By Jacob Bogage, White House Correspondent
|
|
|
|
Hi, it’s Jacob Bogage from the Reuters White House team. I’m not here to say, “I told you so,” about Spain winning the FIFA World Cup, but let’s just say I’m pleased with my prediction. Making predictions about the outcome of November’s midterm elections is a much riskier business, especially in an increasingly uncertain environment. Lawmakers are heading home this week for the summer as the Trump administration confronts the mounting costs of the war with Iran – from American casualties and higher military spending to rising gasoline prices. (Tips or feedback? Email me: jacob.bogage@tr.com)
Ask us anything about the midterm elections. Our colleagues will answer questions in the Politics U.S. newsletter every edition between Labor Day, September 7, and Election Day on November 3. Click here to submit your questions.
|
|
|
Latest U.S. politics headlines |
|
|
|
Republicans’ dire straits |
U.S. President Donald Trump came face to face with the human cost of the war on Wednesday when he participated in one of the presidency’s most solemn traditions: welcoming home the remains of military servicemembers killed in action.
Four U.S. troops returned to American soil in flag-draped coffins, the latest of the 18 combat deaths in the nearly five-month-old war with Iran that has increasingly centered around control of the Hormuz Strait.
Trump stood at attention as the caskets were unloaded from the belly of an aircraft at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware. In Washington, meanwhile, Democratic lawmakers and some Republicans sounded increasingly frustrated by an unpopular war that shows no sign of ending.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth faced a grilling in Congress on Tuesday on the U.S.’s military progress and the White House’s request for tens of billions of dollars to replenish munitions stocks and fund the war effort. The war, which Trump has defended as necessary to keep the Iranians from developing a nuclear weapon, has already cost the U.S. $37.5 billion, Hegseth told lawmakers.
The moment that stood out to me was an upbraiding from New York Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand.
“You are asking for unlimited money for bombs when people can’t feed their families,” Gillibrand said, referring to how the war has worsened the cost of living for many Americans.
“Not unlimited bombs, senator,” Hegseth replied. “I’m asking for the right bombs at the right time to ensure we can deter our adversaries in the future.”
The political problem for Republicans is clear: a prolonged war with Iran could hurt the party in the midterms, which are now just over 100 days away, Republican campaign sources tell me and my Reuters colleagues. Voters are war weary and fed up with rising prices linked to supply chain snags in the Middle East, they tell us. And voters are largely holding Trump responsible.
|
|
|
|
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.
|
Follow Reuters/Ipsos polling on the president's approval ratings here.
|
|
|
|
Iranian drone attacks on CIA facilities in the Gulf – including a strike on the U.S. embassy in Saudi Arabia -- have prompted U.S. intelligence analysts to investigate whether Russia assisted by providing targeting information or advanced drone technology, four people familiar with U.S. intelligence told my colleagues Jonathan Landay, Gram Slattery and Timour Azhari. U.S. intelligence officials have not yet reached firm conclusions about the possible Russian involvement in the attacks on CIA facilities, the people said, but they cited the strikes' effectiveness and apparent precision, as well as Russia's broader technical support for Iran, as possible evidence.
|
|
|
|
|
Transfer cases rest in transport vans during a dignified transfer of the remains of U.S. Army service members Army 1st Lt Tyler James Feehan, Sgt. