Schools politics class: War on Iran is splitting Trump’s Maga movement
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Specification:
AQA Component 3.2.1.6: The two main US political parties: factionalised nature of parties and internal divisions
Edexcel Component 5.2.2: The current conflicts and tendencies and the changing power and influence that exist within the Democratic and Republican Parties
Background: what you need to know
The article — written before the US air strikes on Iranian nuclear sites — analyses the divide within the Republican Party over Donald Trump’s approach to the Middle East. For the president to intervene militarily contradicts his previous position on the region, such as his well-known opposition to George W Bush’s 2003 invasion of Iraq. The Maga movement, normally fiercely loyal to Trump, has been divided, with hardline isolationists strongly critical of any US involvement. Those backing a more aggressive line on Iran are the neoconservatives who see American as the ‘world’s policeman’.
Click the link below to read the article and then answer the questions:
War on Iran is splitting Trump’s Maga movement
For an update following the air strikes, see this article:
Donald Trump gambles his presidency as US enters war with Iran
Question in the style of AQA Politics Paper 2
Explain and analyse three ways in which the Republican Party is internally divided. [9 marks]
Question in the style of Edexcel Politics Paper 3
Evaluate the view that more divides than unites members of the US Republican Party.
You must consider this view and the alternative to this view in a balanced way. [30 marks]
TIP: Similar tensions between inward-looking populist nationalists and moderate conservatives have been seen in Republican responses to the Russia-Ukraine war: Politics class: Ron DeSantis says more Ukraine aid not in ‘US vital national interests’
Economic and social policy is another faultline you could look at: Politics class: The big government spending Maga voters cannot live without
Graham Goodlad, Portsmouth High School
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