Kathrine Frich
He still made it clear he would not change a thing.
Political defeats have a way of testing even the closest alliances in Washington.
When voters hand the ruling party a painful loss at the ballot box, leaders usually spend days arguing over who should take the fall. By Wednesday, however, two of the highest-ranking politicians in America found themselves pointing at the exact same culprit.
A quiet admission
According to White House press pool reports cited by HuffPost, a noticeably subdued President Donald Trump stepped in front of reporters on Wednesday and backed Vice President JD Vance’s blunt assessment of the midterm elections.
Rather than pushing back against his second-in-command, the president agreed it is “largely true” that the military conflict with Iran helped trigger the massive wave of Democratic victories.
For voters feeling the pinch in their daily lives, the link between foreign policy and the ballot box came down to the cost of filling up the tank. “Well I think it’s largely true because it drove the gasoline up a little, short term, and probably that’s true,” Trump told reporters on Wednesday.
Still, the president refused to back down from his decision to launch the military campaign. Speaking to the press corps, he insisted he had “no choice” when it came to striking Tehran, arguing that the immediate political pain was worth the broader security goal.
Standing his ground
Even after watching Democrats sweep the midterms, Trump made it clear he would not change a thing. “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,” the president told reporters.
Beyond the fallout from Tuesday’s vote, questions are already swirling around who will lead the Republican ticket in the next presidential race.
According to the press pool reports, Trump confirmed on Wednesday that he and Vance have already talked about the vice president potentially running for the White House in 2028.
True to form, the president kept his cards close to his chest when pressed on what that race might look like. “We’ll see what happens,” Trump said. “You don’t know who’s talking about running. You’re gonna have a lot of people running. Maybe nobody’s gonna run.”
