On Election Day, Republicans faced an electoral blowout that some commentators are calling a historic rebuke of the sitting party in government. It is only the fourth time since World War II that a party has lost control of both the Senate and House in the same midterm.
Here in Alabama, former Republican Sen. Tommy Tuberville narrowly defeated Democratic challenger Doug Jones in a race that was shockingly close for a state long held as a Republican stronghold. For students at The University of Alabama, not much will change in the short term, but Alabamian voices have sent a clear signal that faith in the Republican Party has all but collapsed.
The midterm loss comes as little surprise to many, with President Donald Trump’s approval rating dismal in the weeks leading up to the election. The scale of the defeat, however, has sent shockwaves through the administration: On Nov. 6, Trump replaced White House chief of staff Susie Wiles with longtime adviser Stephen Miller.
It should be clear to anyone that the Trump administration’s failures have come back to bite it. Registered voters’ top five issues in the lead-up to the midterms were the economy, gas prices, health care, income and wealth distribution and the Iran war — none of which were exactly winning issues for Republicans.
What makes it sting all the more is that at least one of these could have been easily avoided.
Taking to X shortly after the defeat, Vice President JD Vance said in an exceptionally lengthy post that “the reason we lost is the war.” Many Republicans likely feel the same, as approval of Trump’s handling of the Iran war continues to plummet. It raises the question, though: Why say this now?
The backlash to intervention in Iran was absolutely predictable, even from week one: The Iran conflict holds the dubious distinction of being the only war in U.S. history to start with negative net support. That makes it even less popular than the Vietnam War.
Unlike previous conflicts such as Iraq or Afghanistan, which grew unpopular over time after an initial period of fervor, the Iran war has never been supported by the American public for even a single second. It is completely unforgivable that the Trump administration has continued to involve us in this embarrassing and losing conflict abroad.
One potential reason for the unpopularity is that, unlike Iraq or Vietnam, there remains no clearly defined purpose for starting it in the first place. As early as June, when pundits were beginning to worry that Iran would turn into a “forever war,” Trump was declaring victory at the same time service members were dying for a nebulous goal.
Are we trying to convert Iran into a democracy? Prevent Iran from gaining a nuclear weapon? Bombing them just for the fun of it? To this day, I don’t know, and many others felt the same way when they went to the polls.
The Iran war represents one of the worst decisions ever made by the U.S. government simply due to the incredible lack of purpose, waste of life and pointless post hoc justifications that have tarnished America’s image at home and abroad. Like Vietnam, it will serve as a warning to future presidents about “what not to do” in dealing with foreign wars. Unlike Vietnam, there will be no debate about whether the conflict was justified.
Republicans have gotten what they so dearly deserved — that is, thrashed. But it remains to be seen whether the administration will be able to pull itself out of a nosedive and regain some of the trust that it has lost before 2028. The next two years provide an opportunity for the now Democratic-dominated legislature to prove that it can respond to voters’ concerns in a divided government.
In any case, we can all hope that this midterm will serve as a wake-up call for Trump to end the conflict as quickly as possible so that we can restore some sense of normalcy to America and end the bloodshed that has killed Americans and Iranians alike.
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