U.S. Vice President Vance published a long post on social media on the 4th analyzing the reasons for the Republican Party‘s defeat in the midterm election, stating directly that the war in Iran is the root cause, and proposing to change U.S.-Israel relations. U.S. media interpreted Vance‘s post at this juncture as clearly cutting himself off from U.S. President Trump and beginning to set up for his participation in the 2028 presidential campaign.
Vance wrote in the article that data experts told him, “Many voters who voted for Trump and Vance in 2024 are angry and planning to vote for the other side.” He believes, “There will be a lot of infighting and debate about what happened and why it happened… but the real reason we lost is pretty clear to almost everyone.”
Vance admitted that he had “already felt bad” before the midterm election, and citing opinion polling experts, he proposed four tasks to bring voters back to the Republican Party: ending the war in Iran, focusing on the cost of living and inflation issues, insisting on “America first,” and changing U.S.-Iraq relations. He also pointed out directly, “The reason we lost was this war… Everyone knows why we lost.”
Later that day, when asked by reporters about Vance‘s statement, Trump said: “I think this is largely true, because it (the Iran war) pushed up gasoline prices in the short term.” He also said he had known Vance‘s views on the Iran war from the beginning.
CNN‘s article analyzed that Vance‘s post was “unusual” and contained “undisguised criticism” of Trump. He was effectively cutting himself off from Trump to seek to run for president in 2028. Vance‘s move would “become a turning point in the Trump era.”
The U.S. Fox News Channel reported that the White House called a meeting of government officials on the morning of the 4th to demand a unified message release post-midterm elections, but “Vance controlled his own message release and parted ways with Trump on foreign policy and U.S.-Israeli relations.” The report quoted a Trump administration official as saying that Vance‘s four missions were his rallying cry to the U.S. “New Right,” but he “did not break with Trump like former Vice President Burns.” The “New Right” demands are defined as not getting involved in overseas conflicts, making the U.S. a affordable place to live, and closing borders.