My colleague Bo Erickson talked to voters at Trump’s rally outside Atlanta on Wednesday about this very topic. Many of them, who say they voted for Trump, want him to get out of a war that is widening and has gone on for longer than the president said it would.
“Netanyahu started it, let him finish it. We’re getting our soldiers and our money involved in this and there’s been no lowering of any kind of prices,” said Annie Goins, 50, from Woodstock, Georgia, referring to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
Margaret Gatherum, 67, works part-time at a waterpark to help afford groceries and gas. She told Bo: “The war does take precedence, but I wish he could shift a little help again back to older people and disabled people.”
The rising economic costs of the war have undercut Republicans’ efforts to tout Trump’s signature tax-and-spending law. It was supposed to be the domestic showcase of his second term, delivering a campaign promise that propelled him back into office in 2025. But with global crude oil prices surging to $100 per barrel again on Thursday, the economic benefits of the law have been increasingly eclipsed by voters’ cost-of-living concerns.
As Republican lawmakers prepare to head home for the summer, they have few other political wins to promote. Congress has largely rebuffed Trump’s push for his voting restrictions bill, and many in his party have shown little interest in joining him in relitigating his 2020 election loss to Joe Biden. They also lack a clear plan to approve Hegseth’s Pentagon funding request, let alone prevent a looming government shutdown, when lawmakers return.
Time is not on Republicans’ side. The midterm elections are sooner than they appear: officially 103 days until November 3, but only 57 days until some states begin early voting. Trump is on the clock to convince voters that the casualties, higher defense spending and economic fallout from the war are being matched by gains in U.S. security and prosperity.
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