US President, Donald Trump, has blamed the war in Iran and its impact on gasoline prices for part of his Republican Party’s poor performance in the US midterm elections, as Democrats recorded major victories.
Trump said voters may have been unwilling to accept the short-term consequences of higher fuel prices, although he maintained that Americans understood the importance of his administration’s actions in Iran.
Speaking in a telephone conversation after party lost grip on US Congress, Trump said Democrats would send him proposals he considered unacceptable and vowed to reject them.
“Democrats will send things that are insane and I will veto them,” he said, adding that part of the reason Republicans lost heavily “was Iran”. “People were probably not willing for the short-term consequence of the price of gasoline,” he said.
The president also congratulated Democrats on their midterm victories but insisted that the results did not amount to a rejection of his leadership.
“Congratulations to the Democrats. They did a good job. They’ve been looking for this one for 11 years, and they finally got it. But I don’t view it as a hit on me. I think we’ve done … We’ve had the greatest two years in the history of the presidency,” Trump told FOX News in a telephone conversation.