With a temporary ceasefire in place now six weeks after President Donald Trump launched war against Iran, debates are raging over its conduct and outcome. According to conservative radio host Erick Erickson, his “diverse” GOP audience agrees that “it was a waste of lives, time and resources.”
Erickson, a longtime supporter of Trump, has spent the duration of the war alternating between full-throated support of the president’s actions and criticism of his more inflammatory comments.
On Wednesday, for example, in reference to Trump’s threat to destroy the “whole civilization” of Iran, Erickson asserted that, “the President needs to delete his social media accounts. He backed himself into a corner with yesterday's abominable tweet, turned off some of his core supporters, and caused would-be allies to distance themselves.”
But now that the war appears to be over, Erickson and his audience are disappointed by the war’s outcome overall as well.
“I’ve got a pretty diverse readership and listenership that was pretty divided on going into Iran,” he posted, “that is now pretty united it seems like it was a waste of lives, time and resources.”
He is far from the only conservative voice to express dismay at Trump’s handling and conclusion of the war. Longtime supporter of the president Alex Jones, for example, declared that “Trump capitulated,” saying, “This is a major strategic defeat for the U.S.” Far-right provocateur Nick Fuentes declared that, “There is no ambiguity here. It’s not debatable. It’s not subject to interpretation. We lost decisively.”
While this asserted loss has many Trump critics calling “TACO” — which stands for “Trump Always Chickens Out” — conservative commentator Bill Kristol says that this was more than a mere case of Trump backing down, but a total “surrender” on the part of the Commander in Chief.
Perhaps the respected military analyst Phillips O’Brien summed things up best, saying, “It’s a total fold by Trump. Iran gets to charge tolls and develop nukes. And the Iranian regime stays in power. What a waste all this was.”