President Donald Trump doubled down on his war with Iran after his vice president said it was largely to blame for the dismal performance by Republicans during Tuesday’s midterm elections.
In his first public appearance following election night, the president was quickly asked about JD Vance’s lengthy social media post in which he explained what likely went wrong for the GOP at the polls. The main point the vice president made was that the war lost Republicans their seats — but when asked, Trump said he would do it all again the same.
“Well, I think it’s largely true, because it drove gasoline up a little bit short-term,” Trump told reporters. “But at the same time, if I had to do it again, I’d have to do it again, because long-term, it’s the only answer. You can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon.”
“You have no choice,” he then reiterated. “I thought oil would go up a lot more and I did it on that basis. You have no choice. You have to do it. You can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon, or everything that you see here someday might not exist.”
Vance was very candid in his social media post on Wednesday, where he broke down the many losses and the blue wave that saw Democrats take back control of the Senate and the House of Representatives.
“Undoubtedly there were places we could have done better on turnout. But the main problem is not turnout,” Vance wrote on X. “The main problem is that many people who voted for Trump/Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats in 2026. There will be a lot of infighting and arguing over what happened and why that is. One of the pollsters I really respect told me that our economic messaging wasn’t sharp enough down the stretch. I’m sure that’s true. The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night.”
“If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next six years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that’s at least honest,” he continued. “But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there.”
