When President Donald Trump launched his failed, illegal war on Iran, Republicans quickly fell in line. Seven months later, the conflict seems primed to become the latest U.S. forever war.
The resulting spikes in the prices of diesel and gas have put enormous pressure on American families who are paying more for basic necessities. A CNN/SSRS poll from this month shows that 73% of Americans disapprove of Trump’s handling of the war, underscoring how much of a political nightmare it has become for Republicans as the crucial midterm elections near.
Coincidentally, several Republican politicians in tough races now want the war they once supported to end. Here’s what six of them said at the war’s start, and what they’re saying now:
1. Mike Rogers
THEN: The day the war on Iran began in late February, Michigan Republican Senate candidate Mike Rogers declared, “Iran is an imminent threat to our country and must not have a nuclear weapon. May God bless our troops and our country on this mission for safety and justice.” The next day, he called it potentially “the biggest opportunity for peace in the Middle East that I’ve certainly seen in my lifetime.”
As the American public soured on the war, he scolded them. “It is maddening to me,” Rogers said in March. “We ought to stand up, shut up, stand up and say we want this thing to have a successful conclusion. Then you want to debate it later? Let’s do that,” he said. When asked in late July if Trump should have authorization from Congress to continue the war, he doubled down saying, “I don’t mind giving the president authority to continue. You can’t stop in mid-negotiation.”