The right-hand division between those who believe in a global system backed by US military power and others who view it as drainage of US resources is not new. That division has continued for decades.
The latter group, often ultra-nativist and racist figures, was pushed further to the edge after an attack in the US on September 11, 2001.
The United States responds to these attacks by launching a global “war on terrorism,” with conservatives strongly supporting US intervention in countries such as Iraq and Afghanistan.
However, these wars became viewed as bloody, long-term failures as the masses began to become skeptical of US involvement overseas.
“Young people who have witnessed these tragic wars in particular are not on sale for the benefits of US security architecture in this world or the ideological benefits that lead to intervention overseas,” Mills said.
Since his first appointment in 2017, Trump has continued his daily use of US military primarily overseas, overseeing drone strikes in the Middle East and Africa, and assassinating Iranian general Kasem Soleimani during his first term.
During his second term he has openly considered using military force to rob the Panama Canal and Greenland’s control.
President Donald Trump suggests that he could take over the Panama Canal and Greenland [Carlos Barria/Reuters]
However, experts said they understand the political benefits of pitching themselves as an anti-war candidate and critic of a foreign policy facility that has been discredited by the eyes of many voters.
For example, in the 2024 presidential election, Trump promised to bring a quick end to wars in Ukraine and the Middle East. There, the Israeli war in Gaza killed more than 49,617 Palestinians.
Trump’s stance on Ukraine is pleased by many on the right who views his actions as evidence of a trading approach that prioritizes us.
For example, the president pressured Ukraine to grant access to US mineral resources as compensation for the costs of US military aid. This week he raised the shift control of Ukraine’s energy infrastructure.
But even as Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu’s government abandons the ceasefire Trump himself boasted about his achievement, Trump is hesitant to put similar pressure on Israel.
“In general, I think we’ve seen the Trump administration make certain decisions that reflect a willingness to stifle customs in ways that make some people feel astounding, such as approaching Russian preferences to end the war in Ukraine,” says Annelle Sheline, a researcher at the responsible and responsible laboratory.
“However, Israel has its own gravity and policies related to Israel will not affect some of those same impulses. It appears to have become a blind spot for this administration, like Biden.”
President Donald Trump on the left will welcome Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to the White House on February 4th [Leah Millis/Reuters]
That contradiction shows greater tensions within Trump’s coalition.
Even ambivalence and total hostility towards Ukraine are common to the right, but foreign policy writer Matthew Petty, an assistant editor with Why Reasons magazine, leaning towards libertarians, said the conservative movement has come to Israel and is being pulled in a different direction when it comes to our longtime alliance.
“The new aversion to foreign wars, especially in the Middle East, sat uncomfortably with the right-wing cultural affinity for Israel,” he told Al Jazeera in the text.
“The issue has recently become impossible to ignore as Israel has become the main legitimacy of our intertwining in the region.”
He explained that while there is a massive intergenerational debate over Israeli and the US foreign policy, the far right shows that there is particularly internal division.
For example, some view Israel as a valuable template for muscle nationalism. In contrast, people like Nick Fuentes embrace muttering anti-Semitism, but oppose Trump’s Israeli embrace.
It remains to be seen how these contradictions will resolve in Trump’s moves.
While public support for Israel has weakened in recent years, especially among younger voters, Republicans support the US robust support for Middle Eastern countries.
And Trump himself appears to be shaking a bit by the internal division over his strike at the Houches.
“The Houthi Barbarians have suffered a lot of damage,” he wrote in a social media post Wednesday. “They will disappear completely!”
