Perhaps the most telling sign of domestic unease came from an unlikely venue: the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC). The annual gathering of the American right — ordinarily a loyalist stronghold for the president — saw open debate about the wisdom of military escalation.
“A ground invasion of Iran will make our country poorer and less safe,” warned former Florida Congressman Matt Gaetz from the CPAC stage on Thursday. The remark underscored fractures within the “America First” movement, whose founding rhetoric of non-interventionism now collides with the realities of a widening Middle Eastern war launched by its own standard-bearer.
