play Live Sign upShow navigation menu.css-15ru6p1{font-size:inherit;font-weight:normal;}Navigation menuNewsShow more news sectionsAfricaAsiaUS & CanadaLatin AmericaEuropeAsia PacificMiddle EastExplainedOpinionSportVideoMoreShow more sectionsFeaturesEconomyHuman RightsClimate CrisisInvestigationsInteractivesIn PicturesScience & TechnologyPodcastsTravelplay Live Click here to searchsearchSign upNavigation menucaret-leftUS-Israel war on IranLive trackerCould the US deploy troops to Iran?Iran’s weaponsCould Iran be using China's BeiDou system?A simple guide to Irancaret-rightOPINIONOPINION, Opinion|US-Israel war on IranNo, MAGA is not divided on the Iran warTrump’s supporters remain loyal, even if there are a few loud dissenting voices. Listen to this article | 7 minsinfoPresident Donald Trump at a rally at Verst Logistics on March 11, 2026, in Hebron, Kentucky, US [Julia Demaree Nikhinson/AP Photo]By Andrew MitrovicaAl Jazeera columnist. googleAdd Al Jazeera on GoogleinfoSometimes, journalists indulge in myths and delusions they claim to decry.
This grating inclination has been on almost giddy display in the still evolving aftermath of United States President Donald Trump’s rash decision to join Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in launching a war with Iran. Like falling dominoes, a “narrative” gathered momentum among the America’s “progressive” commentariat, insisting that Trump’s order to go to war offended large swaths of the MAGA movement and set off a seismic split in his ardent base. Sure, a handful of familiar MAGA personalities have grumbled that another Middle East conflict betrays the “America First” pledge that helped propel Trump back to the White House.
Conservative commentator Megyn Kelly has questioned whether the US is drifting, yet again, into an endless war without purpose or meaning. Podcaster Joe Rogan has talked about the conflict’s disastrous, unintended consequences. Former Fox News host Tucker Carlson has warned that the unprovoked attack could trigger chaos across an already volatile region.
Trump, of course, parried the backlash with trademark coarseness. He lashed out. He dismissed the naysayers.
He mocked allies who briefly turned detractors. Headlines blared that a domestic quarrel threatened to engulf his MAGA disciples in a “civil war.” The idea that MAGA has fractured is fantasy. Disquiet is not rupture.
Dissent is not rebellion. The MAGA “movement” is not a conventional coalition held together by consensus around a coherent, considered set of principles or policies. MAGA remains what it has always been: a political phenomenon built to burnish one man’s ego and narcissism.
