There is nothing inherently irrational about opposing the airstrike on Iran. I think the people who do are wrong, and that many who are angry about Trump’s actions are only angry because it was Trump who took them.
But there is an isolationist strain in American politics, and hence, there are some politicians whose opposition to any military action aside from protecting the country from a clear and present danger stems from a principle they hold.
I think they are wrong. American prosperity and military strength are directly correlated, and while we have made serious mistakes when using our military power (Iraq, anyone?), the use of military force to ensure the free flow of goods, enhance stability by pushing back against aggressors, and to defend critical allies is a pillar upon which our prosperity is built.
Thomas Massie, Rand Paul, and Marjorie Taylor Greene are in the isolationist camp. And MTG is big mad at Donald Trump.
MAGA is not for foreign wars.
We are not for regime change.
We are for AMERICA FIRST.
The United States should not be involved in fighting nuclear-armed Israel’s war with Iran.
WATCH 👇 pic.twitter.com/oZHcNXQAjK
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) June 23, 2025
The defection of MTG is much more surprising than Thomas Massie’s opposition to the Iran strike, although so far, Massie has been the target of Trump’s ire. That likely has much more to do with Massie’s being a libertarian thorn in Trump’s foot, opposing the “Big Beautiful Bill,” than this one issue.
.@realDonaldTrump declared so much War on me today it should require an Act of Congress. #sassywithmassie pic.twitter.com/ZrMiIKcAxu
— Thomas Massie (@RepThomasMassie) June 23, 2025
Massie is one of the most principled Members of Congress, in both a good and bad way. Politics is the art of the possible, but Massie–like many libertarians–sees it as the realm of principled consistency. I both sympathize with his point of view and consider it naive.
Marjorie Taylor Greene, though, strikes me as more of an enthusiast than a principled thinker. She has strong opinions and blurts them out in a sort of discount Trumpian way. Trump is able to get away with that style of politics because he uses his utterances strategically–he has an end goal in mind, and “blurts” things out to shape the battlefield.
My thoughts on bombing Iran.
I don’t know anyone in America who has been the victim of a crime or killed by Iran, but I know many people who have been victims of crime committed by criminal illegal aliens or MURDERED by Cartel and Chinese fentanyl/drugs.
Almost everyone in our…
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) June 22, 2025
My thoughts on bombing Iran.
I don’t know anyone in America who has been the victim of a crime or killed by Iran, but I know many people who have been victims of crime committed by criminal illegal aliens or MURDERED by Cartel and Chinese fentanyl/drugs.
Almost everyone in our country can relate to this fact.
However America has not dropped bunker busters on the Cartel’s sophisticated drug tunnels, launched tomahawks on massive cartel poisonous drug operations, or gone to war against the cartels international terrorists networks.
Neocon warmongers beat their drums of war and act like Billy badasses going to war in countries most Americans have never seen and can’t find on a map, but never find the courage to go to war against the actual terrorists who actually do kill Americans, invade our land, and make BILLIONS doing it day after day, year after year.
I’m 51 years old. I’m GenX.
I’ve watched our country go to war in foreign lands for foreign causes on behalf of foreign interests for as long as I can remember. I was in 10th grade when Desert Storm started and my father before me was sent to Vietnam, another senseless foreign war.
America is $37 TRILLION in debt and all of these foreign wars have cost Americans TRILLIONS AND TRILLIONS of dollars that never benefited any American.
American troops have been killed and forever torn apart physically and mentally for regime change, foreign wars, and for military industrial base profits.
I’m sick of it.
I can easily say I support nuclear armed Israel’s right to defend themselves and also say at the same time I don’t want to fight or fund nuclear armed Israel’s wars.
Nor any other country for that matter.
I’m sick of funding foreign aid and foreign countries and foreign everything.
I want to fund American interests and issues.
I want GREAT trade deals so American businesses and people can afford goods and be successful.
I want low inflation and low interest rates.
I want American construction, housing, and manufacturing to BOOM.
I want Americans to be rich and have security in their future.
I want my children’s generation to HAVE A GREAT FUTURE!!!
My kids are 22, 25, and 27.
It pisses me off beyond comprehension that my children’s generation can’t afford to buy a house, can’t afford insurance, and have little hope for their future!!!
Americans are exhausted by all of this and rightfully so.
I can also support President Trump and his great administration on many of the great things they are doing while disagreeing on bombing Iran and getting involved in a hot war that Israel started.
That’s not disloyalty. Critical thinking and having my own opinions is the most American thing ever.
Because contrary to what brainwashed Democrat boomers say, Trump is not a king, MAGA is not a cult, and President Trump has surrounded himself with people who once disagreed with him and even ran against him for President.
Also the same Democrats in Congress that are all of sudden clutching their pearls about Trump bombing Iran FULLY SUPPORTED AND VOTED TO FUND Dementia ridden Biden’s proxy war against Russia in Ukraine and stood by Biden’s disastrous withdrawal from Afghanistan.
Hypocrites is all they are and they are just desperately trying to find solid ground to oppose Trump on because so far they’ve failed at grasping anything yet.
Now what has been done is done and Americans now fear Iranian terrorists attacks on our own soil and being dragged into another war by Netanyahu when we weren’t even thinking about any of this a week ago.
We don’t know what the future holds and I pray for the safety of all people and an end to the constant demand for America to go to war.
Enough is enough.
Much of that makes sense, and much of it is nonsense. “I don’t know anyone in America who has been the victim of a crime or killed by Iran, but I know many people who have been victims of crime committed by criminal illegal aliens or MURDERED by Cartel and Chinese fentanyl/drugs.”
Iran has killed lots of Americans, and Iran works assiduously to disrupt the stability of the world economy–indirectly causing Americans to be poorer. It foments chaos and death, and its motto is “Death to America.”
Two things can be true at once: the cartels are a threat to America, and Iran is as well. Toss in the fact that bombing Mexico is a vastly different thing than destroying Iran’s nuclear infrastructure, and the reasoning collapses. She may have good reasons to oppose bombing Iran, but the idea that they are not a threat is not at the top of the list.
Every time America is on the verge of greatness, we get involved in another foreign war.
There would not be bombs falling on the people of Israel if Netanyahu had not dropped bombs on the people of Iran first.
Israel is a nuclear armed nation.
This is not our fight.
Peace is…
— Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene🇺🇸 (@RepMTG) June 21, 2025
Opposing the strike on Iran should be well within the Overton Window, as much as I disagree with the people making the argument. But the Massie/Rand Paul arguments are stronger and less anger-based than the reflexive outrage we see from many. I don’t think MTG is choosing Iran’s side, but I also think she is being irrational. Israel’s preemptive strikes on Iran were a calculated move to ensure the very survival of their country.
Iran was clearly pursuing nuclear weapons–there is no other reason in the world to enrich Uranium to 60% or above. 20% is the top end of enrichment used in nuclear reactors. Iran has as its stated goal the destruction of the State of Israel–not the containment of the country, but the destruction. Its leaders celebrate martyrdom.
It would be insane for Israel to wait until they were hit with a nuclear weapon to take action, and just as insane for the United States to do so. Taking out Iran’s nuclear program isn’t leading to World War III–allowing Iran to have nukes would almost guarantee it, though.
Trump’s actions were not a “betrayal” of MAGA, as some have suggested. They were a natural consequence of his “America First” policies.
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