Neocons in full meltdown as voters punish GOP for Iran war

It has long been claimed that Americans do not vote based on foreign policy, but the results of Tuesday’s midterm elections demonstrated the limits of this truism, with a large majority of voters rejecting the Iran War waged by the Trump administration.Even before the election, an October Fox News poll indicated that the Iran war and issues associated with it (inflation and gas prices) were among the top issues voters were concerned about. Exit polling published by NBC News showed 74% of voters saw the Iran war as a “crucial” or “major factor” in their vote, while 62% believed using force against Iran was the wrong decision. This apparently has come as a nasty surprise to the war’s biggest defenders and surrogates, who had assured their followers that this backlash would not happen. Some have admitted their errors, but many have not, and that split has rapidly produced a circular firing squad, with neocons aggressively turning on those in their ranks who have conceded the war was a mistake.Will Chamberlain, senior counsel at the Article III Project, had been one of the war’s biggest cheerleaders in the conservative media world. On April 17, 2026, six weeks after Trump and Israel launched the war, Chamberlain wrote that “we’re getting the enriched uranium. We’re getting a stop to enrichment. We’re getting an end to the funding of proxies,” adding that the U.S. had “destroyed their Air Force, navy, air defenses, defense industrial base, and senior leadership.” He said that this was “all done in 6 weeks. Geopolitical masterstroke.”Asked in an April interview with The Blaze what the current Iran war would look like by the time midterms occur, Chamberlain confidently insisted that “I think in the midterms this will be kind of a mild footnote, honestly. Like I think that’s what it’ll be. I think something else will be dominating the discussion.”But after election results came in on November 3, Chamberlain finally admitted that the “Iran War is clearly catastrophically unpopular and has to end.” Chamberlain’s admission stands out from a slew of neocons who remain in denial about American public opinion on the eight-month-long Iran War, and who are attacking their own ranks for conceding the now obvious point that Americans don’t support the war and that their frustration with the conflict motivated their votes against Republicans across the country.Mark Levin, a close confidant of President Donald Trump and a fanatical supporter of Israel, had assured his audience in September that the Iran War was a “4% percent issue” for voters, stating that “whatever happens in the midterms, it doesn’t appear that Iran is going to drive anything one way or another.” Ben Shapiro, another Israel Firster, replied, “I think that’s exactly right.”Weeks later, seemingly sensing the looming GOP losses resulting from their embrace of the Iran War, Levin declared it is “not my fault!” if the Republicans were to be wiped out on Tuesday. Dismissing the economic pain suffered by American families from the war, the multimillionaire Fox News host insisted that “The vast majority of us are utterly unaffected by [the Iran War],” adding that “[If we lose], it's not because of the Iran War, it’s not because of the price of gasoline…”Iran’s restrictions on transit through the Strait of Hormuz — a waterway that was free and open every day before February 28 of this year — have sent oil and diesel prices skyrocketing, causing price hikes at the gas pump and increasing costs for Americans through the entire agricultural and transportation supply chains. Mark Zandi, chief economist at Moody’s Analytics, estimated to NBC News in July that the Iran War has already cost the average American household at least $1,200 more than if the war had never started. Pro-Israel Rep. Nancy Mace (R-S.C.), who turned against the war after initially supporting it, took aim at Levin on X the morning after the election, writing that “Mark Levin is a moron. And heavily contributed to the devastating losses suffered last night by republicans.” Levin responded to Mace, calling her “one of the most mentally unhinged POS to ever be in Congress,” adding that “we lost last night for many reasons, including because of useless, self-promoting, do-nothings like you. Good riddance, crackpot.”Rebeccah Heinrichs of the Hudson Institute — a neocon think tank funded by BAE Systems, Bechtel, Boeing, General Dynamics, L3 Harris, Raytheon, Palantir Technologies, Lockheed Martin, and other defense contractors — has likewise been among the most enthusiastic supporters of military action, appearing regularly on Fox News to promote the Iran War, which can only benefit Hudson’s weapons industry donors.While war supporters like Chamberlain recognize the Iran War as a losing issue in the election, Heinrichs has doubled down on her support for it, assigning blame for the election results to officials in the government who attempted diplomacy with Iran, rather than the officials who cheered on the war effort. “Once the decision to take the fight to Iran was made, we needed to follow through and Trump should've put Sec Rubio and Adm Cooper in charge of explaining it to the electorate. Still should,” she posted on X. She commiserated on X with David Reaboi, the president of Strategic Improvisation, which is described as “a communications company focused on developing and executing impactful and flexible strategies in the national security world.”As Reaboi put it, “I dunno. Seems like not winning (Iran war) — and listening to people who advocated losing it — was the far bigger mistake.” Andrew Day of The American Conservative — who has opposed the Iran War from the start and predicted its consequences on the midterms — summarized Heinrichs’ views on X: “We didn't Iran War hard enough. We should have Iran Warred harder. Then, the Republicans would have won.”Vice President JD Vance, who has publicly supported and defended the Iran War, himself admitted Wednesday that “the reason we lost is the war,” saying that voters wanted the GOP to end the war, focus on cost of living/inflation, put America first, and change our relationship with Israel. For admitting this, Vance was attacked on X by former Israeli spokesman Eylon Levy, who said that “We are not the cause of any of your problems” and that “it is impossible to separate” those sentiments “from the multi billion dollar disinformation war waged by adversaries of the West to separate America from its ally—and from a history of scapegoating.” Another emphatically pro-Israel spokesman, Marc Thiessen, disputed Vance’s analysis, writing on X that “Trump did not say ‘the reason we lost is the war.’ He said ‘Iran was a piece of it.’ He also said ‘I did the right thing. I would have done it again’ and that ‘I’m totally convinced that my decision on Iran for the long-term good of our country and even the world was an absolutely correct one and continues to be.’ If you disagree with him say so. Agree or disagree, that's at least honest.”The staunchly pro-Israel radio host Sid Rosenberg, meanwhile, called Vance’s tweet “further proof that I could never vote for this guy for President of the United States” and questioned why “Trump would allow anyone in his administration to undermine him.” Mark Levin agreed, calling Vance’s post “stunning.”