(José Niño, Headline USA) Donald Trump Jr. sold voters on a simple promise during the 2024 campaign. His father, he argued, would spare America another war in the Middle East, according to a new report from The Atlantic.
When Iran fired missiles and drones at Israel in April 2024, the president’s son took to X. “Remember when they said Trump would get us into a full-blown war with Iran?” he wrote. “Times like these should make us all realize how lucky we were to have Trump, his strength and his resolve.”
Remember when they said Trump would get us into a full-blown war with Iran?
Times like these should make us all realize how lucky we were to have Trump, his strength and his resolve.
— Donald Trump Jr. (@DonaldJTrumpJr) April 13, 2024
30 months later, America is fighting that very war, and Trump Jr. objects.
The Atlantic spoke with two people who discussed the conflict directly with Trump Jr. They said he has repeatedly criticized the war in private, opposed it from the beginning, and told his father so. These sources added that he has long doubted the wisdom of foreign intervention and rejected another Middle Eastern entanglement.
“Don has kept his views on the subject private, as he would never publicly break with his dad on an issue like this, but I can’t imagine anyone who knows Don would be surprised by his personal views on the subject,” one person close to Trump Jr. said.
A Trump Jr. spokesman declined to comment. The White House ignored questions about his stance, though an official insisted, “Iran has been decimated, and one way or the other, the conflict in Iran will be over very soon.”
“Don Jr. is the most MAGA of them all,” one source who discussed the war with him said.
Doubts reach inside the administration too. Vice President JD Vance privately objected as officials weighed joining Israel’s campaign. CIA Director John Ratcliffe and Secretary of State Marco Rubio questioned whether Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s February pitch for regime change, especially through air power, stood any realistic chance.
The war’s political costs keep climbing. A Pew Research Center survey found that 65 percent of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the Iran operation, while 33 percent approve. Republican approval slid from 69 percent in March to 63 percent. Nearly half of respondents expect the fighting to last more than a year, far beyond the administration’s original forecast of 4 to 6 weeks.
José Niño is the deputy editor of Headline USA. Follow him at x.com/JoseAlNino
