As President Donald Trump’s war against Iran risks escalating even further just weeks out from the midterms, a growing number of Republican lawmakers are racing to oppose the deeply unpopular conflict that has sent gas prices soaring, Punchbowl News reported Wednesday.
“On the campaign trail, the drumbeat against the war is getting louder,” Punchbowl News reported, describing GOP candidates as having “hit the panic button” by “throwing everything and the kitchen sink at their sinking political fortunes.”
The number of GOP candidates now pivoting against the U.S. war against Iran has grown significantly over the past several weeks. On Monday, Rep. Ashley Hinson (R-IA), an early supporter of the conflict who’s running for Senate, called for the war to come to an “immediate end.” Several others, including former Rep. Mike Rogers (R-MI), who’s running for Senate, and Rep. Tom Tiffany (R-WI), who’s running for governor, have also called for the war to come to an end, while others have openly acknowledged the growing frustration among Trump’s supporters.
“[There’s frustration] even among MAGA world that the president [should] go ahead and finish the job and do what he can,” said Sen. Roger Wicker (R-MS), Punchbowl News reported, with Wicker adding that the cost of diesel fuel was “just too damn high.”
“On top of that, Republicans are increasingly embracing a gas-tax holiday — something most GOP lawmakers decried as a useless band-aid when former President Joe Biden proposed it,” Punchbowl News’ report reads.
In one “rare instance,” a GOP senator demanded this week that Trump’s son, Donald Trump Jr., be investigated by the Senate Judiciary Committee for his personal business dealings, warning that Trump Jr. may have even created “national security vulnerabilities” with his close ties to foreign figures.