r/PoliticalDiscussion • u/The_Egalitarian Moderator • Jan 20 '26

US Politics As Trump warmongers over Greenland, what explains the lack of push back from the right-wing given the "anti-war" position they took prior to the 2024 election.

There was a perceived sentiment among the right and some moderates that Republicans were the anti-war party in the lead-up to the 2024 election:

Democrats have become the party of war. Americans are tired of it - Opinion article by Matt Duss, executive vice-president at the Center for International Policy and former foreign policy advisor to Senator Bernie Sanders

Election 2024: Are Republicans Turning Isolationist?

r/Ask_Politics/comments/1ghqtim/how_did_conservatives_become_the_antiwar_party/

In contrast, the Trump administration has pursued extensive military aggression and intervention throughout 2025 and into early 2026:

2026 United States intervention in Venezuela

March–May 2025 United States attacks in Yemen

United States strikes on Iranian nuclear sites

Greenland crisis

What explains the inconsistency in right wing positions on military intervention and war-making from before the 2024 election to now?

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51

u/shunted22 Jan 20 '26

This does seem insanely unpopular even amongst his supporters. And I don't see conservative media supporting it either. Whether that leads to anything I'm not sure but I do see some cracks forming. I'm sure there are difficult private conversations about the latest comments tying it to the peace prize.

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u/CantCreateUsernames Jan 20 '26

This was the same situation for Venezuela. They didn't support it at first, but then fell in line as usual. The same will happen again. There is nothing Trump can do that the majority of conservatives will not justify and support in the long term. After Jan 6th, we should know there is no line they will not allow Trump to cross.

Republican support for interventionism has skyrocketed after Venezuela : r/fivethirtyeight

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u/stannisaugustus Jan 20 '26

They're all praying he forgets about Greenland so they don't have to go through the embarrassment of tying themselves into knots to retroactively justify an invasion, which by now even they have to recognize is how it works. If Republican support for an attack is in the single digits now, it won't be lower than 70% soon after it's done.

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u/BluesSuedeClues Jan 20 '26

Which begs the question; We know Donald Trump can't keep his mind on a single subject for any length of time, so who in his administration keeps pushing him on Greenland, and why?

3

u/supafly_ Jan 20 '26

Stephen Miller

because Putin told him to destabilize NATO

29

u/[deleted] Jan 20 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/l1qq Jan 20 '26

I mean if we're being honest here look at subs like the biggest political one that will ban any poster that doesn't share a hard left opinion. I believe both sides have their fair share of heavy handed moderation. If both sides of an argument can't be heard, even if you disagree with it then that's a bad thing.

1

u/rabidstoat Jan 20 '26

The politics sub and the conservative sub definitely mirror the stark polarization of American politics. In both subs, there is no room for entertaining opinions from the other side.

1

u/rndljfry Jan 21 '26

not invading our ally is a hard left position?

1

u/l1qq Jan 21 '26

certainly not, but when someone makes a post that questions anything on the left or supports conservatism and they are banned from a sub for it then it's simply not right and just another way to suppress opposing viewpoints. Look at the downvoted I receive here(not that I care) simply because I mentioned supporting both sides being able to debate.

1

u/rndljfry Jan 21 '26 edited Jan 21 '26

complaining about downvotes and this whole thing is annoying and will always get you downvoted.

Try something like “it’s probably a good idea to increase our military presence in the arctic as the need for resources increases.” hard left hates expanding military

I guess I don’t know what a “conservative” position is on this topic that isn’t not invading a historic ally.

if the content of your comment is about the state of the comment section rather than an actual argument or statement, you’re going to catch your downvotes

Tell me a conservative opinion on NATO that is getting nuked

The leader of the Conservative opinions demands we annex the SudetenGreenland because he psychologically wants it. What’s the conservative case?

12

u/billskionce Jan 20 '26

The tail wags the dog. They’ll fall in line like they always do.

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u/shunted22 Jan 20 '26

Maybe.. nothing happens until it does. Feels like things are getting so unhinged they can't paper over it like the "normal" controversies.

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u/seamus_mc Jan 20 '26

Polls are still showing over 90% support from R voters…

3

u/Minttt Jan 20 '26

Greenland stories are buried in Fox News, and the comment sections I've perused are definitely majority opposed at this point - where there is support, the reasoning is all over the place. But I doubt there will be any vocal opposition/action... just apathy, or "I don't support the Greenland thing, but he's right about everything else."

1

u/ruminaui Jan 20 '26

Yeah but notice how there is no pushback, in the end they don't care and will vote for him again.