U.S. President Donald Trump in Dearborn, Michigan, January 13, 2026. REUTERS/Evelyn Hockstein
Republicans have lost faith in President Donald Trump's ability to manage the war in Iran.
CNN's "Inside Politics" Dana Bash spoke with Kristen Holmes, whom she referred to as "The Trump Whisperer," because she "speaks Trump." In the discussion, Holmes explained that the president is all over the place with Iran, and Republicans are growing fearful.
"It's been really hard to decipher," Holmes said about the short clip of a Trump phone interview with Fox News. "I mean, he has gone back and forth so many times. And even in the Cabinet meeting yesterday, he's basically saying he doesn't care about the negotiations, but at the same time saying that he wants the negotiations, then saying that he's going to strike them, you know, to oblivion, then saying, 'Steve is telling me things are going well.' I mean, that was one sitting and that was one conversation."
Talking to Republicans, she said, the fear is that Trump "has boxed himself in here. That he got ahead of his skis, that he spent his time comparing this to Venezuela, thinking that he could get in and get out, that the leadership structure would be the same because things are going well in Venezuela."
Trump, she said, was so "excited" with how well things are going in Venezuela, he assumed he could make the same thing happen everywhere else.
Nate Swanson, a former Trump staffer and current senior fellow and director of the Iran Strategy Project at The Atlantic Council, made a similar point on Monday.
"My assumption here, and what we've heard, is that, you know, the administration is expecting a three to four day war — was they thought this would be fast. But I think that was a significant misread of where Iran was and how they were perceiving the threat. So, probably not enough planning," said Swanson.
Holmes said that anyone who has studied Iran knows there is no comparison between Iran and Venezuela. For one, she said, Iran is a "deep-seated theocracy."
"However, he is here now, and the question is, what are the next steps?" she continued. "And we know that they are planning or making plans for a potential ground invasion, should they have to get there. And that is something that President Trump has always said, both privately and publicly, he never wanted to do. But again, if you talk to these Republicans, they feel like he's boxed himself in and there really aren't that many options now."