Trump concedes Iran war angered voters — but said he would do it again
President Donald Trump and Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday blamed Republicans’ stunning midterm losses on his unpopular war with Iran, though Trump said he had no choice but to launch the conflict and would do it again.
“It’s largely true because it drove the gasoline [prices] up a little bit,” the president said Wednesday afternoon on the site of his half-finished White House ballroom, his first public appearance since the election.
“At the same time, if I had to do it again, I’d have to do it again,” Trump added before directing the attention of his aides and reporters to the helipad he had installed on the White House lawn in September. “You can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon.”
Though Trump himself made the decision to go to war with Iran — egged on by powerful outside advisers and some aides, including Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth — Trump continued Wednesday to distance himself from the GOP’s losses, which handed the Democrats significant majorities in the House and Senate.
Late Tuesday, he insisted that “if I was on the ballot, we would have won.” [Continue reading…]