'Backfired! WSJ editorial says Trump's
in trouble
President Donald Trump’s war
against Iran has politically
“backfired” terribly, a prominent
centrist think tank scholar
and columnist argued on Wednesday.
“When the current war began,
public support was lower than for any other major
conflict undertaken in nearly a century,” explained
Wall Street Journal columnist William A. Galston.
“Before attacking Iran, however, Mr. Trump offered
only a cursory rationale to Congress and the American
people. The need for surprise might conceivably have
justified his near-silence on such a grave matter.”
He added, “But there is no justification for his failure
to offer a systematic and sustained case for the war
once it began,” describing Trump’s unilateral approach to global conflict as having “backfired” with average support for the war
falling to 39 percent.
“The American people don’t think that the president
has clearly explained the goals of the war, and the
share who think he has done so is smaller today than
it was at the beginning,” Galston said. “Americans
have concluded that the war will weaken the economy
and leave the country less safe. They believe that it is a
war of choice, not necessity, and that it is going badly.
And despite the administration’s call for short-term
sacrifice, people reject paying more for gasoline as
their patriotic duty by a margin of 2 to 1.”
Lest anyone doubt the immediate political implications of these findings for Trump, Galston pointed out that the president is
losing support among precisely those groups that
gravitated toward him in 2024.
“One quarter of the Americans who voted for him in
2024 disapprove of his Iran policy, and this disapproval
is especially high among groups who moved strongly
toward him during that election: 56% among young
adults, 62% for Hispanics and independents,” Galston
wrote. “These statistics signal more than a political
threat for Mr. Trump and the Republicans who must
face voters this fall. They represent a challenge to the
democratic legitimacy of the most solemn decision that a nation can make.”
He ultimately opined, “It’s up to the president to conclude
this war in the way that does the least damage to our nati-
onal interest—and to the people’s waning confidence in
their public institutions.”
Influential conservative thought leaders are also turning
on the Iran war. Megyn Kelly reported that she had “serious
doubts” shortly after the invasion, while former Rep. Marjo-
rie Taylor Greene suggested Trump had literally gone insane. Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson accused Trump of going to war
for Israel, saying “this happened because Israel wanted it to
happen. This is Israel’s war,” adding that “this country has
certainly been manipulated a lot by Israeli intelligence—and
other foreign countries’ intelligence, but certainly by Israeli
intelligence.” He was joined by the pro-Trump Hodge Twins, a pair of popular MAGA influencers, similarly said that “we are at
war for Israel. Thanks for confirming.”
Finally popular right-wing podcaster Joe Rogan said after
Trump invaded Iran that “it just seems so insane, based on
what he ran on. I mean, this is why a lot of people feel betrayed
, right? He ran on, ‘No more wars,’ ‘End these stupid, senseless
wars,’ and then we have one that we can’t even really clearly
define why we did it.” Meanwhile former Rep. Joe Walsh
(R-Ill.), a former Trump supporter, cited the invasion as proof
that Trump supporters are in a cult.
“And you don’t like when people call you a cult, Trump voters?” Walsh argued. “What else are people to think when you voted for
Trump to get us the hell out of wars around the world, and
instead he gets us involved in wars around the world and starts
new wars, and you still sing his praises and support him?
What are we to think, MAGA, but that you are a cult?”
He wrapped it up, “You’ve got no argument against
people calling you a cult. And if he takes us to war
against Iran, and you clap and applaud and throw him
flowers, Trump supporters, I will be at the
front of the parade calling you a cult.”
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