Republican lawmakers and strategists are openly fuming as President Donald Trump’s war makes a midterm disaster more and more likely.
Senator Jim Justice of West Virginia offered a sharp rebuke of the party’s handling of the conflict, calling the administration’s prolonged effort a “mess” and warning that leaders are out of touch with working-class Americans facing economic fallout at the pump.
“We’ve gone through months that everybody sat back and said, ‘Oh, it’ll be OK. It’ll be OK,’” Justice told reporters in Washington on Monday. “And I’ve been the voice that’s been saying, ‘You people are living in a cave if you don’t see that the folks out there, the Toby and Ediths out there, are hurting.’ We need to absolutely be more in tune with them.”
The frustration extends across the party, as strategists warn that ignoring voters’ economic pain is putting candidates in an impossible position.
“There is one person in this country who doesn’t care about gas prices, just one, and unfortunately that one person kind of controls our fate,” said Barrett Marson, an Arizona Republican strategist, according to CNN. “For Republicans, it is a balancing act on the thinnest of wires to still support the president but also feel the pain that voters are going through.”
Frustration over the war has already triggered backlash across both chambers of Congress. Representatives Tom Barrett of Michigan and Brian Fitzpatrick of Pennsylvania stood out by voting with Democrats to limit President Trump’s war powers over Iran, while other swing-district lawmakers, like Representative Jen Kiggans of Virginia, are pressing for a “quick resolution.”
In the Senate, Republicans last week openly criticized the White House’s emergency request for $70 billion in war funding, demanding that the Pentagon better explain its strategy and clarify reports of critical missile shortages.
During a closed-door briefing, Vice President JD Vance tried to assure GOP senators that reports of severe missile shortages were mere “misdirection” meant to embolden the enemy. However, several senators in attendance remained unconvinced, privately warning that denying logistical realities leaves candidates defenseless on the campaign trail.
The growing political panic comes as fresh polling data confirms the worst fears of vulnerable Republicans. A new Reuters/Ipsos poll released Monday shows President Trump’s approval rating has fallen to a career-low 33 percent—with 64 percent of respondents disapproving of his performance, tying the lowest mark of his presidency.
Only 3 in 10 voters approve of his handling of Iran, while an overwhelming 80 percent of Americans, including 71 percent of Republicans, expect U.S. involvement to drag on for an extended period. With Democrats seizing on the numbers to make the war a centerpiece of their midterm campaign messaging, Republicans find themselves trapped between an unyielding White House and an electorate increasingly exhausted by the conflict.
Yet speaking at a political rally in Garden City, New York, President Trump dismissed economic concerns, telling supporters that paying “a tiny little bit more for your gasoline” was a fair price to keep “a very evil country” from obtaining a nuclear weapon.
