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The second tweet (https://x.com/ChristianHeiens/status/2041606816061092031) provides additional follow-up that mirrors a lot of my own feelings over the past month and a half:

----

This is also why I've been opposed to this war with Iran since the start.

It was so obvious from the beginning that Neocons would use this conflict to get everything they wanted, and when the backlash inevitably came from a global energy crisis or fears of yet another long-term conflict in the Middle East, they'd offload all the blame on Trump and Vance and go back to voting for Democrats in the midterms and in 2028. And they'd do all of this without ever telling their own friends in Congress to pass anything Trump's base actually cares about.

It was a rotten deal then, it's a rotten deal now, and it will be a rotten deal every single day until this thing is over.

Admitting all of this doesn't mean I've "betrayed Trump". I am still personally quite happy he won over Kamala Harris. Nothing that's happening in Iran erases the various other great things he's accomplished that few people nowadays want to talk about. I very much still voted to shut down the southern border, have negative net migration for the first time in 50 years, close down USAID, and fire 300,000+ Federal employees. Each of these wins were things that few of us thought was possible just a decade ago. He's done all of them in just a single year.

But it's clear that this war distracts from those accomplishments, fractures the base, and demoralizes our own side. Politically, it's a strategic blunder. It doesn't take away from the other things that are going on, but it certainly distracts from them.

1 posted on 04/07/2026 2:49:09 PM PDT by Ultra Sonic 007
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To: Ultra Sonic 007
Great post. From my profile page:

The United States should be isolationist by nature and interventionist in rare, exceptional cases. That's the only legitimate political posture for a country that is supposed to be built on the idea of limited government. A government that pisses away thousands of lives and trillions of dollars on military campaigns in Islamic sh!t-holes halfway around the world while facilitating an invasion of Third World peasants here at home has no moral claim on any loyalty from its citizens anymore.

2 posted on 04/07/2026 2:51:27 PM PDT by Alberta's Child (If I leave here, it’s because I’m tired of arguing with geriatric parrots wearing MAGA hats.)
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To: Ultra Sonic 007

Most of us can pay attention to many things at once.


3 posted on 04/07/2026 2:52:01 PM PDT by Fledermaus ("It turns out all we really needed was a new President!")
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To: Ultra Sonic 007

Shut your pie hole.


4 posted on 04/07/2026 2:52:26 PM PDT by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn)
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To: Ultra Sonic 007
Apparently the memo has NOT gotten to you... The Catholic opposition is not even on the table ... ‘we the people’ can get this done without paying catholics squat.
6 posted on 04/07/2026 2:53:38 PM PDT by Just mythoughts (Matthew 24:32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, )
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To: Alberta's Child; lastchance; hcmama; Miami Rebel; Karl Spooner; bantam; Fuzz; Fury; moviefan8; ...

Topical ping on Iran.


7 posted on 04/07/2026 2:54:39 PM PDT by Ultra Sonic 007 (There is nothing new under the sun.)
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To: Ultra Sonic 007
I am thrilled you named names ...Alberta's Child; lastchance; hcmama; Miami Rebel; Karl Spooner; bantam; Fuzz; Fury; moviefan8; ...
8 posted on 04/07/2026 2:55:57 PM PDT by Just mythoughts (Matthew 24:32 Now learn a parable of the fig tree; When his branch is yet tender, )
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To: Ultra Sonic 007
A huge reason why there's this rift on the Right that didn't exist a year ago is because Neocons are not team players.

The truth is that Trump himself has never been a team player either. And as a leader, he is absolutely vicious towards anyone who doesn't follow his lead 100% of the time.

That comes with a cost.

11 posted on 04/07/2026 2:58:10 PM PDT by Bruce Campbells Chin
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To: Ultra Sonic 007

Trump is not crazy, or compromised. He’s pragmatic. One thing to keep in mind. Iran has been the world’s greatest sponsor of terror since 1979. Hundreds (perhaps thousands) of American lives have been lost because of Iran’s death cult (Shia Islam).

Iran is led by a death cult committed to starting nuclear WWIII with its so the Mahdi will appear from the well in Qom. We were able to confound their nuclear ☢️ program up to now. Obama tried paying them off! Perhaps Trump counted the cost and found Iran was too close to their goal?

Once again…Trump is not crazy or compromised. He’s pragmatic.


13 posted on 04/07/2026 2:59:00 PM PDT by Jan_Sobieski (Sanctification)
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To: Ultra Sonic 007

This war is NOT about “neocons”. It is about Iran having nukes and the ability to use them.

PERIOD.


15 posted on 04/07/2026 3:00:28 PM PDT by Mr Rogers
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To: Ultra Sonic 007

I’m not a neocon....
One of my main reasons for backing President Trump is his pledge of no new wars.

Iran declared war on the United States in 1979.
THEY DECLARED WAR ON US!And they have been killing our soldiers,sailors, airmen and marines ever since.
Hundreds, if not thousands of deaths of Americans have been committed by this evil regime.
Carter said they are evil.
Reagan said they are evil.
Bushie 1 said they are evil.
Clintoon said they are evil.
Bushie 2 said they are evil.
FUBO said they are evil.
Brandon even said they are evil.

