Hawley, Schmitt, GOP divisions emerge after Trump orders Iran strike | Opinion
That sure was tepid.
After a few days of silence, Sens. Josh Hawley and Eric Schmitt finally weighed in on President Donald Trump’s weekend decision to launch a war against Iran.
But they did so quietly.
No fist-bumping theatrics from Hawley. None of the usual anti-Democrat social media sneering from Schmitt.
Instead, Missouri’s GOP senators seemed almost abashed. Muted. Sober.
“The President has made clear Iran can never have a nuclear weapon. I agree,” Schmitt wrote Tuesday morning on X. It was an endorsement, but it wasn’t exactly ringing.
Hawley was even more subdued.
“I just want to say that I obviously support our troops, thinking of them this time. And we’ll see,” he told NBC News’ Sahil Kapur on Monday.
An obvious question: What gives?
Opposing ‘forever wars’
Both men have cast themselves as opponents of regime change wars that end up turning into quicksand for the United States. So you can see why this might be an uncomfortable moment for the Missouri senators.
Indeed, Schmitt on Tuesday signaled he’s not interested in seeing the conflict with Iran turn into another long-term conflict on the other side of the world.
“President Trump will not allow the United States to fight another forever-war in the Middle East,” he wrote.
Not that he’s ready to rein in the president to ensure a short war. The Senate is scheduled to vote Wednesday on a resolution to require the president to get Congressional sign-off on further military action, and Schmitt said he will be a no vote. The resolution, he said, is “over broad and premature.”
That’s more or less the same stance taken by Hawley, last seen voting to rein in Trump’s military adventurism in Venezuela then quickly backing down in the face of the president’s rage. He told Politico on Monday he too will oppose the war powers resolution that would let Congress remove U.S. forces from military operations in Iran — with a caveat.
“I’ve always said that committed ground troops would be something I think that would require immediately a congressional authorization, but that doesn’t seem to be in the immediate horizon,” Hawley told the publication.
Trump, it should be noted, has declined to rule out using ground troops in Iran.
Here’s the odd thing: When Kapur on Monday asked Hawley if Trump did the right thing by bombing Iran, Hawley pleaded ignorance.
“Well, listen, I don’t want to get into any of the details of the operation, because I haven’t briefed on it yet,” the senator said. “So I just, I don’t know anything that you guys — in fact, you guys probably know more than I do. I don’t know anything you don’t know. So I’m looking forward to being briefed.”
A lot of words in that answer. None of them were a full-throated endorsement of the war. Instead, Hawley — like Schmitt — mostly seems to want to get this thing over with.
“The military has accomplished a lot,” Hawley told CNN Tuesday evening after a briefing from administration officials. “So I think given the successes that they’ve had and the amount that they’ve accomplished, I would hope for a swift conclusion.”
Poll: Iran war is unpopular
It’s possible that both men will turn into flamboyant cheerleaders for war with Iran in the coming days and weeks — Hawley, in particular, is known for his reversals — but for now they aren’t exactly leading the bandwagon.
There are two likely explanations.
The first is that the war isn’t really popular at the moment. A Reuters/Ipsos poll found just 27% of Americans approved of the attack on Iran. That number was higher for Republicans — 55% approval — but not overwhelming. Trump didn’t bother to win the nation’s approval for war before choosing to launch a war of choice, and it shows. CNN’s polling found that most Americans think a long-term war is likely.
Wars rarely get more popular the longer they go along.
The second is that the war is revealing cracks — small cracks, but still — are showing up in the MAGA movement. Folks like Tucker Carlson, Megyn Kelly and Marjorie Taylor Greene have all criticized the president’s decision.
Not that Trump cares. “I think that MAGA is Trump,” he said this week. And he might be right.
But there is a day coming when Trump will be gone. Schmitt and Hawley will still be relatively young at that point, with long careers ahead of them. They have calculations to make.
They can’t afford to get crosswise with this president. But they may not want to stake their credibility on another Middle East war, either.
