America has been at war with Iran for more than six months — but it was far from a top issue at the Republican midterm convention in Dallas this week.The war wasn’t entirely absent: Administration officials defended it.
President Donald Trump talked about the war in his speeches Wednesday and Thursday nights.Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth also referred to it in a video shown Wednesday.Vice President JD Vance didn’t explicitly mention Iran in his address Thursday night, but he paid tribute to slain conservative activist Charlie Kirk, saying he “hated war” and acknowledging that there are “people who love what we’ve done and people who don’t” while urging conservatives to stick together in the midterms.Aside from that, essentially none of the other speakers discussed the war, which is a point of major concern for Americans ahead of the midterm elections.
The recent NBC News Decision Desk Poll found just 31% of adults approving of Trump’s handling of the war, with 69% disapproving.Robert Jeffress, the senior pastor of First Baptist Church in Dallas, told the crowd Thursday night that “we are in a war” — but he clarified that he was talking about a “cosmic” battle between good and evil, not the war with Iran.The decision by other top Republican officials and candidates fighting for re-election to ignore the war reflected its growing unpopularity and a recognition that it’s not an issue the party is eager to run on in November.
Trump was willing to defend it — saying it will end “shortly” after Election Day — but few others outside the administration seemed to want to own it.Add to GoogleTrump says war with Iran will be over after midterm elections00:59As Vance alluded to, parts of Trump’s base have been uneasy with the war since the U.S.
and Israel launched strikes in late February.Trump, after all, had long positioned himself in opposition to the traditionally hawkish tendencies of the Republican establishment, running on ...