Why is the MAGA Community Divided Over U.S. Military Action Against Iran?

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United States President Donald Trump’s Republican base is divided over his decision to join Israel’s assault on Iran.

On Sunday morning, 125 US aircraft dropped 14 ‘bunker buster’ bombs on three Iranian nuclear sites: Fordow, Natanz and Isfahan.

The strikes, which were carried out without consulting Congress, have caused some Republicans to break ranks with the president and join Democrats in criticising the move.

Here’s what’s been said and why the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement is split on the issue:

What have Republicans said about US strikes on Iran?

Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is usually a steadfast supporter of Trump, even going so far as to question the integrity of the 2020 presidential election, which Trump lost to Joe Biden.

However, she has broken with him to criticise the bombing of Iran.

“Every time America is on the verge of greatness, we get involved in another foreign war … This is not our fight,” she’s said.

Kentucky congressman Thomas Massie — previously a pro-Trump Republican but not as reliable a supporter as Greene — has also been a vocal opponent of bombing Iran.

On CNN’s Inside Politics program, he said he was concerned that “three bombings to neutralise Iran” might be the 2025 version of “two weeks to slow the spread”, referencing the COVID-19 pandemic.

“This could turn into a protracted, prolonged engagement … most of us were tired of the wars in the Middle East and Eastern Europe and we were promised that we wouldn’t be engaged in another one.”

He argues the move is “unconstitutional” and last week introduced a motion to block the US from entering the conflict.

South Carolina senator Lindsey Graham has disputed claims that Trump had acted outside his authority.

“He had all the authority he needs under the constitution. They are wrong,” he said on NBC’s Meet the Press.

Missouri senator Eric Schmitt has also expressed support for Trump, describing him as a “foreign policy realist, not an ideologue”.

“He has taken limited military action to achieve a crucial objective that is in the core national interest of the United States: preventing Iran from developing nuclear weapons,” Schmitt wrote on X.

“He doesn’t want another Forever War. He wants peace … What happens now is up to Iran.”

Why is the MAGA base divided?

Michael Green is a professor and CEO of the United States Studies Centre at the University of Sydney.

He told SBS News there are tensions between a group supportive of Israel, which “sees the logic of taking out the nuclear weapons capability while Iran is weak”, and an isolationist group that “wants no more interventions and wars”.

While there’s division within Trump’s ranks, Green stresses the group opposing Trump is a minority.

It’s a section within MAGA that shares an “America First” ideology and is against military interventionism, dating back to the early 1940s when they were opposed to entering the war in Europe.

“There’s a history to this America First movement and this isolationism on the right wing of the Republican Party that goes back to the pre-war era, and even longer, so it’s always been there,” he said.

Green said Trump made one of the group’s most vocal members, Tulsi Gabbard, director of national intelligence as an acknowledgement to that part of MAGA that “he was hearing them and was sympathetic on this interventionist stance”.

However, he said the majority of Republicans support Trump.

Professor Wesley Widmaier, from the Australian National University’s Department of International Relations, said these tensions are evident in the now-viral interview between Republican senator Ted Cruz and political commentator Tucker Carlson.

In a heated exchange, Carlson quizzed Cruz’s knowledge on Iran — from its population to ethnic make-up — in an attempt to highlight his ignorance about the country and more broadly question his support of Israel’s war with Iran.

“Not that social media is real life. I completely concede that, but that illustrates the kind of tensions within Trump’s base,” he said.

Is Trump’s move constitutional?

Alongside Massie, many Democrats are calling on Trump to be held accountable by Congress, arguing it’s unconstitutional to order military intervention without consulting Congress.

Over the weekend, Senate minority leader Chuck Schumer said “no president should be allowed to unilaterally march this nation into something as consequential as war with erratic threats and no strategy”.

Schumer also called on Trump to enforce the 1973 War Powers Act, which requires a president to obtain a Congressional declaration of war before committing to military action.

However, interpretation of the act is debated and it contends with a constitutional designation of the president as the “commander-in-chief” of the nation’s military — a power that presidents have previously invoked to justify strikes without congressional approval.

Green explains that the main political issue is that Trump made the call without bipartisan support, potentially causing an issue with Democrats as well as Republicans down the line.

“Not getting a vote from Congress, but consulting leadership, that’s the norm,” he said.

Man in suit stands in front of wooden podium with microphone.

US Senate majority leader Chuck Schumer has criticised Trump’s action in Iran. Source: AAP / AP

“When you have a significant piece of intelligence for a military strike, the president — Republican or Democrat — informs … the eight most prominent members of the Congress on national security — Republicans and Democrats.”

“Trump didn’t tell anyone on the Hill. He just did it without informing Congress, and the Democrats are saying he didn’t tell us. So if it goes badly, he has left himself without bipartisan support.”

Green said this isn’t unconstitutional and previous presidents have signed off on military intervention without bipartisan support.

He points to former president Barack Obama authorising a military campaign against the self-proclaimed Islamic State group in Syria in 2014 and Bill Clinton signing off on intervention, including airstrikes, in Kosovo in 1999.

Although Trump’s decision to act unilaterally could backfire with the Democrats and Republicans, Green is confident the president has factored that into his calculations.

“I think Trump probably calculated correctly that Iran’s options are limited, and so the politics would probably hold for him,” he said.