President Trump says enough, stop them from getting the bomb, then moves to shut them down for good.
After 47 years of half ass fighting a war that they declared.
STFU.


22 posted on 04/07/2026 3:04:30 PM PDT by joe fonebone (And the people said NO!! The end.)
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To: Ultra Sonic 007

Define ‘Neocon’.


23 posted on 04/07/2026 3:09:37 PM PDT by Nateman (Democrats did not strive for fraud friendly voting merely to continue honest elections.)
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To: Ultra Sonic 007

I hear the Gulf Muslim Arab States don’t want us to stop attacking Iran.

Damned Neocons.

Always tricking us into fighting their wars. Kuwait, Iran, ISIS, Yemen.

When will they fight their own wars so we don’t expend our blood and treasure on their wars?


29 posted on 04/07/2026 3:13:32 PM PDT by Uncle Miltie (Not all 2,000,000,000 muslims want to murder me. But 200,000,000 probably do.)
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To: Ultra Sonic 007

Neo-con has became a pejorative label that some people, like this author, apply to anyone they don’t like. The SAVE Act not passing? It’s the neocons’ fault. Never mind that libertarians like Rand Paul, no neocon by any definition of the word, vehemently oppose ending the filibuster in order to get it passed. But Neocons aren’t team players, according to this author’s thesis. Never mind the decidedly un-teamlike behavior of staunch anti-neocons MTG and Nancy Mace.

Trump was never an isolationist and neither are most of his supporters. The only people walking away from Trump’s coalition right now are isolationists so it’s odd that the author would choose now as the time to come out with an article about neocons not being team players. But then again, disinformation was never designed to tell the truth.


30 posted on 04/07/2026 3:14:34 PM PDT by mbrfl
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To: Ultra Sonic 007
Transactional people know their marks well. Individually, they learned it starting in their own families when young. They have decades of practice in thousands of scenarios.

They see people as mere pawns. They're going to get what they want from President Trump and then toss him to the side when they're done.

31 posted on 04/07/2026 3:14:34 PM PDT by T.B. Yoits
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To: Ultra Sonic 007

Trump’s been tricked by the Neocons again?

“America’s primary goal with Iran must be to destroy its nuclear ambitions. Let me put them as plainly as I know how: Iran’s nuclear program must be stopped — by any and all means necessary. Period. We cannot allow this radical regime to acquire a nuclear weapon that they will either use or hand off to terrorists.”

From that noted NEOCON book, “Time to Get Tough: Making America #1 Again” (published December 2011)

By Donald J. Trump


37 posted on 04/07/2026 3:19:36 PM PDT by Uncle Miltie (Not all 2,000,000,000 muslims want to murder me. But 200,000,000 probably do.)
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To: Ultra Sonic 007

I like your take on these current events.


41 posted on 04/07/2026 3:25:40 PM PDT by lastchance (Cognovit Dominus qui sunt eius.)
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To: Ultra Sonic 007

Anyone one doesn’t like gets a label “neocon,” “MAGA Republican,” “evangelical Christian,” “isolationist,” “anti-vaxer,” etc. The label is a stereotype applied to many but, in truth, applying to few.

The author makes a valid point that coalitions should involve respect for the opinions of coalition partners.

I generally supported past military actions. I have to admit now, that many solved problems only to create new problems.

I suggest we not assume that Trump will go down the same path as his predecessors. On the other hand, it might be a mistake to assume otherwise! It’s the slippery slope argument.


50 posted on 04/07/2026 3:43:53 PM PDT by ChessExpert (Infidels of the world unite against the evil that is Islam.)
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To: Ultra Sonic 007

It wasn’t about the neocons. It was about Trump getting carried away. Whatever your philosophy or convictions, when you become president the power you have can go to your head.


61 posted on 04/07/2026 6:45:26 PM PDT by x
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To: Ultra Sonic 007

“A rift on the Right”? The only rift here is between those of us who still have functioning testosterone and a sense of raw American survival instinct, and you isolationist purity cultists who’d rather be chanting “America First” like it’s some magic incantation that stops Iranian nukes and proxy armies. Real America First isn’t about choosing between securing the border and smashing enemies who threaten the lifeblood of the global economy. It’s about doing both—without turning into either neocon nation-building freaks or isolationist ostriches with heads buried so deep in the sand their asses are waving at satellites.


62 posted on 04/07/2026 7:59:26 PM PDT by HockeyPop
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To: Ultra Sonic 007

I agree with everything you said. I do provide allowance for the fact that he is acting on information we do not have. On the other hand, I do not trust the people who convey such information to be honest all of the time.

Rarely do our large, long-term interventions overseas these days produce much fruit, certainly not commensurate with the blood and treasure and political capital both domestic and world-wide that it costs.


64 posted on 04/07/2026 8:32:28 PM PDT by Dr. Sivana ("Whatsoever he shall say to you, do ye." (John 2:5))
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