Analysis: The extreme positions Trump proposes — and Republicans embrace | CNN Politics

President Donald Trump this month threatened to strike Iranian infrastructure in ways that might well be war crimes. Then he threatened something much more severe, saying: “A whole civilization will die tonight.” The threats shocked the political world and even some prominent Trump allies who suddenly distanced themselves. But to the Republican base, they were no big deal, according to polls released this week. In fact, they were actually good on balance. And it’s merely the latest example of Trump proposing rather extreme ideas that are then quickly embraced by much of the GOP base. A Quinnipiac University poll this week showed 66% of Republicans said they supported bombing power plants and other civilian infrastructure in Iran if negotiations do not succeed. (The survey question did not mention that this would likely be a war crime.) And it was pretty much only Republicans; Democrats opposed the idea 95%-3%, and independents also opposed it overwhelmingly, 77-18%. The numbers were virtually the same across the board when it came to Trump’s social media threat to end Iranian civilization, which 62% of Republicans labeled “acceptable” but others overwhelmingly said was