By Associated Press’s JILL COLVIN, GARY FIELDS, BRUCE SCHREINER, and ADRIANA GOMEZ LICON
FRONT ROYAL, VA. (AP) — Several major leaders of President Donald Trump’s Make America Great Again organization cautioned that he was making a serious mistake as he prepared to order the bombing of Iran’s nuclear installations.
Trump has been accused by Tucker Carlson of breaking his promise to refrain from starting new wars. An escalation would be too polarizing, according to Charlie Kirk. Trump’s former senior strategist, Steve Bannon, said that intervention would prevent mass deportations, the Republican Party’s top desire.
However, early polls and discussions with Trump supporters throughout this week indicate that his political base has embraced his choice. Most applauded the action and stated that they did not perceive it as going against Trump’s America First stance, but some expressing their fatigue with the United States getting involved in a drawn-out conflict.
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Retired Warrensburg, Missouri, Air Force veteran Ken Slabaugh declared his unwavering support for the strikes.
Speaking Sunday close to Whiteman Air Force Base, the location of the B-2 bombers involved in the operation, Slabaugh said he was convinced that Trump needed to take action since attempts to negotiate and reach agreements with Iran were pointless.
He asserted that the Iranians are untrustworthy and undoubtedly incapable of possessing a nuclear weapon.
The president’s response was precisely what he had anticipated.
He stated that he would not initiate fresh conflicts. He doesn’t initiate conflicts. Slabaugh stated that he completes them. It should be rather clear that he doesn’t tinker with it when the need arises. He dives in and completes it.
Denny Bayer, at an American Legion post in Brunswick, Maryland, more than 1,000 miles distant, described the attacks as “awesome.”
The veteran of the Army National Guard stated on Tuesday that he wants world peace. He offered them sixty days to reach a nuclear agreement.
The 72-year-old Bayer is unconcerned about any retaliation, claiming that Trump has made it clear what will happen: “I’ll rain hellfire down on you if you hurt one hair on an American’s head.”
About 70 miles from the nation’s capital, in Front Royal, Virginia, retired drywaller Stacey Roles felt Trump made the right choice.
The 77-year-old Roles identified as a member of Trump’s MAGA movement.
“I support Trump,” Roles declared on Tuesday.
When she initially heard that the United States had dropped bombs, Pam Pollard, 65, a longstanding Republican leader in Oklahoma, said she assumed that everyone in the world, with the exception of a very small minority, would embrace the move.
Pollard referred to Iran as a bully in the area and stated that presidents from several administrations had discussed Iran’s nuclear buildup.
She asserted that President Trump should not be harassed.
A military escalation does not concern Pollard. She is concerned that terrorist cells might be activated.
She said, “I am really afraid of that everywhere, not just in America.”
Republican Donna Williamson of neighboring Carrollton, Kentucky, in La Grange, on the outskirts of Louisville, expressed concern that the United States might be dragged into a long conflict in the Middle East.
She stated on Monday that while she hopes and prays that Trump is acting morally, she will hold off on passing judgment.
Republicans appear to be much more in favor of the military action than Democrats, according to early polls.
Approximately 80% of Republican registered voters support the United States joining Israel in attacking Iran’s nuclear installations, according to a Quinnipiac University poll released Wednesday.
However, 75% of Democratic voters opposed the strikes, and over half of those surveyed said they disapproved of them.
According to the study, about as many Democrats think that the strikes will make Americans less safe, while 80% of Republicans think that they will make Americans safer.
In the meantime, over eight out of ten voters are either extremely or moderately worried about the likelihood that the United States will be dragged into a conflict with Iran.
About eight out of ten registered voters were very or very concerned about Iran obtaining a nuclear weapon, according to a Fox News survey taken right after Israel’s strike on Iran but before the United States got involved.
Trump has never opposed international intervention, but his ire over the ongoing conflicts in Afghanistan and Iraq played a part in his election as president in 2016.
As part of a campaign including U.S. troops on the ground, U.S. special forces murdered Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the enigmatic leader of the Islamic State group, during a raid in Syria in 2019.
Some were concerned that Trump’s order to kill Iranian General Gen. Qassem Soleimani a year later might spark a full-scale conflict.
Trump issued an order for airstrikes against the Houthis in Yemen in March. He pledged to employ overwhelming, deadly force until the rebels supported by Iran stopped attacking ships along a crucial maritime route.
Trump told reporters, “My supporters are more in love with me today,” dismissing the idea that the attacks on Iran will turn off his base.
Republican Bill Cantle of Clearwater, Florida, stated that he believes Trump is acting appropriately with Iran.
I simply believe he ought to complete the task. While visiting downtown La Grange, Kentucky, with his spouse, Cantle remarked, “Don’t leave it half-done.”
Republican Peter Espinosa, a retired Army sergeant from the Miami suburb of Doral who was born in Cuba, stated that he believes Trump is disciplined and that Iranian authorities are the evil ones.
He said, “I really think he’s a peacekeeper.” All we have to do is combat and resolve the current antagonism in the Middle East, since failure to do so will put our nation in danger.
Clark Spieles expressed confidence in the administration’s activities during a GOP fundraiser in Lima, Ohio, on Tuesday, which was hosted by Vice President JD Vance.
Spieles, a trustee from Shawnee Township, Ohio, stated, “I have faith that they’re doing the right thing. Nobody likes war, everybody wants peace.”
Colvin reported from New York, Schreiner from La Grange, Kentucky, and Gomez Licon from Fort Lauderdale, Florida. This article was prepared with assistance from Associated Press polling editor Amelia Thomson DeVeaux in Washington and AP writers Julie Smyth in Lima, Ohio, and Nicholas Ingram in Knob Noster, Missouri.
