Story highlights Critics decried the intervention in another country

"I think a lot of Trump voters will be waking up this morning and scratching their heads," pro-Brexit leader Nigel Farage said

Washington (CNN) While much of the world is applauding President Donald Trump's decision to strike a Syrian airbase in retaliation for a chemical weapons attack against civilians, right-wing populist supporters at home and abroad are criticizing the move and distancing themselves from him.

Nigel Farage, the pro-Brexit leader, aligned himself with Trump during last year's campaign, spoke at his rallies and was among the first to meet with him after his election. On Friday morning, however, he said he was "very surprised" by the Syria action.

"I think a lot of Trump voters will be waking up this morning and scratching their heads and saying, 'Where will it all end?'" he said. "As a firm Trump supporter, I say, yes, the pictures were horrible, but I'm surprised," Farage continued, arguing that in a region riven by Islamic extremism, "whatever Assad's sins, he is secular."

Farage's comments captured the wave of right-wing anger and frustration that followed the US strike -- and they pointed up an odd reversal.

Populists who applauded Trump for his disdain for US interventions overseas and his campaign declaration that the US "cannot be the policeman of the world" were aghast by the strike. In contrast, an international community that has often held Trump at arm's length stepped up to declare their rock-solid support for the new US president.

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