'What the hell did he just say?' GOP Iran worries build after Trump speech.
President Donald Trump’s primetime address on Iran did little to relieve rising alarm from plugged-in Republicans in key states across the country who see the war as pushing costs higher and their midterm chances ever-lower.
Trump declared Wednesday night that the U.S. offensive in Iran is “nearing completion” but warned that military operations would intensify over the “next two to three weeks.” He attempted to clarify his goals for the war — to destroy Iran’s nuclear capabilities — and insisted it was never about regime change. And he shrugged off the spike in oil and gas prices as a “short-term increase.”
To a number of GOP strategists and local party leaders involved in key congressional and gubernatorial races, the message was too little, too late and too jumbled.
“What the hell did he just say?” one GOP strategist in a battleground state wrote in a text to POLITICO after the president’s address, granted anonymity to speak candidly. “A quick recap and a path forward would’ve been helpful. Instead, it was nonsense left for Sean Hannity to articulate.”
Trump’s decision to attack Iran, and the subsequent spike in oil and gas prices, are the latest sources of heartburn for Republicans who were already feeling queasy about public opinion that has turned against Trump’s domestic agenda. They heard little new information Wednesday night from the president that signaled a course correction.
Conversations with more than half a dozen operatives and party chairs across seven battleground states revealed their anxiety that the prolonged conflict is overshadowing the White House’s affordability message and could hurt their chances of holding onto power this November.
The Republicans who spoke to POLITICO were particularly concerned about Trump’s waving off the financial strain the war has put on day-to-day prices, touting “the strongest economy in history” with “no inflation.” Two different strategists compared the latter comments to President Joe Biden’s repeated insistence that the economy was doing better than they believed.
“Not sure people will buy the strong economy part,” Todd Gillman, a Michigan GOP district chair, said in a message Wednesday night. “Inflation is definitely more under control than it was under Biden, but the prices haven’t come down on a lot of things.”
Without any clear announcements from Trump on an endgame in the region, future markets for U.S. stocks recoiled and average national gas prices topped $4 per gallon. Crude oil prices soared to over $111 per barrel on Thursday morning.
Others were left wanting more specifics from Trump on an exit strategy and the factors that drew the U.S. into the war. “I think it could’ve been a little more specific or expanded on the exact threats that Iran poses to the U.S.,” said one Wisconsin-based GOP strategist. “I don’t know the extent he’s able to get into that stuff based off intelligence, but maybe he could have been a little bit more expansive there.”
Polls have consistently shown a majority of Americans oppose the military operation in Iran by double-digit margins. The conflict is already fracturing the president’s loyal MAGA base, alienating young men who believed in his “America First” message. And Democrats are beginning to go on the attack in campaign ads, accusing vulnerable GOP lawmakers of prioritizing the president’s multibillion dollar offensive over making voters’ lives more affordable.
One GOP operative working on a battleground House race found solace in Trump’s talk of an exit strategy, saying voters would be “relieved to hear that we’re not going to be sticking around.”
“On the other hand, I don’t think anybody has confidence that gas prices will just come down on their own,” said the operative, who was granted anonymity to deliver a candid assessment. “Overall, there’s really nothing in here that helps to sell this to the public.”
Some said the address may have come too late.
“It’s something that probably should have been done at the beginning of the conflict,” said Dennis Lennox, a Michigan-based GOP strategist.
Still, others in the party found that Trump’s address met the moment and lavished praise on the president. Mark Levin, a staunch Trump ally and conservative commentator, said he delivered a “PERFECT SPEECH” in a post on X.
Brent Littlefield, a GOP strategist involved in several races, including in Maine’s battleground 2nd congressional district, lauded Trump’s decision to speak directly to Americans and dismissed concerns that the remarks came too late in the conflict to help him articulate his case to voters.
“It was right for the President to wait to do that until after the conflict began,” Littlefield said. “He did not telegraph the move to the enemy of what the United States was planning to do.”
Samuel Benson contributed to this report.