What did J.D. Vance say about the Iran war after the midterm defeat?

Vice President J.D. Vance posted on social media that Republicans lost because of the war, and that any honest conversation about the party's future has to start there. BBC Washington correspondent Daniel Bush calls it blunter than anything Trump said, and notes Trump attacked Iran against Vance's advice.

• Vance has not declared a presidential run, but sources expect him to run and are reading the post as a first test of a post-Trump foreign-policy debate.

▸In their words

“the reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night.” J.D. Vance · at 4:25 — open in the transcript →

Source: our own transcription of the episode. The full conversation is on Global News Podcast (2026-11-05). Read the whole episode summary →

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