President Donald Trump backed Vice President JD Vance’s 2026 midterm elections postmortem again on Sunday evening while simultaneously saying “a lot of people didn’t like his comments.”
Vance made headlines last week after he wrote a lengthy social media post breaking down the reasons why Republicans suffered decisive losses in the midterm elections, as Democrats retook the House and Senate and picked up seats in traditionally red states such as Texas and Kansas. Public polling showed voters largely soured on the Trump administration and blamed the conflict in Iran for higher domestic prices, factors Vance cited as being primary reasons for the result.
Trump backed his vice president when he was asked about the post soon after it came out, despite Vance’s comments seemingly contradicting the president’s choice to strike Iran in February.
The president did so again on Sunday night, both when asked about the post by a reporter in person and in a separate 60 Minutes interview filmed Friday morning. In the latter, Trump told Ross Douthat, “I don’t disagree with it,” when asked about Vance’s analysis, and he also said Vance asked him about it. “You write what you want,” Trump told him.
“Has JD Vance’s comments about Iran, questioning some of those decisions, has that impacted your relationship at all?” Trump was asked Sunday night.
“No, not at all, but a lot of people didn’t like his comments, but not me,” Trump said.
He also mentioned Vance should have referenced that Trump would choose to initiate the conflict again, saying the “crazy” terrorist-sponsoring nation would “blow up the world” if it gained access to a nuclear weapon, and that “this, historically, for history, will go down as one of the best things we ever did.”
Douthat asked Trump for his personal analysis of the midterm election results, and Trump echoed much of Vance’s talking points while also saying part of the issue was his name wasn’t on the ballot.
“Well, No. 1, I was not on the ballot, but I campaigned hard for some people,” he said. “And, uh, I think if I was on the ballot, it would have been a much different situation because you saw the level of popularity and love; there was love, we had massive rallies. You had to transfer those voters, however, to candidates that they didn’t like. But there’s something beyond that, they didn’t like the war. They didn’t like the fact that gas prices went up, because I had it down at a low. And there’s a great dislike, incredibly, for Israel.”
When Douthat brought up Trump potentially endorsing a candidate in the 2028 presidential race, Trump said he “probably” would, but “not necessarily.”
“We have a tremendous bench,” he said. He mentioned Secretary of State Marco Rubio is “great” and also said “there are many others… there are some Senators that are excellent.”
“I may or may not get involved; I don’t know, maybe I’m better off not getting involved.”
“Do you think you can have MAGA without you as the leader?” Douthat then asked him.
“I think so, because MAGA is basically common sense.”
RUBIO DEFENDS TRUMP’S IRAN DECISION: ‘ELECTED TO DO THE HARD THINGS’
Rubio, on the other hand, said on Friday, and again on Sunday, that Trump made the right decision last February. He argued Trump was elected to “do the hard things.”
The president’s comments come one day after the United States military announced a new task force to blockade Iranian transit routes currently used for the illegal transport of goods. Trump will meet with the Qatari Prime Minister, who has been the lead mediator in negotiations between Iran and the U.S., on Monday, according to Axios.