On Friday, Fox News delivered a hard truth to President Donald Trump: it’s time for him to “move on” from the war with Iran. According to longtime host Laura Ingraham, he needs to “do some hard thinking” about whether continuing it is good for the country, and whether he wants it to destroy his MAGA coalition once and for all.
As Ingraham notes, in the wake of the GOP’s “staggering defeat” in the midterms, it is clear not only that Trump’s decision to launch war came with a major political cost for him and his party, but that he’s unlikely to receive the funds he needs to sustain it once the Democrats take their congressional majorities in January. In this context, warns Ingraham, Trump has two options. One is to follow the path taken by President George W. Bush and continue to double down on a wildly unpopular war, which will inflict tremendous political damage to the GOP while causing Americans to struggle, likely with few gains on Iran. Or, the second opinion involves simply “accepting the facts and moving on.”
Couching the second route in language that would likely appeal to Trump’s dealmaker self-image, Ingraham asserts, “It's the type of option a successful businessman undertakes when a particular venture has failed, and it's just time to cut your losses.” Its major benefit, she says, is that it’s “what the voters want,” which is “the whole point of politics.” This option, she advises, would allow Trump “to move on from the war and to focus on the voters' desires, fulfilling them, and also on all of his many accomplishments.” Ingraham, seemingly very aware of how to best coddle her intended audience of one, continues, “Now, those accomplishments – which are numerous and impressive – are being overlooked now because of voters' concern with the war and, of course, frustration and even anger, as we saw in the votes, about high gas prices.” She notes that a Fox News analysis found that 94 percent of midterm voters said the Iran war was a major factor in their vote. “That's just a fact,” she adds. “It's not an opinion. That's what we found. And pretty much every opinion poll since the election found the same thing.”
Then there are other nonpolitical considerations. According to Ingraham, “Right now, public sentiment makes it impossible for the U.S. to destroy the Iranian regime… Let's never lose sight of the fact that we're up against fanatics. The notion that we're going to change the regime's mind with a few bombing runs is delusional.” What’s more, she notes, “the longer we're bogged down, the weaker we become, hurting our munition stockpiles and further eroding public support, not to mention, perhaps, if Iran responds to some major new attack by knocking out 40 percent of the oil infrastructure in the Gulf. That could send oil up to $175 a barrel. And what would that do to the rest of the Trump presidency? Anyone who's telling the president otherwise about option two is either foolish or lying or has other ulterior motives.”
The "Trump coalition" abandoned the GOP in the midterms, asserts Ingraham, because “they want higher living standards, lower gas prices, and an end to endless wars in the Middle East.” Faced with these facts, she concludes, “The president is going to have to do some hard thinking. His staff around him is going to have to do some hard thinking."
