Source: Semafor
by David Weigel
“One of the Trump-led GOP’s strengths was a rejection of the old Bush-led GOP, particularly its ‘war on terror’ and the invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan. But when they were riding high, Bush’s Republicans got a lot of mileage from accusing political opponents of being objectively pro-terrorism if they defied them — if they opposed creating a Department of Homeland Security, if they doubted that Saddam Hussein was trying to enrich uranium. … There’s a new war on terror; critics of how it’s conducted, or who it ensnares, are part of a new fifth column. Democrats haven’t acted particularly worried about this during the Ábrego García saga; the administration hasn’t convinced skeptics that MS-13 is as dangerous now as ISIS was 10 years ago, or al-Qaeda was after 9/11. But you can read ahead in the script.” (04/18/25)
https://www.semafor.com/article/04/18/2025/a-new-war-on-terror