Democrats are taking a page from the MAGA Right as they pummel President Donald Trump for an open-ended conflict with Iran.
Top Democrats have accused the president of ignoring the concerns of working families since he authorized a military operation to topple Iran’s government on Saturday, arguing the conflict is a distraction from the sort of kitchen-table issues that matter most to the average voter.
“The American people want us to focus on making their life better, making their life more affordable, not getting involved in another endless war in the Middle East that is going to end in failure,” House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries (D-NY) said on CNN Monday.
“This administration somehow found the resources, has found billions of dollars for bombs, but can’t find any money to actually bring down the high cost of living here in the United States of America,” he added.
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It’s the sort of argument that populist conservatives like Former Republican Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene have been amplifying in recent days, disgruntled with an “America First” policy agenda they understood to mean less intervention abroad.
The issue is more than a political wedge, however, with Trump’s base. In the lead-up to the strikes, polls repeatedly showed voters broadly disapproving of war with Iran, and Democrats see an opening to capture that anti-war sentiment.
They have simultaneously attempted to support the administration’s goal, preventing Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon, while painting Trump’s course of action, a joint air campaign with Israel and other regional allies, as needlessly reckless or poorly thought out.
“Iran must never be allowed to attain a nuclear weapon but the American people do not want another endless and costly war in the Middle East when there are so many problems at home,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-NY) said on Saturday in a statement.
The White House insists it can juggle its economic agenda with military intervention abroad, pointing to Trump’s heavy use of tariffs to swat away accusations he has walked away from his America First campaign promises.
“While operations are ongoing in Iran, the Trump administration continues to slash regulations, negotiate new trade deals, and secure more investments into American manufacturing,” White House spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement.
The White House has also been rolling out a series of proposals on energy, drug prices, and healthcare meant to serve as a counterweight to the affordability line of attack by Democrats.
“If Hakeem really cared about affordability for the American people, he would get off his soapbox and work with the Administration to pass the President’s historic Great Healthcare Plan and housing proposals,” Desai said in a dig at Jeffries.
The cost-of-living issue helped Republicans retake control of Washington following a spike in inflation under President Joe Biden. Today, polls consistently show it ranking as one of the top concerns for voters alongside healthcare access and immigration.
On Iran, Democrats have been buoyed by MAGA voices leveling rare criticism at the administration. White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt issued a lengthy statement Monday laying out how the air strikes serve U.S. interests, responding directly to a pro-Trump pundit who questioned the White House’s “confused” messaging.
Leavitt did not address whether the U.S.’s goal is regime change, as Trump seemed to suggest before a denial from War Secretary Pete Hegseth, but argued the operation was necessary to prevent a “radical regime and its terrorist leaders from threatening America and our core national security interests.”
The most common criticism from Democrats has been that Trump did not ask Congress for approval before launching the air strikes, a fight over constitutional authority that will come to a head this week when the House and Senate vote on whether to rein in Trump’s war powers in Iran.
But the conflict also has implications for the midterm elections, and Democrats see the America First critique as a way to infuse their messaging on affordability with a war that presents a political liability for Trump.
As the strikes got underway, Rep. Rosa DeLauro (D-CT), the top Democrat on the House appropriations committee, focused on the risk of higher energy prices due to attacks on oil infrastructure and the closure of maritime supply lanes in the Strait of Hormuz.
“Americans are demanding help with the cost-of-living crisis, but President Trump would rather start another war, potentially driving up energy prices, than listen to them,” she said in a statement.
Republicans overwhelmingly support Trump’s military operation, meaning he is less likely to face a rebuke from Congress. He also has pockets of Democratic support from lawmakers who fear undercutting the administration in the middle of a regional conflict.
On Monday, Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) suggested the military strikes were necessary after years of failed diplomacy and economic pressure and that Democrats were being hypocritical for roundly denouncing them.
“Every member in the U.S. Senate agrees we cannot allow Iran to acquire a nuclear weapon,” he said in a post on X. “I’m baffled why so many are unwilling to support the only action to achieve that.”
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“Empty sloganeering vs. commitment to global security — which is it?” he added.
The conflict with Iran is just the latest chance for Democrats to make an America First appeal to voters. They made a similar argument when Trump deposed Venezuelan dictator Nicolas Maduro in a more targeted operation and last year when the president bailed out Argentina to the tune of $20 billion.