'Mind-blowing' frustration from MAGA as even Blackwater’s Erik Prince slams Trump 'chaos'

President Donald Trump has campaigned for the past decade on "America First" and promising "no new wars." The breach of that promise may not be a shock to Trump foes, but to his supporters, a new war is not what they were promised.

Monday's Bulwark chat with Sam Stein and Will Sommer noted the MAGA anger bubbling, particularly after American soldiers were killed. As of Monday morning, a fourth American death was announced.

"There is, I think, a pretty significant voice on the right opposed to the war on day two," Sommer said. "And so, where is this headed? You know, if they're talking about four or five weeks, I think there's going to be more and more of that."

Stein noted that longtime defense contractor Erik Prince, who founded Blackwater, which profited heavily during the Iraq War, spoke to Steve Bannon about the war, saying, "I'm not happy about the whole thing. I don't think it was in America's interest."

It's an unusual comment, given Prince has long been a supporter of war and profited handsomely from it.

"It's going to uncork a significant can of worms and chaos and destruction in Iran now. Who takes over? You still have tens, hundreds of thousands of IRGC people that will be positioning to be number two, to be the next rulers of that country. I don't see how this is in keeping with the president's MAGA commitment. I'm disappointed," Prince continued.

Stein called it "mind-blowing."

Sommer joked it was "Aries, the god of war," weighing in, saying, "You know, I'm not so sure about this one."

He thinks that Prince's trepidation is likely because the billionaire is "heavily involved with the Emiratis and folks like that who are kind of caught in the middle here."

The Bannon wing of the GOP tends to prefer isolationism, and he sees it as a waste of political capital. When asked about it by the New York Post, Trump made it clear, "I don't care about the polling."

"I'm just gonna be frank," Bannon said, "if it's gonna be a hard slog, that was not pitched in the 2024 campaign. It just wasn't. We're going to bleed support."

He was speaking to the hawkish Frank Gaffney, Sommer noted. Gaffney agreed with Bannon.

Sommer also pointed out that during the Monday morning press conference hosted by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, the friendly right-wing content creators were asking the same questions the national media was asking: What's the plan? Hegseth made it clear he wasn't going to talk about it.

They went on to discuss the Charlie Kirk angle of Iran, in which he opposed a war, noting that regime change wasn't easy. That said, Kirk also made the argument "in Trump we trust."

It prompted Sommer to say that MAGA is now trying to turn on a dime to say "trust the plan."

"What's the plan?" wondered Stein.

Trump Can’t Control His Own Base on Iran War by The Bulwark

A recording from The Bulwark's live video

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