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Posted on 11/06/2026 6:38:44 AM PST by Angelino97
Republicans were eviscerated in an election President Donald Trump and his opponents saw as a referendum on his second term. The outcome bodes ill for the GOP, which now faces strong Democratic majorities in Congress and the prospect of endless investigations and legislative stonewalling.
One prominent Republican with an eye for 2028 decided to attack the president’s record just before the midterms. In an interview with Stephen A. Smith, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis lambasted the Iran War and other failures of the administration. “We just got to be honest. Gas is higher. It hurts people, working-class people, and it’s higher because of this conflict. That’s just a fact,” DeSantis said.
He continued his criticism of the White House in a press conference after the Tuesday massacre, chastising the president and the GOP for poor messaging and not delivering on their promises.
It’s a clear sign DeSantis plans to run in 2028 and wants to pitch himself, once again, as a Trump critic from the right.
Central to that pitch will be the Iran War. Unlike anyone in the administration, DeSantis bears no responsibility for it. He can present himself as a critic, without the awkwardness of having been in the meetings at which Operation Epic Fury was planned. It’s a smart move—but it also contrasts with his past hawkery on the issue.
DeSantis knows he needs to change his tune to be a viable candidate for ’28. Republicans lost big because of the disastrous war, and many within the GOP base want someone who can deliver the truth. But the governor’s past stances may undermine this pitch. He’s not exactly a consistent non-interventionist.
In his previous presidential bid, DeSantis sought to distinguish himself as a stronger hawk than Trump on the Islamic Republic. This was a central theme of a speech he delivered to Christians United for Israel in 2023, for example, and it featured consistently in his foreign policy messaging. His campaign website promised to “turn the screws on Iran beginning on Day 1—abandoning the naïve, disastrous Obama-Biden foreign policies.”
The Florida governor even attacked Trump for offering mild criticism of Benjamin Netanyahu in the fall of 2023, saying it was “absurd that anyone, much less someone running for President, would choose now to attack our friend and ally, Israel.” DeSantis made this rift a major part of his campaign and kept hammering Trump about it. It didn’t work, with one Republican operative saying it made him “look like members of the Lincoln Project to the base right now.”
DeSantis’s ’24 bid earned the support of many influencers and commentators who still defend the Iran War. That included none other than THE Iran War supporter, Mark Levin. Levin’s stepson worked on pro-Israel outreach for DeSantis’s gubernatorial and presidential campaigns. Unsurprisingly, Levin hosted DeSantis on his show several times throughout the primary to discuss the governor’s strong support for Israel.
Much of DeSantis’s online network that was devoted to his presidential campaign is now devoted to supporting the Iran War.
DeSantis praised Operation Epic Fury when it first began, arguing that it was delivering justice for Americans killed during the Iraq War. “As somebody who was over in Iraq at that time, that saw the casualties, that saw that it was the Iranians behind it. They never really faced justice,” he said in March. “Now... all the ayatollahs are dropping like flies.”
He also backed bombing Iran last year, saying Trump showed “decisiveness.” He claimed military action against the Islamic Republic was necessary because of the state’s “apocalyptic, radical ideology.” The only way to deter the regime was through bombings.
DeSantis’s pitch as a Iran War critic will also be hampered by his rabid support for Israel. He famously signed bills to target “antisemitism,” in Jerusalem, twice. He sent weapons to Israel during its war in Gaza. He has even claimed America wouldn’t exist without Israel being the cradle of Western civilization. These opinions are supported by his pro-Israel donors, a number of whom want America to back the Jewish state’s annexation of Gaza and the West Bank.
It’s also worth recalling that the Florida governor initially sought to position himself as a staunch non-interventionist in the ’24 primary, at least when it came to regions outside the Middle East. He told Tucker Carlson in early 2023 that defending Ukraine was not a key security interest for America. But after receiving backlash from donors, he walked back those comments.
There’s a chance he could reverse himself again in the ’28 primary.
