(Update 11:10ET): The expected rapid blame-game has begun at the highest levels of the Turmp administration, with Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday morning saying bluntly that the Iran war is 'the reason we lost' midterms. He had in the opening days of Operation Epic Fury, and just before (per prior NYT reporting), expressed pushback within Oval Office discussions.
TREASURY YIELDS EDGE LOWER AS OIL PRICES SLIDE
"The war with Iran, inflation, and the US relationship with Israel caused voters to break with the Republican party in the midterm election," Vice President JD Vance says on X, citing a pollster.
- Vance says voters who broke with his party wanted to end the war with Iran, focus on affordability, “put America first,” and “change our relationship with Israel”
- “Everyone knows why we lost,” Vance says
- Vance calls for an “honest conversation” about “where we go from here”
More from Vance's long X post, which seems to constitute an awkard break from Trump's triple down rhetoric:
I remain hopeful about our country. To the people who are pissed off and want to say, “I told you so”: you’re right, you did tell us so. Take that energy into electing Republicans who share your worldview. To the people who are just pissed at the results, you should be. Let’s take that anger and get back to the work of saving our country.
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…
— JD Vance (@JD
