Right Argues Over Midterm Loss: Iran War, Prices or Candidates

Two days after Democrats retook Congress, there is no single conservative explanation for what happened — and the president is already talking about the veto.

Fox News reports Trump said he is willing to work with the new congressional majority and is ready to use his veto, and that the result was not a personal defeat because he was not on the ballot. At the White House ballroom site, he told reporters, 'If I was on the ballot, we would have won,' and called it 'largely true' that the GOP lost the House and Senate because of the Iran war's effect on energy prices, per CBS.

Commentators on the right are split. The Daily Wire's Matt Walsh wrote that Trump 'launched an unpopular and pointless war. Gas prices are too high.' Radio host Buck Sexton cited an 'unnecessary war that did not go as promised,' plus bad messaging, poor candidates and high prices.

Others point inward. Trump adviser Alex Bruesewitz said most Republican candidates were 'uninspiring, lazy, and thoroughly ineffective communicators.' Erick Erickson argued the problems went beyond the war, citing corruption, incompetence, tariffs and aggressive deportations. The Federalist's Sean Davis predicted 'the biggest national wipeout for Republicans since 2006.'

Vice President JD Vance told reporters, 'the reason we lost is the war,' per CBS. Washington Examiner columnist Guy Benson called it 'a catastrophic night for Republicans.'

Whatever the cause, the fix runs through the same place: a president with a veto, a Senate map that is still not fully called in Alaska and Mississippi, and a House conference now choosing the team to lead it.