Trump pushes back on Vance blaming midterm losses on Iran war: ‘People didn’t like his comments’
WASHINGTON, DC: President Donald Trump on Sunday, November 8, pushed back against Vice President JD Vance’s assessment that the Iran war was responsible for Republican losses in the midterm elections, saying that Vance had left out an important part of the argument.
Trump said that the war had hurt the party politically but insisted he would make the same decision again. The president also dismissed suggestions that Vance’s comments had affected their relationship, while acknowledging that others had not responded positively to the vice president’s remarks.
Trump says JD Vance should have said he would back Iran war decision again
Speaking to reporters as he returned to Washington from Palm Beach, Florida, Trump was asked whether Vance’s comments questioning some of the administration’s decisions on Iran had affected their relationship. “No, not at all,” Trump said, before adding that the vice president’s assessment had instead drawn criticism from others.
“A lot of people didn’t like his comments, but not me. He was right, other than one thing, he should have made one other statement, one statement that I think is very important, ‘If you had to do it again, would you do it again?’ The answer is yes. I can tell you, if I had to do it again, this historically, for history will go down as one of the best things we ever did,” Trump said.
"If they ever had a nuclear weapon, they would blow up the world. You know why? Because they are crazy," he added.
‼️ Trump on JD Vance: "A lot of people didn't like his comments" https://t.co/l5FnyjfLRN
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) November 8, 2026
Trump reiterated that position during an interview on CBS’ '60 Minutes' later in the day. When asked about the decision, he said he believed the operation would be viewed positively in the long term, even if its immediate political consequences were damaging. "Is it a good decision for today and tomorrow? Maybe not, but I would have to go with what's right for our country," Trump said.
60 MINUTES REPORT: Ross Douthat interviews President Trump in his first sit-down interview since the 2026 midterm elections. The wide-ranging conversation covered immigration and corruption, Iran and artificial intelligence, his potential successors and his own mortality. The interview begins with the election results.
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) November 9, 2026
The president also said that he believed the decision was necessary because Iran could not be allowed to obtain a nuclear weapon. Trump had previously acknowledged that the war’s impact on gas prices was among the factors behind the Republicans’ midterm performance.
JD Vance blamed Iran war for GOP losses, challenged Republicans to defend its political cost
Vance directly attributed the Republican defeat to the Iran conflict in a lengthy social media post on Wednesday, a day after Democrats secured major victories in the midterm elections and won control of both chambers of Congress. “The reason we lost is the war,” the vice president wrote. “The president himself said so.”
Vance also challenged Republicans who supported the military campaign to explain whether they believed its consequences were worth the party losing control of the Senate.
One of the things the data analysts on our side obsessed over was "composition"—whether the electorate looked close enough to 2024 for Republicans to win. And despite polls that showed a Democrat blowout, the data kept on telling us the same story: in some states turnout was merely OK, in other states it was downright amazing, and in no state was it catastrophic. There was a genuine sense of optimism on our team: our people were showing up. So, I asked the smartest data guy I know, does that mean we're going to shock the world? "No," he told me. "We might do better than the polls suggest. But the data is telling us that a lot of Trump/Vance 2024 voters are pissed and planning to vote for the other guys. Our voters are turning out, but they may not vote for us." I felt negative going into Tuesday, but even I was shocked by this. In his polling, he saw that a lot of Trump 2024 voters were angry and planning to vote for Democrats. He asked those voters who had abandoned us what would cause them to come back on our team. The top four answers, accounting for nearly all of the responses were: 1) End the war results, you should be. Let’s take that anger and get back to the work of saving our country.
— JD Vance (@JDVance) November 4, 2026
“If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so,” Vance wrote. “Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that’s at least honest. But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there.”
