US President Donald Trump's support for Israel as it attacks Iran has divided his base, with many supporters angered over what they see as a betrayal of his “America First” pledge.
The Trump administration initially distanced itself from Friday's opening strikes conducted by Israel against Iran, with Secretary of State Marco Rubio stressing that the US was not involved.
But within hours, Mr Trump praised Israel's “excellent” military strikes and told Iran it must make a deal “before there is nothing left” of the country. The US is also moving assets in the Middle East region to help Israel as it defends against Iranian missile strikes, and Mr Trump has said “it's possible” the US could get involved.
Prominent members of the often-hawkish Republican Party have long advocated for war with Iran, with either US or Israeli strikes, but Mr Trump has cast himself as a “peacemaker and unifier” and promised to keep the US out of new wars.
Since taking office in January, he has pushed for a lasting ceasefire in Gaza, a Russia-Ukraine peace deal and a nuclear agreement with Tehran. None of these efforts have yielded concrete results.
Now, the Make America Great Again movement that propelled Mr Trump to the White House is taking note of his support for Israel. For one of the first times since he took office in January, the isolationist coalition that wants to end all US military action overseas is showing signs of upset.
Republican representative Marjorie Taylor Greene, a passionate Trump supporter and a prominent member of the Maga movement, said anyone wishing for war with Iran was “disgusting” and lamented America's previous military engagements in the Middle East.
“Anyone slobbering for the U.S. to become fully involved in the Israel/Iran war is not America First/Maga,” she wrote on X. “Wishing for murder of innocent people is disgusting. We are sick and tired of foreign wars. All of them.”
Mr Trump told The Atlantic on Saturday that he gets to determine what “America First” means.
“For those people who say they want peace – you can’t have peace if Iran has a nuclear weapon. So for all of those wonderful people who don’t want to do anything about Iran having a nuclear weapon – that’s not peace,” he said.
Representative Thomas Massie, a prominent Maga Republican who has voted against sending military aid to Israel, posted a poll he ran that showed most respondents agreed with his stance.
As Israel began attacking Iran last week, Charlie Kirk, a pro-Israel Maga loyalist, held a live podcast to ask his pro-Trump audience what they thought of events.
“The emails are so largely overwhelmingly against Israel doing this, I'd say it's probably a 99 to one,” Mr Kirk said.
“No issue currently divides the right as much as foreign policy,” he later posted on X. “I’m very concerned based on (everything) I’ve seen in the grassroots the last few months that this will cause a massive schism in Maga and potentially disrupt our momentum and our insanely successful presidency.”
Further complicating matters for Mr Trump is his past handling of the conflict.
In 2018 he unilaterally withdrew the US from the 2015 nuclear deal with Iran, negotiated under his predecessor Barack Obama, calling it the “worst deal ever".
But since returning to the White House, he has now spent nearly six months trying to get Iran to agree to a similar deal to constrain its nuclear programme.
He had criticised former president Joe Biden last year for preventing Israel from carrying out strikes on Iranian nuclear sites, only to find himself advocating for diplomacy.
Saagar Enjeti, a presenter on the right-wing Breaking Points YouTube show, has said Mr Trump is letting down his isolationist supporters.
“Trump has now praised Israel's strike, affirmed US material support, and Israeli media is reporting his public opposition was a disinformation campaign to mislead Iran,” he said.
“So in other words Trump, not Israel, has made a mockery of all of us who wanted to avoid this war.”
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CHELSEA
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- World Cup - 2010
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Top 5 concerns globally:
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3. Fiscal crises
4. Cyber attacks
5. Profound social instability
Top 5 concerns in the Mena region
1. Energy price shock
2. Fiscal crises
3. Spread of infectious diseases
4. Unmanageable inflation
5. Cyber attacks
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Mercer, the investment consulting arm of US services company Marsh & McLennan, expects its wealth division to at least double its assets under management (AUM) in the Middle East as wealth in the region continues to grow despite economic headwinds, a company official said.
Mercer Wealth, which globally has $160 billion in AUM, plans to boost its AUM in the region to $2-$3bn in the next 2-3 years from the present $1bn, said Yasir AbuShaban, a Dubai-based principal with Mercer Wealth.
“Within the next two to three years, we are looking at reaching $2 to $3 billion as a conservative estimate and we do see an opportunity to do so,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Mercer does not directly make investments, but allocates clients’ money they have discretion to, to professional asset managers. They also provide advice to clients.
“We have buying power. We can negotiate on their (client’s) behalf with asset managers to provide them lower fees than they otherwise would have to get on their own,” he added.
Mercer Wealth’s clients include sovereign wealth funds, family offices, and insurance companies among others.
From its office in Dubai, Mercer also looks after Africa, India and Turkey, where they also see opportunity for growth.
Wealth creation in Middle East and Africa (MEA) grew 8.5 per cent to $8.1 trillion last year from $7.5tn in 2015, higher than last year’s global average of 6 per cent and the second-highest growth in a region after Asia-Pacific which grew 9.9 per cent, according to consultancy Boston Consulting Group (BCG). In the region, where wealth grew just 1.9 per cent in 2015 compared with 2014, a pickup in oil prices has helped in wealth generation.
BCG is forecasting MEA wealth will rise to $12tn by 2021, growing at an annual average of 8 per cent.
Drivers of wealth generation in the region will be split evenly between new wealth creation and growth of performance of existing assets, according to BCG.
Another general trend in the region is clients’ looking for a comprehensive approach to investing, according to Mr AbuShaban.
“Institutional investors or some of the families are seeing a slowdown in the available capital they have to invest and in that sense they are looking at optimizing the way they manage their portfolios and making sure they are not investing haphazardly and different parts of their investment are working together,” said Mr AbuShaban.
Some clients also have a higher appetite for risk, given the low interest-rate environment that does not provide enough yield for some institutional investors. These clients are keen to invest in illiquid assets, such as private equity and infrastructure.
“What we have seen is a desire for higher returns in what has been a low-return environment specifically in various fixed income or bonds,” he said.
“In this environment, we have seen a de facto increase in the risk that clients are taking in things like illiquid investments, private equity investments, infrastructure and private debt, those kind of investments were higher illiquidity results in incrementally higher returns.”
The Abu Dhabi Investment Authority, one of the largest sovereign wealth funds, said in its 2016 report that has gradually increased its exposure in direct private equity and private credit transactions, mainly in Asian markets and especially in China and India. The authority’s private equity department focused on structured equities owing to “their defensive characteristics.”
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