US Vice President Vance: "Everyone knows why we lost"

After the Republicans lost the midterm elections, Vice President Vance said: “If you want to argue that it was worth it — that losing control of the Senate for six years to fight this war was worth it — then go ahead.”

"But everyone knows why we lost. Any frank discussion about where we go from here must start from this point," the US vice president wrote on social media platform X on Wednesday. "The reason we're losing is this (Iran) war. The president himself said so last night."

The Republican Party suffered a disastrous defeat in the midterm elections on November 3, handing over control of the House of Representatives and the Senate to the Democrats; this election was also regarded as a "referendum" on Trump's policies.

The war against Iraq launched by Trump and Israel in February is extremely unpopular among Americans because it has pushed up fuel prices and the conflict appears far from over.

Asked about Vance's analysis, Trump said: "I think that's largely true because it does push up gas prices in the short term." But the US president also insisted that the decision to go to war with Iraq was the right one. Trump said he would make the same decision if faced with the same choice again and continued to call the war "worth it."

Both Vance and U.S. Secretary of State Rubio are regarded as strong contenders for the 2028 Republican presidential nomination.

According to US law, the US president cannot run for a third term, so Trump cannot run again. Trump has previously given no clear position on who might be his successor as leader of the Republican Party.

"Maybe he (Vance) won't run. I don't know who will run," Trump said Wednesday while speaking to cameras at a White House ballroom construction site.