Conservatives Turn Further Against War—Except Maybe With Mexico

At the nation’s largest gathering of conservatives, many seem to be turning against the prospect of American military interventions—at least overseas.

As part of her speech at the 2023 Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R–Ga.) took aim at Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy. According to Greene, “He said he wants our sons and daughters to go die [fighting] in Ukraine.” She pledged “no money to Ukraine” and said, “that country needs to find peace, not war.” To Zelenskyy, “You better leave your hands off our sons and daughters because they’re not dying over there.”

Greene made the same claim earlier this week on Twitter, based on an out-of-context statement: Speaking of a hypothetical Russian attack against a NATO member state, Zelenskyy said the U.S. would send its “sons and daughters” to fight. Ukraine is not a member of NATO. Under Article 5 of the North Atlantic Treaty, an attack on one member state could spawn a request for military assistance from other members. But after her speech, in an appearance at the Real America’s Voice broadcasting booth, Greene and Steve Bannon clarified that the U.S. should not acquiesce to American soldier involvement in conflict over NATO states either.

The forthrightness of Greene’s position marks a noticeable shift from conservatives of years past: After all, the only country to ever invoke Article 5 was the United States. Under a Republican president, the U.S. launched multiple wars against Middle Eastern nations under the rubric of a global war on terror after the September 11 attacks. But conservatives in the last few years have shifted away from the Republican Party’s past militarism, and it showed in the speeches of the party’s 2024 candidates.

Former South Carolina governor and U.S. ambassador to the United Nati