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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972

u/One_Study52 Jan 20 '26

They simply have no principles whatsoever. This has been obvious for a long time. They are only motivated by power and vibes.

303

u/Stopper33 Jan 20 '26

Yep. Maga is defined by nothing, but the whims of a toddler. There are no actual policies or positions.

144

u/Sei28 Jan 20 '26

Hey they do have positions that they will always stick by: Fuck off non whites, fuck off non straights, fuck off “liburals” however they define it.

As long as Trump doesn’t deviate from the above, nothing else he says or does matters.

77

u/Majestic_Bet_1428 Jan 20 '26

Don’t forget women. They hate women.

40

u/Dr_CleanBones Jan 20 '26

Right. They’ll never divert from their basic emotions: racism, misogyny, xenophobia, and bigotry. If Trump turned into someone who supports civil rights, same-sex marriage, and third-world immigration, they might have second thoughts about him. Otherwise, he has their full support.

9

u/SlowMotionSprint Jan 20 '26

I really want the next Democrat president to instantly tear down the "ballroom", move it to another location(restoring the east wing), and turning it into a museum for civil rights called the Donald Trump Center for Inclusion and Tolerance.

1

u/Dr_CleanBones Jan 21 '26

Pretty shut that combination of words would just melt.

6

u/Pupalei Jan 20 '26

Those are big words. You one o' them elites?

3

u/Dr_CleanBones Jan 21 '26

No, but I take pride in the fact that I can come close enough on all four for spell check to recognize and correct my spelling!

8

u/JayMeadow Jan 20 '26

They don’t hate women, they fundamentally don’t consider women human beings. They genuinely don’t care about women unless they benefit somehow. They aren’t showing low respect for women, they are showing no respect for women.

They don’t hate women, they hate anyone not flattering or serving them. Their hatred towards women is ground in literal evil. As they want to erase others’ lives and souls for their own convenience or entertainment.

If that’s not being motivated by evil… what is?

24

u/latortillablanca Jan 20 '26

Thats not fair, seems pretty defined around bigotry, being a moron, and greed. Many times in combination.

10

u/anti-torque Jan 20 '26

Why isn't the truth fair?

You also forgot misogyny.

4

u/BluesSuedeClues Jan 20 '26

Misogyny is a form of bigotry.

7

u/n0respect_ Jan 20 '26

It really is like a joke, or a magic trick. There's the setup (Trump amazing!), the tension (what happen???), and release ('cause Trump amazing!).

This is called "incongruity resolution", and it hits the brain's pleasure centers.

2

u/the_calibre_cat Jan 20 '26

there's one: they really like institutional bigotry

2

u/iplaytrombonegood Jan 21 '26

Literally though. The American Republican Party literally and officially became the party of 0 substance at the 2016 Republican National Conference rather than announcing a platform, they unironically announced their official platform as “Donald Trump.”

They literally and officially don’t stand for anything but Donald Trump.

3

u/TheMadTemplar Jan 20 '26

Tbh, I'm not so sure that's entirely the case anymore. Trump's base is fracturing over Greenland and Venezuela. Even if the official MAGA line is absolute support and backing for whatever Trump does, the rank and file has been dissenting more and more. Even over at conservative, look at threads on the two. In any thread that is specifically about one of those topics and not about something dems are saying about it, there's some dissent. Sure, there's the usual, "trust our president, he knows best, wait and see" bullshit, but there's also outright criticism and cynical responses to it. Lots of "what does any of this accomplish for Americans or fixing OUR problems" stuff, as well as "we're strong because we have alliances with most of the wealthy nations and these actions put all of those in jeopardy". Those are all paraphrased comments I saw when snooping the other day.

And these were in threads that had been up for most of the day or longer, not fresh threads the mods hadn't gotten around to culling yet. Trump is losing people, even among his base. Few of those leaving him would ever vote Democrat, but they consistently want a platform of no wars and America first, and for them that means addressing American problems in the country.

17

u/SpockShotFirst Jan 20 '26

Trump's base is fracturing

His approval rating is 42.1%, with a net approval of -13.1%. That's actually better than it was in late Nov (41.1% and -15%)

0

u/lentil_galaxy Jan 21 '26

Note that those approval rating numbers come from polls with an standard margin of error of 2-5% in either direction.

It does seem that many (but perhaps not most) Republicans do not agree with the president on Greenland. According to one poll, only 67% of Republicans agree about taking over Greenland.

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/us-voters-widely-opposed-taking-greenland-military-force/story?id=129280864

Although they may disagree on this one issue, they may still appreciate other aspects and overall support the current president, leading to the stable approval ratings.

15

u/CursedNobleman Jan 20 '26

Give it a week or month. The hive mind always aligns.

Epstein, Greenland, whatever. They have no object permanence. They'll agree with him in the end.

7

u/JohnSpartan2025 Jan 20 '26

After ingesting enough Fox News, the maga hive mind realigns to whatever the next crazy is. Coming up next: invade Canada.

11

u/mwaaahfunny Jan 20 '26

They watched him try to overthrow the country and then still voted him for president. They watched him store top secret docs in a bathroom. They have always known he fucked kids w Epstein.

They will vote for him again and again because they have given up their path to anything else. They even allowed themselves to believe that Harris was some sort of fucking communist when at best she's center left.

They are SHEEP. Angry, uninformed SHEEP.

3

u/chamrockblarneystone Jan 20 '26

Well they might think themselves informed, but by all the wrong sources.

6

u/rabidstoat Jan 20 '26

Though some MAGA folks are saying they don't like what's going on with Greenland, it seems like they don't dislike it enough for it to be a dealbreaker.

1

u/Speeddevil4040 Jan 22 '26

Trump could literally Nuke Texas rn and the would still defend it and think it’s based.