By Nathan Layne
GRAPEVINE, Texas, March 26 (Reuters) – Republicans at the annual Conservative Political Action Conference largely rallied behind U.S. strikes on Iran on Thursday, backing President Donald Trump on an issue that has dented his wider approval ratings and could jeopardize the party’s prospects in the November midterm elections.
Speakers ranging from a prominent evangelist to a former Trump adviser and Iranian political activists took to the stage at the conservative gathering in Grapevine, Texas, to argue the moral case for the war before supporters of Trump’s Make America Great Again movement.
That support stood in contrast to broader national skepticism about the war, which has increased political pressure on Trump to exit a conflict that has roiled global markets. Many Americans say they remain unclear about the rationale for the conflict and question the administration’s upbeat assessments of military progress.
While acknowledging that Americans are concerned about the prospect of a protracted conflict, CPAC senior fellow Mercedes Schlapp used a session featuring two Iranians shot by security forces during 2022 protests to press the case for a war she said would liberate its people.
“The madness needs to stop. We’ve got to make Iran free again and we are going to make sure America stands strong by their side,” Schlapp, a senior adviser to Trump during his first term, said during the session titled “MAGA vs. Mullah Madness.”
Trump, however, no longer talks of regime change in Iran and the air strikes by the U.S. and Israel over the past four weeks have not triggered any popular revolt against the Iranian leadership.
VOTER UNEASE GROWS OVER WAR, RISING FUEL PRICES
The conference, a key annual gathering for Republican politicians and conservative activists, comes at a moment of growing voter unease over the war and high fuel prices – factors clouding the party’s chances of retaining its slim majorities in the Senate and the House of Representatives in November.
Trump’s approval rating has fallen to 36%, its lowest since his return to the White House, a Reuters/Ipsos poll completed on Monday found. Support among his core base remains firm, however, with 74% of Republicans backing the strikes.
On the opening day of the three-day event outside Dallas, no speaker criticized the military operation outright, despite some prominent MAGA figures accusing Trump in recent days of breaking his 2024 campaign pledge to avoid entangling the U.S. in foreign wars.
Former U.S. Representative Matt Gaetz stood out as a rare voice of caution, saying the United States was too beholden to Israel’s interests, repeating a criticism he has made in the past.
Reverend Franklin Graham, one of the country’s best-known Christian evangelists, framed the Iran war in religious terms, telling the CPAC crowd that Trump’s decision to attack Iran was necessary to preserve Israel’s existence.
Evangelicals are a core part of Trump’s political base and many view the modern state of Israel as a fulfillment of a biblical prophecy linked to the Second Coming of Jesus Christ.
“He stepped up to protect Israel and the Jewish people from what I believe was the possibility of a nuclear annihilation by the radical Islamic regime,” Graham said. “Thank God for President Trump.”
IRANIAN-AMERICANS SHOW UP IN SUPPORT OF TRUMP
Dozens of Iranian-Americans were in attendance, many of them carrying Iranian and American flags and advocating for the war.
A group of them planned a rally outside the conference venue on Thursday evening to show support for Reza Pahlavi, the exiled son of Iran’s toppled shah who hopes to lead a transitional government but has struggled to win Trump’s support. Pahlavi is due to speak at CPAC on Friday.
Nima Poursohi, whose parents are from Iran, wore a “Persians for Trump” T-shirt and said he was attending CPAC for the second time to show his support for the war.
“It is time for this regime to go after 47 years,” Poursohi told Reuters. “Dropping bombs and military action is scary, but living under an Islamic regime is a lot scarier.”
Support for the war extended to CPAC’s side stages. Conservative journalist John Solomon highlighted the strikes’ lethality on Steve Bannon’s “War Room,” which was broadcasting live, while former Superman actor Dean Cain praised U.S. military strategy during a live showing of his MAGA-aligned podcast.
Frederick and Carol Kurpiel, both 79, said they were moved by the stories of Mersedeh Shahinkar and Raheleh Amiri, two Iranian political activists who spoke to the CPAC crowd about being shot by security agents during protests in 2022.
“I was happy when they got Khamenei,” Carol said, referring to the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. “His death made me happy.”
(reporting by Nathan Layne, editing by Ross Colvin and Lincoln Feast.)
