According to a recent report, there has been an outpouring of support from MAGA supporters to reinstate the military draft amid the Iran war. The discussions have been ongoing since earlier this month. In a statement, White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt addressed the concerns, noting that Donald Trump was not keeping enlistment plans “off the table.”
Now, Salon journalist Chauncey DeVega has warned that many MAGA Republicans want the draft to be reinstated, and it could ultimately backfire on them. “As President Trump’s war against Iran spirals out of control, there is a growing concern he will order a ground invasion to remove the country’s leaders and take control of its vast supplies of oil,” noted the journalist.
He added, “The consensus among military and foreign policy experts is that such a move would be disastrous — and that its failure could be catastrophic enough to permanently damage America’s standing as a superpower. But horrible outcomes have, at least to this point, not stopped Trump and his enablers from making irresponsible and dangerous decisions…. On March 8, Fox Business host Maria Bartiromo asked White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt a direct question. Would Trump consider ground forces or reinstating the draft to fight Iran?”
🚨WTF: Karoline Leavitt refuses to rule out INITIATING A DRAFT to send Americans to fight in Iran!
“It’s not part of the current plan right now… but the president… wisely keeps his options on the table.”
Translation: they won’t even promise your kids aren’t next. pic.twitter.com/aXbAcRwrrR
— CALL TO ACTIVISM (@CalltoActivism) March 8, 2026
“‘I know a lot of politicians like to do that quickly,’ she replied, ‘but the president, as commander-in-chief, wants to continue to assess the success of this military operation. It’s not part of the current plan right now, but the president, again, wisely keeps his options on the table,'” DeVega wrote.
He noted that if the draft is reinstated, the United States “would face enormous practical and political obstacles. The draft has not been part of American culture for 50 years, and Congress would need to update the Military Selective Service Act.”
For those unversed, in 1973, during the Vietnam War, then-President Richard Nixon ended the military draft. Then, in 1980, President Jimmy Carter reinstated draft registration during the Iranian hostage crisis. However, it has not been in effect since.
DeVega noted in his article, “Since the Trump administration has yet to make a coherent case for why this war is necessary, many Americans would likely simply refuse to comply…. As a political matter, a draft for an already unpopular war would likely leave Americans outraged and make landslide victories by Democrats over Republicans in the midterms and beyond a near certainty.”
Leavitt’s comments about a possible draft hint at something far more plausible: expanded presidential powers https://t.co/xU3LlhdCxN
— Salon (@Salon) March 16, 2026
“Such a move could even cause a generational political realignment away from Trumpism and the GOP,” the journalist concluded.
Director of Steady State, Steven Cash, shared the same views as DeVega. He told Salon, “A draft becomes politically plausible only when the nation believes it cannot defend itself without it. At that point, the question would no longer be political convenience, but national survival.”
While most of MAGA is reportedly in favor of mandatory military enlistment, some are not. Marjorie Taylor Greene, who had a fallout with Donald Trump, previously strongly opposed the idea. Taking to X (formerly Twitter), she wrote, “How about the answer is NO DRAFT AND NO BOOTS ON THE GROUND because we campaigned on NO MORE FOREIGN WARS OR REGIME CHANGE!!! Liars, every single one of them! Not my son, over my dead body!!!!!”
