MAGA influencers fall in line behind Trump after airstrikes hit Iran

The MAGA movement's top influencers were divided over bombing Iran until President Donald Trump did just that Saturday night.

The MAGA movement's top influencers were divided over bombing Iran until President Donald Trump did just that Saturday night.

Now, at least for the time being, the lay leaders in the president's base appear to be rallying around a position that spares Trump criticism: Direct attacks on Iranian nuclear facilities are justified, as long as American troops aren't sent into a third full war halfway around the world in the last quarter of a century.

"People don’t want an escalation where ground troops are sent in, but this is not Iraq,” said Ryan Girdusky, a Republican consultant who worked for a super PAC that backed Vice President JD Vance's 2022 Senate campaign in Ohio. Girdusky predicted the MAGA base will swing in line behind Trump.

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There is little appetite at the White House or anywhere else in Washington for a ground invasion of Iran, a mountainous country in the Middle East that would be extraordinarily difficult to conquer in a conventional war.