile defectors such as Tucker Carlson or Marjorie Taylor Greene have accused the president of abandoning his supporters; hawkish Republicans, meanwhile, respond by waving polls that show strong support for the war among those who identify as “MAGA Republicans.”
But the debate about MAGA versus non-MAGA Republicans is obscuring the fact that Trump’s choice........
