President Donald Trump has acknowledged the impact of the United States’ attack on Iran and a sharp rise in prices on stunning Republican losses in midterm elections on Tuesday, but said the move was justified and denied responsibility for the rout.
“We actually have the greatest economy, but because of the gasoline price, people don’t see it as much as they would have without it. And the gasoline was caused by Iran,” he told Fox News in a televised phone interview late on Tuesday.
“People agree with what I’m doing on Iran, but they really probably weren’t willing to do the short-term consequence of paying more for gasoline. I understand that. I don’t agree with it.”
Speaking to The Wall Street Journal about the Republican defeats , Trump said about the Iran war: “I did the right thing. I would have done it again.”
Republican strategist James Davis said the war contributed to the setbacks for the party but also to a lack of clear messaging.
“The war was definitely part of it and has helped shift the electorate toward Democrats. But the biggest issue was not the war itself, but the clear articulation of a strategy that gives people confidence in that strategy,” Davis told Al Jazeera.
The economic fallout from the conflict, including higher energy and especially diesel costs, had affected all sectors of the economy and intensified Americans’ concerns about affordability, he added.
Trump did not acknowledge any failings in his strategy, citing his absence from the ballot as the reason Republicans struggled to mobilise voters and blaming the defeated candidates themselves.
“I wasn’t on the ticket,” Trump said in an interview with The New York Times. “And because I wasn’t on the ticket, we couldn’t get enough people out to vote.”
Trump faulted the losing Republicans, many of whom he had handpicked and held multiple rallies for.
“Some of the candidates that I endorsed fought me,” he said, adding that “some of them had a lot of flaws, and obviously they were not acceptable to the voters”.
Commenting on the shock defeat of Texas Governor Greg Abbott, Trump lamented that his longtime ally had become a “Republican in name only,” without elaborating.
“If Greg Abbott, the Governor of Texas, hadn’t become a RINO in the last six months of his Political Life, he wouldn’t have lost,” he said in a post to his social media platform Truth Social.
In a preview of his likely governing style over the next two years, the president also posted a picture of his trademark red cap emblazoned with the word “veto” to convey his determination to block legislation carried by the incoming Democratic-controlled Congress.
In the run-up to the losses, Trump repeatedly said presidents tend to lose midterm elections and had brushed off the suggestion that his policies had turned off voters.
Speaking to Fox News, Trump said he did not plan to make any changes to his cabinet after the rebuke from voters.
“It had nothing to do with my cabinet. It’s just a point in time. There was a mood in the air, I guess.”
In a conciliatory note, Trump said he wanted to work with Democrats but warned he would stand his ground as well.
“I think we’ll work with the Democrats, and we’ll get along very well with them. If we don’t, we’ll be very tough on them; they’ll be very tough on us,” he said.
“Could I work with them on transgender mutilization of children?” he added. “No, I don’t think so. But I could work with them on many things.”
