President Donald Trump’s aides were reeling Tuesday night from the scale of the Republican loss and quickly began searching for people to blame. Officials have privately acknowledged that the ultimate responsibility rests with Trump, whose unpopular war with Iran drove up prices and became a central issue for voters. But the reluctance to criticize the president publicly has intensified pressure to identify scapegoats among Cabinet members, White House staff and conservative media commentators.
Pressure for a post-election shake-up
Furious officials and donors expect Trump to consider changes similar to then-President George W. Bush’s decision to oust Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld after Republicans lost both houses of Congress in 2006.
Sources said Trump appears undecided about whether to make such changes, partly because he recognizes that there may have been little his staff could have done to prevent a landslide Democratic victory.
Trump has recently been receiving advice from members of his inner circle that keeping senior staffers in the proverbial tent could help ensure their loyalty if they receive subpoenas from congressional investigators next year.
Scrutiny of Iran war advisers
Even so, people around Trump have come under early scrutiny, particularly those viewed as encouraging him to continue the war with Iran as polls began to decline in the months before the midterm elections.
Some of that scrutiny has focused on Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who continues to offer an optimistic assessment of the military situation. He is also the subject of a whispering campaign that has led Trump to believe that additional strikes could secure victory in the war.
Officials said Hegseth’s presentations were so impassioned that several senior administration officials, including Vice President J.D. Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, requested their own briefings this spring to obtain a more sober assessment of the situation.
The Department of Defense did not respond to requests for comment.
Anger at conservative commentators and White House staff
On another front, Trump advisers are furious with conservative media commentators whom they believe urged the president to escalate the war even after the stalemate in the Strait of Hormuz.
Others have again criticized White House Chief of Staff James Blair, who temporarily left the administration to develop a medium-term strategy for the Republican Party, including efforts to redraw congressional maps to favor Republicans.
Source: www.wired.com