‘Midterms were lost when Trump started the war and then refused to finish it’: Tiana Lowe Doescher

Washington Examiner economics columnist Tiana Lowe Doescher argued that President Donald Trump didn’t lose the midterm elections because of the war in Iran itself, but because he failed to bring it to an end, contributing to economic turmoil across the U.S.“The midterms were not lost because of Iran,” Doescher said on Newsmax’s The Right Squad on Wednesday. “The midterms were lost when Trump started the war and then refused to finish it,” Doescher said. “The only way out was through,” she continued.The war in Iran started on Feb. 28, and has lasted more than eight months, raising concerns over the United States’s continued involvement overseas and the resources it has committed to the conflict.The estimated cost for the war is roughly $38 billion, according to a September analysis released by the Congressional Budget Office.Supply constraints from the conflict are also driving up gas prices to record highs in the U.S.The president has repeatedly teased deals with Iran to end the war, but none have been reached.“When you had this caucus inside the White House that somehow convinced the president that you could make a deal with a terrorist organization, that was when it was lost,” Doescher said.Doescher argued the election was really lost when Trump imposed a sweeping set of reciprocal tariffs on China and Europe, among others.Trump dubbed April 2, 2025, as “Liberation Day,” intended to give the U.S. economic independence. However, it caused an economic shock, with stocks suffering.“Really, when Trump’s goose was cooked, it’s Liberation Day. He was explicitly elected to end the cost-of-living crisis that Joe Biden created,” Doescher said.TRUMP ‘NOT AT ALL’ WORRIED ABOUT IMPEACHMENT DESPITE DEMOCRATS RETAKING CONGRESS“If you spend two months entering office, and then you jack up a bunch of prices in the form of tariffs, that is inherently inflationary.”Doescher said that most economic growth has been driven by “AI buildout.”