Vance, in break with Trump, blames Iran war for Republicans’ rout

WASHINGTON — Vice President JD Vance on Wednesday placed the blame for Republicans’ wipeout in the midterm elections squarely on the war with Iran, in a remarkable break from President Donald Trump’s defense of his decision to attack.

In a more than 600-word post on social media, Vance also offered a broader critique of the Trump administration’s agenda and messaging in what appeared to be an effort to separate himself from the president.

“The reason we lost is the war,” Vance wrote. “The president himself said so last night. 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. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that’s at least honest.”

In fact, Trump told The New York Times on Tuesday night that he had no regrets about the war, though he acknowledged voters “weren’t happy with the oil price.”

“That’s a decision that was a very wise decision for the future of the country and the world,” he said.

Since he became Trump’s running mate, Vance had been widely seen as the front-runner to succeed the president and inherit the mantle of the Make America Great Again movement Trump started. But after Tuesday’s disastrous results, Republicans are already rethinking what the future of the party looks like, and Vance’s post suggests he is willing to separate himself from Trump as he considers his own political future.

Trump did not immediately react to Vance’s public critique of his policies.

In his post on social media, Vance said that many of the voters who supported him and Trump showed up in the elections, but that they chose to elect Democrats. He said a Republican pollster he called “one of the smartest people I know in politics” identified the four main reasons voters abandoned Republicans: They wanted to end the war, focus on inflation, put America first and change the country’s relationship with Israel.

That implicitly put Vance at odds with Trump, who has steadfastly defended the war with Iran, dismissed affordability concerns as a “hoax” and has closely aligned himself with Israel and its leader, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

“Everyone knows why we lost,” Vance wrote. “And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there.”