"Trump Faces Backlash from Supporters Over Iran Conflict, Raising Impeachment Concerns | Vanity Fair"

“This is insane. Regime change will result in a bloody civil war, killing hundreds of thousands and creating another massive Muslim refugee crisis. Topping a leader is NEVER as easy you think. It almost always results in further involvement, a civil war, and chaos. Resist this!”

That was Charlie Kirk, speaking last summer and just a few months before his killing, in response to Lindsey Graham’s call for regime change in Iran. His protest reflected a sentiment pervasive among supporters of President Donald Trump, who campaigned on an end to foreign interventions that have cost the United States trillions of dollars and thousands of lives in this century alone: that Trump’s bellicosity is a betrayal of everything the MAGA movement stands for.

The United States and Israel attacked Iran early Saturday morning, launching a wave of major strikes across Tehran they said targeted senior Iranian officials. Trump, in a video address posted to Truth Social, accused Iran of “mass terror” and said the attacks would target Iran’s military and seek to topple the regime. Trump was explicit in calling the operation a war. “The lives of courageous American heroes may be lost, and we may have casualties—that often happens in war,” he said. “But we’re doing this not for now—we’re doing this for the future, and it is a noble mission.”

The death toll of the attacks is significant. More than 200 people are believed to have been killed in the strikes, according to the Iranian Red Crescent, a number that is certain to climb. The Pentagon announced Sunday that three US service members have also been killed, and five more have been seriously wounded. A strike on a girls’ elementary school in southern Iran killed at least 148 people and wounded 95 others, according to Iran state media. The New York Times reported that Iranian media believes that most of the dead are likely children.

Before the attack, Trump was spotted dancing to “God Bless the USA” at a gala being held at his resort on Friday night. Later, Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu posted a photo of a phone call with Trump; on his desk was a map of the Middle East and Tim Bouverie’s book Allies at War, an account of how Winston Churchill worked to pull the United States into World War II. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt said Trump “monitored the situation overnight” at his Mar a Lago resort “alongside members of his national security team.”

The war is certain to widen a growing rift in Trump’s base over his military adventurism abroad. Tucker Carlson, one of Trump’s most prominent supporters, argued for his election in 2024 on the basis that his opponents would drag the United States into unnecessary wars. In comments to ABC News correspondent Jonathan Karl, Carlson called the attacks on Iran “absolutely disgusting and evil” and said they would deal a blow to his movement. 'This is going to shuffle the deck in a profound way,' Carlson said.

Donald Trump and JD Vance sit in the White House's Situation Room during the US strikes on Iran on June 21, 2025.

Curt Mills, the executive director of The American Conservative magazine, has described Trump’s rule as an “imperial presidency.” In an interview with Vanity Fair, he said Trump’s “core appeal” in the 2024 campaign was an “anti-globalist, anti-imperial” message. “Now it just seems overt. The administration serves rich people and does wars for foreign countries. It plays so ruthlessly into the Democrats' oligarchy messaging. It's kind of astonishing that they're not more anti this. It seems served up on a ****ing platter. It's a two-to-one unpopular war, and it's weirdly associated with the administration's potential corruption.”

Now, prominent voices who supported Trump in the 2024 campaign are once again condemning his administration publicly. “By launching this illegal war of aggression against Iran, Donald Trump has betrayed the American people and his own base, none of whom wanted this,” said Dave Smith, a comedian and political commentator who endorsed Trump in 2024 after accusing the Democratic Party of becoming “war hawks.”

Rich Baris, a pro-Trump pollster, wrote on X, “No, sorry, I don't think regime change suddenly became good policy or politics just because Donald Trump did it.” And Andrew Tate, who has received support from the Trump administration, reacted: “NOBODY WANTS THIS WAR.” Blake Neff, a producer for Charlie Kirk, said his “right-leaning” friends were expressing outrage at the attacks. He posted a few: “F*** this.” “This is extremely depressing.” “Never voting in a national election again.”

“This is highly demotivating,” Mills said. “Look at the poll numbers since the 12-day war. That is when the vibe shifted. The media narrative on 2024 is that this was the podcast bro election. If you accept that it was a podcast bro election, it is relevant that the podcast bros hate this. And if you say that Trump built this enormous new coalition that's going to govern for a thousand years, and then you look at political independents and they hate it more than Democrats. And the way it's going to matter is that no one's going to show up to the polls in 2026. Republicans can legitimately lose the Senate, which is political malpractice. He could be impeached for any of these things.”

Marjorie Taylor Greene, the former congresswoman who is perhaps the most acute example of a Trump diehard who became disillusioned by his betrayal of MAGA ideals was unsparing in her response. Greene called the administration “sick fucking liars” in one of many posts condemning the attacks. She shared a clip comparing Trump to Lord Farquaad, the villainous tyrant from Shrek, who told his subjects: “Some of you may die, but it’s a sacrifice I am willing to make.”

These Trump supporters could be forgiven for believing he would focus on domestic issues over foreign intervention. He made that promise regularly on the campaign trail as he railed against his opponents—from Hillary Clinton to Kamala Harris—of pushing the United States into what he called “endless wars.”

“I can tell you, you’re not gonna have a war with me,” Trump told a rally crowd in 2024. The about-face has put high-profile members of his administration in an awkward position. How does Tulsi Gabbard, who once literally sold t-shirts exclaiming “No war with Iran,” explain this attack? Or Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who said in endorsing Trump that he wants “to end the grip of the neo-cons on U.S. foreign policy”? Or JD Vance, who published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal in 2023 declaring, “Trump’s Best Foreign Policy? Not Starting Any Wars,” and told an interviewer in 2024 that Harris was “sleepwalking us into war with Iran.”

The idea of Donald the Dove has always been divorced from reality. Yes, Trump managed to avoid starting any new wars in his first four years in office. But he embraced aggressive militarism just as much if not more than his predecessors. He lifted the constraints Barack Obama placed on drone strikes, carrying out more in the first two years of his presidency than Obama had in eight. 65 American soldiers died in combat during Trump’s first term, according to the Pentagon—far more than died under Biden. In his second term, Trump has bombed seven different countries and launched regime change wars in Venezuela and Iran.

Of course, Trump is the only person who can define what MAGA is, as he regularly reminds his followers. 'MAGA loves it,” Trump said after the United States invaded Venezuela and seized its leader Nicolas Maduro, sparking outrage among the more anti-intervention factions of his base. “MAGA loves what I’m doing. MAGA loves everything I do. MAGA is me. MAGA loves everything I do, and I love everything I do, too.'

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