Iran Takes Victory Lap After Trump and Republicans Wiped Out in Midterms – Government officials in Iran took a victory lap this week after President Donald Trump’s Republican Party was wiped out in the midterms, with both the president and vice president citing the war as the reason for the defeat.
After both the Senate and the House were lost by the Republicans, with GOP candidates losing several major gubernatorial races too, Iran mocked the Trump administration for its “DEFEAT” in Washington.
PHILIPPINE SEA (Dec. 11, 2023) An F-35C Lightning II, assigned to the “War Hawks” of Strike Fighter Squadron (VFA) 97, recovers aboard Nimitz-class aircraft carrier USS Carl Vinson (CVN 70). Vinson, the flagship of Carrier Strike Group ONE, is deployed to the U.S. 7th Fleet area of operations in support of a free and open Indo-Pacific. (U.S. Navy photo by Mass Communication Specialist 2nd Class Benjamin Ringers)
USS Carl Vinson Aircraft Carrier. Image Credit: Creative Commons.
“The Iranian nation handed Trump a strategic defeat on the battlefield and in the Hormuz—and a POLITICAL DEFEAT in Washington,” boasted the secretary of Iran’s Supreme National Security Council, Mohsen Rezaei. “Meanwhile, Americans got stuck with the bill for his war. Anyone who takes on Iran will pay the price—from the battlefield to their own doorstep.”
Iran Calls Election Results a ‘Self-Inflicted’ Defeat For ‘Arrogant’ Trump
An official social media account representing Iran’s Supreme Leader, Mojtaba Khamenei, also celebrated the Democratic Party’s victory.
“Today, as a result of the self-inflicted scandal of the arrogant powers, the power and dominance of #Decline_of_America in both dimensions of hard military power and soft international power has suffered an irreversible fall,” the social media account said. “And the process of its collapse has accelerated.”
Trump Now Has Three Options — All of Them Presenting Their Own Problems
Axios reporter and former Israeli intelligence officer Barak Ravid noted that Trump was now faced with three options to conclude his war against Iran — all of which could pose serious problems for the White House.
Ravid argued that the first option would be to keep striking Iranian targets to achieve victory and save face. With huge opposition to the war among Republicans and Democrats alike, however, and with the continuing rise in fuel prices, Trump would further sully his legacy and the Republican Party’s future prospects without any guarantee that victory would even come.
The second option, negotiation, would have been the safest before the midterms and the most likely way for the president to save face. But in a post-midterm world, with Trump’s position severely weakened, Ravid acknowledged that the Iranians would likely sense the president’s weakness and raise their demands, making it extremely difficult to reach any kind of deal.
While the third option, an attempt to “strangle” Iran with the Trump administration’s ongoing naval blockade and economic sanctions, could bear fruit in the long term, Ravid acknowledged it could also “take months to show progress,” while the administration becomes increasingly unpopular at home and faces increased attacks from a Democratic-controlled House and Senate.
At the time of reporting, it is unknown, even among Trump administration officials, which route the president will take.
Despite the Overwhelming Defeat, Trump Said He Would Do It All Over Again
Trump and Vice President JD Vance both cited the administration’s war against Iran as the reason for the Republican Party’s catastrophic defeat in the midterm elections this week.
But while Vance seemed more critical of the war and its political consequences, Trump told reporters he had no regrets—and, if given the chance, would do it all over again.
“If I had to do it again, I’d have to do it again because long-term it’s the only answer,” he said. “You can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon.”
The Reason We Lost Is the War, Says Vance
Trump’s war against Iran and its economic effects at home reduced the president’s approval rating to new lows heading into Tuesday’s midterm elections, with a majority of voters citing the economy as their number one issue heading to the polls.
“The reason we lost is the war,” conceded Vance in an election post-mortem. “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. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that’s at least honest. But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start here.”
Despite Trump’s attempts to win over Jewish voters with his war against Iran and increasingly close relationship to Israel, a sizable majority of Jewish voters also voted in favor of the Democratic Party on Tuesday, with just 32% voting for a Republican candidate.
About the Author: Charlie Nash
Charlie Nash is a journalist and author whose work has appeared in The Spectator, Mediaite, New Statesman, and the American Conservative, among other major publications. The Washington Post, Fox News, the Daily Beast, MS NOW, NewsNation, Hannity, and more have featured his reporting. You can follow Charlie on X at @CharlieNash and on LinkedIn.