DeSantis is a smart politician. One doesn’t become the most successful Republican governor in the country without some brains. He knows which way the wind is blowing, and he understands that the Iran War offers an opportunity to align himself with the majority of Americans. It sets him apart from potential rivals currently serving in the admin, who can’t easily shed their association with the conflict. It also differentiates him from Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas, who is loud and proud about his support for the war. DeSantis has the freedom to openly criticize the war and other admin failures, creating the distance between himself and Trump that may be necessary for any Republican to win in 2028.
But he will still face the challenge of convincing the public that he’s a genuine critic of the war and foreign interventionism more broadly. It’s easy to say the war hurt Republicans. Even Vice President J.D. Vance and Trump say that. It’s hard to prove DeSantis will avoid similar catastrophes as president when he’s on record championing military action against Iran.
That DeSantis can recognize reality and understand the GOP’s predicament are positive signs. The base may be ready for a clean break from Trump in the primary, and someone who vows to keep the good things about the admin and ditch the bad would be a strong contender.
To do so, a candidate will have to convince the public that he will learn from Trump’s mistakes and avoid harebrained foreign interventions. After the midterms, it’s clear voters want a different direction. That’s something even an Iran hawk can recognize.
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How is: “We just got to be honest. Gas is higher. It hurts people, working-class people, and it’s higher because of this conflict. That’s just a fact,” a flip flop?
You can believe that gas is higher in price and that it financially hurts people, and that it is higher because of this conflict, but still support the war.
I think he’s in good company. It wad quite a bit of support at the beginning of this. however, as it chugs along slowly, you’ll see support drop even more than it already has.
Agreed. There are a lot of people that took the off ramp and still are.
Folks it wasn’t “because of the war”. It’s because conservatives didn’t vote and democrats sure did everywhere.
You can say they had their reason but they have reaped pure hell on their families.
If he had won it everything would be different.
It is easy to be against a war after it doesn’t turn out as well as hoped for, or when a significant part of you party decides it is against the war after being for it previously. (See Iraq War)
Democrats blew up their team, and went young.
It wasn’t only Republicans that got swept aside, it’s also establishment Democrats that got swept aside.
“disastrous war” right there, y’know that the commie trash are writing the script.
This is a disaster only for those who still support hamas (Iran’s agent) in murdering Jews.
So you say.
And yet if someone suggested this war was being fought for Israel, he would be labeled "anti-Semitic."
.
Deport 3 million
Fire 100,000s goverment employees
Each of those people have family or friends that are now motivated to vote in a party that will bring those people back
The “war” is basically a naval blockade and gas may be higher than what people want (though now they elected a party that wants even higher costs?)
The issue in this election was racial
Talking heads will ignore that because only Whites are racist ! All non whites are super patriots
DeSantis is an overwhelming favorite for ‘28 now. Vance and Rubio are inextricably tied to the Iran War.
DeSantis lack of charisma will do him in eventually.
There is no way he survives a grueling 2028 primary season.
These Democrat victories in red states came on the strength of REPUBLICANS voting for the Democrats.
Rubio, yes.
Vance, no. He was a skeptic on the record from the start.
And Vance -- as someone who is elected to his own office and doesn't answer to the President -- is free to throw Trump under the bus on the war.
The President managed the remarkable feat of ticking off people who both supported and opposed the conflict with Iran. Could have kept hitting them and hitting them, yet he backed off in pursuit of a “deal” with a group of radicals who would have us all dead. So now diesel is over $6 and Iran is still standing and it’s hard to tell what exactly is going on with this.
When you try to make everyone happy, you only wind up pissing everybody off.
Another excellent post—nailed it.
Many young Republicans are celebrating the death of the Republican establishment.
They are waiting in the wings to be the new leadership despite being called nasty names by some of their fellow Republicans.
Hubert Humphrey was dragged down by LBJ’s Vietnam War. Vance was a skeptic of the Iran War from the get-go, but you can find dozens of video clips of him lauding it once hostilities broke out. Those will not evaporate when he runs.
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