Iran war splits older and younger conservatives – as pressure builds for Trump to find exit ramp. 7 hours ago. Anthony ZurcherNorth America correspondent, reporting from CPAC in Dallas. A majority of the American public, polls suggest, have been against the ongoing US-Israeli military campaign in Iran from the day it started.. Republicans, however, have largely stuck by their president as the war approaches the end of its fourth week.. But that may be changing.. At the annual Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) in Texas, some of the party faithful expressed concern about why the US started this war, how Donald Trump is going to end it and whether the effort has been worth the costs.. “I just wish that there was more transparency on why we’re doing what we’re doing, that way you could send your loved one overseas and be OK with that,” said Samantha Cassell. “I hope it comes to an end quick, because it’s the cost of living, the oil and gas, the prices are only going to keep going up.”. Cassell, who lives in Dallas, and her friend Joe Bolick were attending their first CPAC conference. He also had his doubts about the war.. “I don’t see an endgame yet,” he said. “What are we actually trying to achieve? Is it true regime change? What does that look like? Who to replace them? I think we kind of got ourselves stuck.”. CPAC has been welcoming ground for Trump for a decade, shifting from a libertarian-leaning gathering to one dominated by Make America Great Again loyalists. The conservative conference has traditionally been held just outside Washington DC, but this year it moved to a sprawling hotel complex near Dallas, Texas.. The atmosphere at this year’s conference was similar to the past. A cavernous main auditorium offered days full of panels and speakers. A floor below, the exhibit hall featured plenty of conservative kitsch – a bus with the president’s face on it, Trump 2028 T-shirts and glasses commemorating the 2024 attempted assassination of Trump with “bulletproof” written on it and a faux bullet embedded in its side.. US envoy ‘hopeful’ for meetings with Iran ‘this week’, as Tehran says Israel hit nuclear sites. Three charts that are warning signs flashing for Trump on Iran war. Why is it so hard to pass through the Strait of Hormuz?. Some things were different, however.. Even more than a thousand miles from Washington DC, the war in Iran was a common topic of conversation. And if there has been a recurring theme among the dozens of people interviewed by the BBC, it is that the conflict is creating a generational divide within conservative ranks.. Toby Blair, a 19-year-old college student at the University of South Florida, travelled to Dallas for CPAC with his friend Shashank Yalamanchi, a first-year law student. Neither said that they believed the Iran war was in America’s best interests.. “I don’t like that it’s become America’s job to find bad people and get rid of them,” he said. “Especially when you have so many people at h
