Steve Bannon was finally able to have lunch with Donald Trump. An appointment far from trivial. Many times repelled because of a flu of the former gray eminence of the president, who fell in disgrace in 2017, this tête-à-tête was held last Thursday in the White House, in the heart of the showdown between Israel and Iran, even though Trump had still not decided on a possible military intervention. By finding the one who, just ten years ago, had propelled him into politics, Trump returned to this populist fringe that he knows well: the one who rejects the neoconservative heritage and military adventures abroad. Since taking office in January, the president never had to deal with such a fractured right. Here he is playing the balancingists between go-in-war and isolationists.
Not so long ago, the question would have seemed obscene. Fight for Israel? Obviously ! For the only democracy of the Middle East, the unwavering ally, outpost of Western civilization in the heart of chaos. Die to contain Iran? Of course ! To prevent mullahs from accessing the bomb, to honor a strategic alliance born under Truman. George W. Bush, John McCain, Lindsey Graham: all would have signed without hesitation. Defending Israel was a moral, strategic and religious reflex.
Influential think tanks such as the American Enterprise Institute (AEI) or the Foundation for Defense of Democracies (FDD), figures such as the ex-advisor to national security John Bolton or Senator Tom Cotton, and the support of an aligned conservative press made Iran an existential threat for Israel, but also for the West.
Today, some neoconservative circles are working to revive this rhetoric. Nikki Haley, still on the line of muscular interventionism, does not hide his wish to see the United States hit Iran. And then there is the hard core of the evangelicals, especially in the conservative south. There, in the Bible Belt, support for Israel is a dogma. The flag of the Hebrew state is often hoisted on the tarrades of Megachuchsnext to the star banner. Preachers relay a biblical reading of events. For them, helping Israel to strike Iran is to hasten the return of Christ. Mike Pence, Televangelist John Hagee and several elected officials from Freedom Caucus at the Congress openly call for direct military aid to Israel, until considering sending troops or active participation in air strikes. A speech that sounds more and more hollow in a nation marked with the red iron by Iraq and Afghanistan. Yesterday’s sacrificial patriotism has turned into a deaf mistrust: twenty years of war have left thousands of dead, debt trillion and chaos.
Its base applauds Israel … as long as it costs neither dollars nor blood
This mainly dominant line is now besieged on all sides. Especially by the “nationalists” Trumpists, for whom the idea of a new war in the Middle East is unthinkable. Trump himself has strategic ambiguity. His verbal support in Israel is total, but he rejects the Endless Warsthese endless wars. He boasts of having eliminated General Soleimani, while recalling that he withdrew the troops of Syria. Its base applauds Israel … In any case, as long as it costs neither dollars nor American blood. Sending Kentucky boys die for a 6,000 -mile conflict from there can no longer find any echo.
Avoid another quagmire
Which, in the past, was considered to be isolationism is now seen as patriotism. Earlier in the week, during an event organized by the Christian Science Monitor, the same Steve Bannon summed up the thought of this new right: “My mantra today: it is the Israelis who have to finish what they started. We cannot afford a new quagmire like Iraq. »» Another fervent criticism of an American involvement, the ex-star of Fox News Tucker Carlson, who remains very popular among the Trumpists. The journalist, now in charge of his own podcast, is categorical: “The United States should in no case participate in a war with Iran. No funding, no American weapons, no troops on the ground. »» Even accusing, in his newsletter, some republican political leaders in Washington of having betrayed their voters: “They knew that these attacks would take place … They cannot pretend to be for America first and say that they have nothing to do with it!” »»
At the Congress, deputies and senators of course have their eyes riveted in the mid-term elections of 2026. Figure of the most fervent Trumpist wing, the representative of Georgia Marjorie Taylor Greene aligned himself with this isolationist vision. “Foreign interventions and regime changes put America” last ”, cost innocent lives and will eventually precipitate our ruin “she fulminates, denouncing in passing the “Faux Maga” :: “Everyone now sees who are the real America First, and who has never really been …”
Little known in Europe but dreaded in Washington, Thomas Massie, elected Kentucky since 2012, is one of the last Libertarian Mohicans of Congress. Faithful of Ron Paul, he does not believe in distant wars or powers without control, and has just filed a motion recalling that only the congress can declare war, not a pressure president. The initiative, passed under media radars, was applauded by the America First wing. Trump finds himself alone to have to arbitrate a parallel war that he did not choose: that of a right that no longer speaks with one voice.
