So how extensive is US support for Israel, and just how much might that backing cost both Trump and his Republican Party?<\/p>\n
How much aid has Trump given to Israel?<\/p>\n
A lot.<\/p>\n
Washington has been giving Israel $3.8bn<\/a> per year to spend on US weapons under a 10-year commitment overseen by former US President Barack Obama in 2019.<\/p>\n In March, US Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced that Washington would be sending $4bn in emergency military assistance to Israel. He proudly said the Trump administration had approved $12bn in US military sales to Israel since taking office, framing it as a departure from the administration of Trump\u2019s predecessor, Joe Biden, who himself was overwhelmingly pro-Israel.<\/p>\n According to the latest report by the Cost of War Project, published in October, the US has given Israel more than $21bn<\/a> since its genocidal war on Gaza began.<\/p>\n How much has this cost Trump within his MAGA movement?<\/p>\n More than you might think.<\/p>\n Some of the most significant figures within the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement have already rebelled over Trump\u2019s unflinching support for Israel. But this is not entirely out of concern for the more than 70,000 people that Israel has killed in Gaza so far. Rather, many of their objections have focused on the cost of supporting Israel and the potential risks of doing so.<\/p>\n In June, the influential MAGA figure and Trump ally, former Fox News personality Tucker Carlson, openly broke with the president on the topic. Taking to social media, he wrote: \u201cThe real divide isn\u2019t between people who support Israel and people who support Iran or the Palestinians. The real divide is between those who casually encourage violence, and those who seek to prevent it \u2014 between warmongers and peacemakers.\u201d<\/p>\n Another of Trump\u2019s inner circle, his former aide Steve Bannon, has also questioned the \u201cspecial relationship\u201d, describing Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as having \u201cbetrayed\u201d the US by launching strikes on Iran while knowing it did not have the tools needed for outright victory.<\/p>\n Later the same year, after Netanyahu had suggested that being anti-Israel was incompatible with being part of the MAGA movement, Bannon responded with what commentators described as a \u201cscorched earth\u201d approach, appearing to address the Israeli prime minister directly via social media. Bannon used colourful language to say that US citizens did not care about Netanyahu\u2019s opinions towards MAGA, but instead cared about exposing the prime minister\u2019s \u201cpathological lies\u201d so that the US stays out of \u201c[Israel\u2019s] next war\u201d.<\/p>\n Has Trump\u2019s support for Israel hurt his political base?<\/p>\n Up to a point.<\/p>\n While many Republican figures remain loyal, the most strident criticism \u2013 and one of the few on the US right to have accused Israel of genocide \u2013 has come from one of his previously most stalwart allies, Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.<\/p>\n In the midst of a number of ruptures over the cost of living and the release of files related to the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein, Greene earned Trump\u2019s fury after she took to social media to call out the \u201cgenocide, humanitarian crisis, and starvation happening in Gaza\u201d.<\/p>\n Trump has responded to the congresswoman\u2019s criticism by branding her Marjorie \u201cTraitor\u201d Greene.<\/p>\n Greene has since announced that she will be leaving Congress, but is still well respected by many in the MAGA movement, who see her as having stood up for an \u201cAmerica First\u201d policy rather than an \u201cIsrael First\u201d one.<\/p>\n It is not certain.<\/p>\n A new poll released this week by YouGov and the Institute for Middle East Understanding (IMEU) Policy Project showed a plurality of Republicans surveyed favoured letting the 10-year aid agreement lapse once it had run its course. Feelings were even more marked among younger Republicans, with 53 percent of those aged between 18 and 44 favouring ripping up the agreement entirely.<\/p>\n \u201cEven before the war in Gaza, there was less support for Israel and greater sympathy for Palestinians among younger Americans, including young evangelical Christians,\u201d Dov Waxman, professor of Israel studies at the University of California, told Al Jazeera<\/a> in October. \u201cIsrael\u2019s behaviour during the war in Gaza has significantly accelerated the erosion of support for Israel among these key groups.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"People](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/AP25269545908878-1758900494.jpg\")
People carry caricature heads of US President Donald Trump, left, and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu as they march during a pro-Palestinian protest, September 26, 2025, New York, US [Angelina Katsanis\/AP Photo]<\/p>\n![\"(FILES)](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/12\/afp_6926fbc62de5-1764162502.jpg\")
US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene (R) speaks alongside Trump at a campaign event in Rome, Georgia [File: AFP]How much might this be costing him electorally?<\/p>\n