President Donald Trump backed Vice President JD Vance’s diagnosis of Republicans’ midterm defeat while standing firm on the decision to attack Iran, saying preventing Tehran from obtaining a nuclear weapon outweighed the political damage.
“I don’t disagree with it,” Trump said when asked about Vance’s assessment during a CBS “60 Minutes” interview that aired Sunday.
But the president said Vance’s post left one question unanswered: Would he support the decision again, knowing what it would cost Republicans at the ballot box?
Trump said his own position had not changed.
“My answer is an emphatic yes, because you can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon,” Trump said.
The exchange followed Vance’s blunt assessment Wednesday of an election that handed Democrats control of both chambers of Congress. His post blamed the Republican defeat on the Iran war, concerns about living costs and dissatisfaction with the U.S. relationship with Israel.
“The real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone,” Vance wrote on X. “The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night.”
Vance challenged those defending the conflict to acknowledge its electoral consequences. He did not explicitly endorse their argument that the war justified losing control of Congress.
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“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,” Vance said. “Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that’s at least honest. But everyone knows why we lost.”
Trump said the vice president discussed the post with him before publishing it.
“He asked me what do I think,” Trump said.
“I said, ‘You write what you want. By the way, what are you going to write?’”
President Trump says “I don’t disagree” with Vice President JD Vance’s social media post that said the reason Republicans lost in the midterm elections was because of the war in Iran. https://t.co/dbfz7SGyH4 https://t.co/eD8NVGD0Cl
— 60 Minutes (@60Minutes) November 9, 2026
The president said he wished Vance had also addressed whether he would make the same decision on Iran again, noting the vice president’s role in the administration’s deliberations.
“The only thing I wish he would’ve said there, if he felt it,” Trump said.
Trump argued that history would judge the decision more favorably than voters did in the midterms.
“I think, historically, this will be a very good decision. Is it a good decision for today and tomorrow? Maybe not,” he said.
“I have to go with what’s right for our country. If they had a nuclear weapon during my term, I would be excoriated far worse than what’s happened.”
