Protester at the Reopen Wisconsin rally at the Capitol on April 24, 2020 (photo by Luther Wu).
President Donald Trump’s new war against Iran is so controversial among his own base, a conservative commentator quipped that “the aliens are on Trump’s side.”
“The war’s biggest fan is none other than Pizzagate promoter Mike Cernovich,” wrote The Bulwark’s Will Sommer. “With even podcast host Benny Johnson waffling on the war, Cernovich appeared on Johnson’s show Monday to cheer him up. And he had good news: The United States can avoid blowback for its military adventures, Cernovich said, because its weapons are so good they’re essentially ‘alien technology.’”
Adding that Cernovich is “an enthusiast of the hallucinogenic drug ayahuasca,” Sommer sarcastically observed that “once you know the aliens are on Trump’s side, it all makes sense.” Yet he noted that even Cernovich expressed disappointment after Secretary of State Marco Rubio admitted on Monday that America declared war on Iran to protect Israel. He was not alone.
“Megyn Kelly, on her Monday show, said she had ‘serious doubts’ about what the White House was doing in Iran,” Sommer wrote. “Appearing on Kelly’s show, former Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene suggested Trump has gone insane—adding that Trump’s oft-repeated statement about not knowing if he’ll get into heaven raises questions about his state of mind and competency.”
Tucker Carlson, a former Fox News host who is outspokenly critical of Israel, accused Trump of being manipulated by Israel, saying “this happened because Israel wanted it to happen. This is Israel’s war.” Perhaps to absolve Trump of responsibility, Carlson speculated that the president may have been duped by bad intelligence. “Maybe it doesn’t show that, because this country has certainly been manipulated a lot by Israeli intelligence—and other foreign countries’ intelligence, but certainly by Israeli intelligence,” Carlson said.
Similarly the pro-Trump Hodge Twins, a pair of popular MAGA influencers, also said that “we are at war for Israel. Thanks for confirming.” Sommer also pointed out that, according to a New York Times poll, only 21 percent of Americans support his attack, with Trump adviser Steve Bannon referring to this number as “brutal.” Perhaps for this reason, even Trump’s unwavering defenders insist that the Iran operation is not actually a “war” — although Trump himself has contradicted that defense, leading to some occasional awkward moments.
Appearing on CNN Monday with host Kasie Hunt, Sen. Markwayne Mullin (R-Ok.) was publicly corrected when he insisted that Trump’s actions in Iran were not a war.
“This isn't a war, we haven't declared war. Everybody wants to say,” Mullin told Hunt. The CNN host responded by playing a clip of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth saying earlier that day that “we set the terms of this war from start to finish. We didn't start this war. But under President Trump, we are finishing it.”
Hunt followed up by asking Mullin if he still stood by his statement that this is not a war.
“What he declared on us was war — meaning the Ayatollah declared war on us,” Mullin replied. “We are not at war with the Iranian people. The Ayatollah declared war on us, we've already taken him out, and now we're eliminating the threat."
A former Republican congressman, Joe Walsh of Illinois, argued last month that Trump supporters who stand by the president despite him breaking his promise to avoid future wars prove that they are in a “cult.”
“I thought you wanted him to end wars all over the world,” Walsh wrote. “You said you wanted him to end American entanglement in conflicts and wars around the world. America shouldn’t be involved in these wars, you said. That’s why you’re voting for Trump, you said.” Yet if they still back him despite his unprovoked wars against Venezuela and Iran, as well as his threatened wars against Greenland and Cuba, “what are we to think, MAGA, but that you are a cult?”
