Since last Tuesday’s blue wave, Republicans have been asking where their party went wrong. There is no shortage of explanations, but much of the Right has settled on one: had the United States not gone to war with Iran, Republicans would not have lost so decisively. Vice President JD Vance laid out that argument in a lengthy post on X, and political commentator after political commentator endorsed his account, including the president’s own son, Donald Trump Jr.
But while much of the Right has blamed the defeat on neoconservative foreign policy, and arguments over what the exit polls show us continue, President Trump has been clear: yes, the war drove up gas prices. Yes, it contributed to Republicans’ devastating losses. But given the choice, he would make the same decision again in a heartbeat. And there’s a good reason why, even if the administration has thus far failed to adequately explain to the public.
Reporter: “Has JD Vance's comments about Iran questioning some of those decisions impacted your relationship at all?” President Trump: “No, not at all. But 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 it to do again, would you do it again? The answer is yes. I can tell you, if I had it to do again, this historically, for history, will go down as one of the best things we ever did. Because if they ever had a nuclear weapon, they would blow up the world. You know why? Because they're crazy. Thank you very much, everybody.” The warmongers, of course, DON’T like JD’s comments. The Iran war was NOT worth losing the House and Senate for the next 6 years — and possibly our country if the Democrats take back power in 2028.
— RedWave Press (@RedWavePress) November 9, 2026
Back in March, Louisiana Senator John Kennedy made the case for that decision in a podcast appearance that deserved far more attention than it received. It was an argument more Republicans should have been making in the days, weeks, and months before the midterms.
Sen. Kennedy clearly explains why Trump had to attack Iran. My question is why this wasn’t articulated before the midterms. Or was it, and everyone just refused to listen? https://t.co/v1OgTz30Nl
— Justin (@JustinUSA) November 6, 2026
"Here's what our intelligence showed, and I've seen it. It's classified, but I've seen it, but I can give you a general outline," the senator said. "Our intelligence showed that Iran was building up its missile capacity, both ballistic and cruise, and they were going to compile so many missiles and drones that they were going to turn to America and Israel and say, we're restarting our nuclear weapons program. And if you try to stop us, we're going to destroy the rest of the Middle East. And by the way, our missiles can now reach London and Paris and Germany and Berlin."
I've seen the intelligence. And President Trump was faced, well, do I let them continue? He had already bombed their nuclear, some of their nuclear facilities, but he was faced with the decision, do I let them get to the point where they have so many missiles and drones, ballistic and cruise, that they could destroy the Middle East, that they could hit London, that they might even be able to hit the United States, or do I go in to stop them? And he did.
Instead, many of the president’s enemies on the Right insisted he had acted at Israel’s behest, or because a neocon was whispering in his ear. Yet neoconservatism’s hallmark was democracy-building. The Iran war wasn’t that. And while MAGA talks of defending the West, after last Tuesday, many seem willing to accept the world’s leading sponsor of terrorism having the military capability to threaten it directly. These are fanatics we are talking about, not people who simply wish to hold onto their political power.
Could the Iran war have been waged better? Absolutely. We should have been more aggressive from the beginning, perhaps even taking Kharg Island instead of playing footsie with the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. Maybe the president shouldn’t have listened to those within his administration who told him he could negotiate with Iran, and maybe he shouldn’t have put his faith in a disastrous memorandum of understanding. But the strikes, and the war itself, were necessary, and the president deserves tremendous credit.
America First should not be interpreted as isolationism. That is not how President Trump has ever put it into practice. The idea that your life would be tremendously better if every tax dollar spent abroad were simply spent at home is false. If we believed otherwise, we’d all vote Democrat.
If Republicans want to be candid about why they lost last week, that conversation has to go beyond the Iran war. Blaming the loss on neoconservatism saves us from asking the harder questions about our own agenda. Maybe some of our policies could have been enacted better. Maybe others simply don’t work. But we need to reckon with that rather than pin the blame on an ideology we claim to have left behind.
Editor’s Note: Thanks to President Trump and his administration’s bold leadership, we are once again respected on the world stage, and our enemies are being put on notice.
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