Washington, June 22, 2025 – There was no State of the Union address, no press conference, no solemn moment in the Oval Office. Instead: a single social media post. “We have completed our very successful attack on three nuclear sites in Iran including Fordow, Natanz, and Esfahan,” President Donald Trump announced Saturday evening on Truth Social – triggering a geopolitical shockwave that rattled not only Tehran but also his own political base.
Once the initial details emerged – stealth bombers, 75 precision-guided munitions, complex deception tactics – shockwaves rippled through the Republican camp. What Trump heralded as the triumphant “destruction of Iran’s nuclear ambitions” ignited an open factional war at the core of his support, a “MAGA civil war,” as one might call it. Amid the nationalist rhetoric, one previously overlooked detail stood out for many as symbolic of the new America: one of the B-2 pilots who dropped the massive bunker-busting bombs on Fordow that night was a woman.
The accusation against Trump came swiftly and from within his own ranks. “Not constitutional!” tweeted libertarian-right organizer Mark Meckler, co-founder of the Tea Party, just minutes after the announcement. No congressional mandate, no prior vote, no democratic legitimacy – a president acting alone, as radical as it was perilous. Even Steve Bannon, once Trump’s consigliere and one of the architects of the right-wing media ecosystem, dropped a line on his “War Room” show that rang loudly: “Who authorized this war?” From Senator J.D. Vance’s circle came concerns over the “legal foundations and strategic objectives” of the operation. More troubling still was the breach of trust among those who funded Trump’s political revolution with donations, posts, and placards. A disillusioned supporter wrote on the right-wing platform Gab: “We got no wall, no farm aid, but we got bombs again in the Middle East.” The central MAGA message – “America First” – had been undermined by this strike. Instead of sovereignty and domestic reform, focus had again shifted to playing world policeman. Trump’s base is now openly dividing: between interventionist hawks and libertarian isolationists, between the “Make America Strong Again” strategists and those whose primary goal had been America’s withdrawal from foreign wars.
Militarily, the strike was precise but far from definitive. Joint Chiefs Chairman Dan Caine contradicted Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth the night after the attack. Hegseth spoke of a “complete elimination,” but Caine emphasized that the full extent of the damage would only become clear in the following days. Satellite images show destroyed halls at Fordow, but no complete neutralization of the underground complex. Iran’s government did not respond militarily immediately, but signaled that it would answer – in its own time, in its own way. Meanwhile, alarm is growing that Iran’s response may not be merely symbolic. A third scenario circulating in security circles suggests Iran could mine the Strait of Hormuz – the narrow passage through which up to one-quarter of the world’s oil output is shipped. Such a blockade would ignite a wildfire in global energy supply and could trigger a worldwide oil crisis, leading to uncontrollable military and economic fallout. Iran’s Foreign Minister Abbas Araghchi has announced a meeting today with Russia’s President Vladimir Putin – a clear sign that Tehran is building alignment with Moscow before responding to this escalation.
The domestic political ramifications of this night may prove at least as perilous for Trump as any retaliatory move from Tehran. The president now finds himself caught not only in geopolitical fire but increasingly in the crosshairs of his once-most loyal supporters. A leader who once billed himself as the grave-digger of endless wars now stands before a battlefield of scorched earth, internal upheaval, and fractured loyalty. A war no longer begins with sirens or a Senate vote. It begins with a post. And it may end – perhaps – with the collapse of the very movement that once carried him.
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