GOP crushed in midterms over Iran War backlash — SkimNews
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- Voters rejected the Iran War as a key issue, with 74% calling it a 'crucial' or 'major factor' in their vote and 62% believing military action was wrong, according to NBC News exit polling.
- Will Chamberlain, a senior counsel at the Article III Project and early war supporter, reversed his stance after the election, admitting the Iran War was 'catastrophically unpopular' and must end.
- Mark Levin, a top Trump confidant and Fox News host, dismissed voter concerns over war-driven inflation, claiming most Americans were 'utterly unaffected' despite $1,200 average household cost increases tied to the conflict.
- Rep. Nancy Mace blamed Levin for Republican losses, calling him a 'moron' on X, while Levin responded by calling Mace a 'mentally unhinged POS' and deflecting responsibility for the defeat.
- Rebeccah Heinrichs of the Hudson Institute rejected public opinion, arguing the war failed due to poor messaging and not the war itself, and insisted Trump should have empowered Sec. Rubio and Adm. Cooper to sell it.
- JD Vance stated the GOP lost because voters wanted the war ended and a focus on cost of living, prompting backlash from pro-Israel figures like Eylon Levy and Marc Thiessen who defended the war’s necessity.
Why it matters: The Republican Party faces internal fracture as its base punishes hawkish foreign policy, with defense-linked neocons doubling down while voters and figures like Vance demand retrenchment. The $1,200 per household war cost directly contradicts elite claims of economic insulation, shifting power toward domestic-first priorities.
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