Trump is facing a major Iran war hurdle this time on the homefront

An Iran war that was supposed to be brief, and then was supposed to be over, is imposing an increasing price on Donald Trump’s presidency. We’ve seen a second term of a Republican administration go this way before.There are distinct echoes of George W.Bush’s Iraq war — the conflict that Trump has long excoriated — in the president’s predicament.Now, the Iran war is different than Iraq: There is no ground invasion, no regime change, no occupation, no counter-insurgency.The casualties aren’t close to the same scale, and Trump has been fighting Iran for months, whereas George W.

Bush was embroiled in Iraq for years (and so were his successors).Yet the political trajectory looks similar.Then, as now, an unpopular conflict is putting downward pressure on a Republican president’s approval rating. Mainstream pollsters routinely have Trump’s approval rating below 40%, and some put it below 35%; Fox News has him at 39%, while CNN (34%) and AP (33%) are lower.At this juncture of Bush’s second term, his average approval rating was a roughly comparable 38%, although he had further to fall as the war continued and the financial crisis hit. If the Iran war is not exacting nearly the same price in blood and treasure as the Iraq war, it is inflicting a direct economic cost on Americans that wasn’t present during the Iraq war. It was often said of violent clashes in the streets of the United States in the 1960s, “The Vietnam war has come home.” Subscribe to our daily Post Opinion newsletter! Please provide a valid email.By clicking above you agree to the Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Never miss a story.Well, the Iran war came home the first time the average price per gallon of gasoline went above $4.Trump would have much more leeway to engage in a protracted operation to bring Iran to heel if the public could, in effect, forget about the war for a while — but there’s a reminder every day ...