Daniel Torok / The White House / Public domain
President Donald Trump said dislike of Israel, the Iran war and higher gasoline prices contributed to Republican losses in the midterm elections, offering his own explanation for the result in an interview that aired Sunday.
“They didn’t like the war. They didn’t like the fact that gasoline went up,” Trump told Ross Douthat. He then added: “There’s a great dislike, incredibly, for Israel.” The remarks appear in the transcript of the interview, recorded Friday at the White House and aired Sunday at 7 p.m. Eastern.
Trump also said he had not been on the ballot and argued that his support had not transferred to some Republican candidates. “I think in some cases, they didn’t like the candidates,” he said.
Asked about Vice President JD Vance’s argument that the war explained the defeat, Trump replied: “I don’t disagree.” He said Vance had consulted him before writing the post, but defended the decision to attack Iran, saying he would make it again to prevent Iran from having a nuclear weapon.
The president’s comments were his political assessment of the election, not independent evidence establishing why individual voters cast their ballots. He did not announce a new policy toward Israel in the exchange.
The full transcript added detail to Trump’s election explanation. “So you have that. You have the war itself. You have the gas prices. And I think those are the primary reasons,” he said. Separately, discussing why voters did not share his positive assessment of the economy, he said: “I think it was bad messaging, maybe by me.” His response to Vance’s analysis also included a qualification: he wanted the vice president to address whether he would make the decision to attack Iran again, rather than treating the electoral cost as the only consideration.
JBizNews Desk | Washington
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