JD Vance distances himself from Trump and Iran war after US midterms debacle

United States Vice President JD Vance publicly broke from President Donald Trump's defence of the Iran war Wednesday after the Republican Party's deep losses in the midterm elections, attempting to distance himself from voters' clear rebuke of the president as the vice president faces questions about his own political ambitions. Vance, who has said he would decide after the election whether to run for president in 2028, issued a lengthy social media post blaming the unpopular conflict with Iran for the GOP's drubbing. Vance said, "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.” But arguing that the war was worth it is what Trump repeatedly did on the campaign trail, continued to do in interviews as election results came in and did again Wednesday morning. As he led reporters on an impromptu visit to the ballroom he's constructing at the White House, Trump said, “The Iran thing, we had to do and we continue to do it." Trump said he spoke to Vance on Wednesday morning and, when asked about the vice president's post, he called it “good” and said, “I know how he feels about it," and “I think it was fine." The president also said he “knew the war was going to impact” the midterm elections but again defended his actions. Vance, who had long advocated for restraint in US military intervention overseas, was lukewarm in his defense of the conflict after Trump launched it and even became the face of an unsuccessful attempt to end the fighting. Reason for loss is ‘obvious to almost everyone’ Vance, in his post, said that Republican voters cast their ballots for Democrats because of the war, the cost of living, America not being prioritized and the US relationship with Israel — a dynamic where he’s also sounded a different note than Trump. “The real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone," he wrote. About 6 in 10 voters said the US made the “wrong decision” in taking military action against Iran, according to The AP Voter Poll, a survey of more than 100,000 voters in the United States. Most of those voters dissatisfied with the Iran war backed the Democratic candidate in their US House race, but the survey suggested the Iran war was not the leading issue for most voters. Only about one-third of voters said the war in Iran was “crucial” to their vote for Congress, well below the roughly half who said that about the cost of living or government corruption. Nearly all voters who backed the Democratic candidate in their US House race said going to war with Iran was the “wrong decision,” while roughly 8 in 10 voters who backed the Republican candidate said it was the “right decision.”