Trump Scuttles Vance’s Ambitions

In the hours after the bloodbath for Republicans that was the midterms, and the effective scattering of the MAGA movement as we’ve known it, Vice President JD Vance took to social media to express, in a lengthy post, his “honest” belief that the war in Iran was the reason the GOP endured a thorough routing in states across the nation.

“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,” he wrote. “Agree or disagree, that’s at least honest.”

Vance’s remarks were lionized in the media as some sort of major break with President Trump in the immediate aftermath of the election, despite the fact that Trump had already said as much himself and reportedly signed off on Vance’s social media post. Blaming the administration’s wildly unpopular war in Iran — and all the economic hardships that have come with it — was the most obvious pivot point for Republicans’ Wednesday morning quarterbacking. Trump had sorta gone rogue with the whole operation in the first place, and Congress did not authorize the war, giving Republican lawmakers some cover for who exactly was responsible for their sweeping losses.

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