A prominent right-wing editor has warned that President Trump’s grip on MAGA could slip if the war with Iran drags on.
Matthew Boyle, Washington bureau chief for Breitbart News, said Trump’s support could start to crack if the conflict stretches beyond the administration’s four- to six-week timeline.
“If it goes longer, a lot of the trust that he’s built starts wavering,” Boyle said in a post on X Sunday. “People trust Trump, but only to the timeline he said it would happen on.”
The warning marks a notable shift from Boyle, who three weeks earlier criticized those on the right who had reservations about Trump’s military operation.
“It’s not helpful to be out there causing divisions,” Boyle said in an appearance on the podcast Human Events.
Boyle had been responding to conservative commentator Matt Walsh, who said he has not met a fellow Republican who is enthusiastic about the war with Iran, which has already claimed the lives of 13 U.S. service members.
“At best they’re warily optimistic. In most cases they’re opposed. In some cases they’re not only opposed but deeply furious,” Walsh wrote.
The comments from Boyle and Walsh, both prominent voices on the right, come amid a larger backlash from MAGA supporters who feel they have been betrayed by Trump’s campaign promise of “no new wars.”
When asked for comment, the White House referred the Daily Beast to Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt’s press briefing Monday. Leavitt said the president “has always stated four to six weeks estimated timeline for operation Epic Fury,” adding that the U.S. is on day thirty already.
The top MAGA media figures, Tucker Carlson and Megyn Kelly, have also launched searing critiques of the newest entanglement in the Middle East.
This distrust in the war has seeped into the ranks of government this month, when counterterrorism official Joe Kent resigned over opposition to the conflict.
And as the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran crosses the one-month mark, there are few firm signs of de-escalation.
The White House on Monday both claimed progress was being made in ending the war through diplomatic means, and threatened attacks on Iran’s energy infrastructure if a deal was not made.
“This will be in retribution for our many soldiers, and others, that Iran has butchered and killed over the old Regime’s 47 year ‘Reign of Terror,’” Trump wrote on Truth Social.
As the U.S. engages in talks with Tehran, 3,500 U.S. troops have arrived in the Middle East, leaving many to wonder whether American ground operations will unfold in Iran.
Meanwhile, opposition to the war swelled in America’s streets over the weekend, as an estimated eight million people participated in a “No Kings” protest, with many protesters directing their anger at the war.
Despite the resistance of some prominent conservative voices, the war remains popular with many in the MAGA base. A poll from Quinnipiac University found 86 percent of Republicans supported the U.S. military action against Iran.
