Trump blames midterm losses on Iran war – but insists he has no regrets

President Trump says the Iran war exacerbated Republican losses in this year’s midterms but emphasizes he would have done it again, as he promises to work with the new Democratic majorities in both chambers of Congress.

By David Rosenberg, World Israel News

President Donald Trump blamed the Republican Party’s sweeping defeats in Tuesday’s midterm elections partly on the war with Iran and his own absence from the ballot, while insisting that he had no regrets about his administration’s policies and expressing a willingness to cooperate with the incoming Democratic congressional majority.

In a series of telephone interviews with The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal, CBS News and Fox News on Tuesday night, Trump acknowledged the Republican losses but rejected suggestions that the election represented a repudiation of his presidency.

Democrats won control of both the House of Representatives and Senate, capturing numerous Republican-held seats in an election that also saw the GOP suffer major defeats in gubernatorial contests.

In a post on Truth Social, Trump argued that Republicans would have performed significantly better had he personally been running.

“I wasn’t on the Ballot and if I was, we would have won IN A LANDSLIDE! Thank you for your attention to this matter,” he wrote.

Trump reiterated that argument during a telephone interview with CBS News, saying that Republican voters had failed to turn out in sufficient numbers because he was not a candidate.

He also suggested that some Republican candidates had failed to win over his political base, while others were insufficiently aligned with him.

The president said he had campaigned extensively for Republican candidates but that many of them had been unable to secure victory despite his assistance.

In a separate interview with The Wall Street Journal, Trump acknowledged that the war with Iran, which began earlier this year and has contributed to sharply higher energy prices, had damaged Republican candidates.

“Iran was a piece of it,” he said.

However, the president insisted that launching the military campaign had been the correct decision and that the political consequences had not changed his assessment.

“I don’t think about it. I did the right thing. I would have done it again,” Trump told the Journal.

He argued that rising energy prices resulting from Iran’s closure of the Strait of Hormuz, rather than opposition to the war itself, had been the principal political problem for Republicans.

Trump made similar remarks to The New York Times, describing the decision to attack Iran as a “very wise decision” and maintaining that the conflict would ultimately benefit the United States and the world.

He also rejected suggestions that the Republican defeats required changes to his administration, saying he had no plans to replace senior officials and expressing continued confidence in Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who has overseen the military campaign.

Despite the electoral setback, Trump said he was prepared to accept the results.

“I am absolutely willing to accept those results,” he told The New York Times.

The president also expressed optimism about working with Democrats after they assume control of Congress in January.

“We’ll, you know, look forward to working with them,” he told the newspaper. “We’ll probably work something out.”

In his interview with CBS News, Trump congratulated the opposition party on its victories.

“My message is, congratulations to the Democrats, and I look forward to working with you for the good of our country,” he said.

However, Trump warned that he would use his presidential veto authority to block legislation he opposed, expressing confidence that Democrats would eventually have to negotiate with him to advance their agenda.

In an earlier CBS interview conducted before polls closed, Trump emphasized his ability to continue pursuing administration policies through executive action, regardless of which party controlled Congress.

He also pointed to recent Supreme Court decisions that he argued had strengthened presidential authority over federal agencies.

On Truth Social, Trump posted an image of a red MAGA-style hat bearing the word “VETO,” underscoring his intention to exercise that power if necessary.

The president also announced that he would offer his own assessments of why individual Republican candidates had won or lost.

He singled out Texas Governor Greg Abbott, who lost his reelection bid to Democrat Gina Hinojosa, blaming the defeat on Abbott’s recent political positions.

Trump accused Abbott of becoming a “Republican in name only,” or “RINO,” despite having endorsed the governor earlier in the election cycle.

A White House official similarly argued that Republican candidate quality had contributed to the losses and maintained that Trump had done more to promote the party’s candidates than many had done for themselves.

Trump’s response came after a campaign in which he traveled extensively to support Republican candidates and urged voters to behave as though he himself were on the ballot.