Former President Donald Trump said Sunday that he agrees with Senator JD Vance's assessment that the Iran war, rising costs, and U.S. relations with Israel contributed to the Republican Party's losses in the midterm elections.
"I don’t disagree with it," Trump said in an interview with CBS's 60 Minutes. Vance had previously stated on X, formerly Twitter, that the "real reason" Republicans lost was the war.
Trump confirmed that Vance had informed him of his planned statement. "He asked me what do I think," Trump recounted. "I said, ‘You write what you want. By the way, what are you going to write?’"
Trump added that he wished Vance had elaborated on whether he would have made the decision to engage in war with Iran again, given his role in the administration's decision-making process.
"My answer is an emphatic yes, because you can't let Iran have a nuclear weapon," Trump stated, defending the decision to engage militarily. He argued that the administration's actions were more important than the immediate political fallout of the midterm elections, suggesting that while the decision might not have been popular, the alternative of allowing Iran to obtain a nuclear weapon would have been worse.
"I think, historically, this will be a very good decision. Is it a good decision for today and tomorrow? Maybe not," Trump said. "I have to go with what's right for our country. If they had a nuclear weapon during my term, I would be excoriated far worse than what's happened."
Vance's initial assessment, delivered earlier in the week, directly attributed the midterm losses to the war. "The reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone," Vance wrote on X. "The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night."
He further elaborated, stating that if one argues the war was "worthwhile," then losing the Senate for the next six years was also a "worthwhile cost to pay." Vance concluded, "But everyone knows why we lost."
Democrats regained control of both chambers of Congress in the midterms, flipping at least seven Senate seats and more than two dozen House districts.