Trump said he wished Vance had addressed one crucial question: whether he would make the same decision to strike Iran again, knowing the political consequences.
By United with Israel Staff
President Donald Trump suggested Sunday that growing hostility toward Israel among American voters contributed to the Republican Party’s sweeping midterm election losses, while strongly defending his decision to wage war against Iran despite the political fallout.
During an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes,” Trump pointed to public opposition to the Iran war, rising gasoline prices and widespread dislike of Israel as major factors behind the Republican defeat.
Asked to explain the election results, Trump initially emphasized that he had not personally been on the ballot and argued that Republican candidates had struggled to attract the same level of support he enjoyed.
“But there’s something beyond that,” Trump said.
“They didn’t like the war. They didn’t like the fact that gasoline went up,” he continued, arguing that higher fuel prices had fueled voter dissatisfaction with the military campaign.
Trump then raised the issue of Israel, declaring that “there’s a great dislike, incredibly, for Israel. There seems to be a dislike for Israel.”
He identified hostility toward Israel, the war itself and gasoline prices as the primary reasons for the Republican losses.
The remarks suggested that the Republican Party’s traditionally strong support for Israel may have become a political liability among some American voters, reflecting growing opposition to the Jewish state across segments of the American political spectrum.
Trump’s comments echoed an assessment by Vice President JD Vance, who last week attributed the Republican defeat to the war with Iran, rising costs and dissatisfaction with Washington’s relationship with Israel.
Asked whether he agreed with Vance’s analysis, Trump replied, “I don’t disagree with it.”
The president revealed that Vance had discussed his planned social media post with him beforehand and that he had encouraged the vice president to express his views freely.
However, Trump said he wished Vance had addressed one crucial question: whether he would make the same decision to strike Iran again, knowing the political consequences.
“My answer is an emphatic yes because you can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon,” Trump declared.
“I think historically this will be a very good decision. Is it a good decision for today and tomorrow? Maybe not,” he continued.
“I have to go with what’s right for our country,” Trump said, arguing that allowing Iran to acquire nuclear weapons would have been far worse than the political backlash from the war.
The president also maintained that the United States had already won the war and predicted that Tehran would eventually agree to a deal with Washington.
Asked whether he intended to escalate the conflict following the midterm elections, Trump said he saw no immediate reason to do so, although he emphasized that American forces continued to monitor Iran’s remaining nuclear material and facilities.
Later in the interview, Trump went further in defending the military campaign, arguing that American intervention had saved Israel from destruction.
“Israel would not exist except for Donald Trump,” he declared, pointing to the deployment of American B-2 bombers against three Iranian nuclear facilities.
“They were two weeks away from having a nuclear weapon,” Trump claimed, insisting that the strikes had completely destroyed the targeted sites.
Asked whether he regretted supporting Israeli strikes targeting Iran’s leadership rather than limiting the military campaign to nuclear facilities, Trump defended the broader operation, emphasizing the need to eliminate the Iranian threat over the long term.
“Look, I want to have it for the long term, not for the short term,” Trump said.
“We decapitated their nuclear arsenal. If I didn’t do that, there would be no Israel right now. Israel would be gone.”
Trump also warned that he believed the Iranian regime would use a nuclear weapon almost immediately if it acquired one, declaring that “they would use a nuclear weapon in 24 hours.”
The president’s emphatic defense of the war followed similar remarks Wednesday, when he acknowledged that he had anticipated the military campaign’s electoral consequences but insisted that preventing Iran from acquiring nuclear weapons was more important than the Republican Party’s political fortunes.
“I knew the war was gonna impact [the election results]. Whether it impacted it or not, Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon,” Trump told reporters during a tour of the White House ballroom construction site.
“I would’ve done nothing different,” he added.
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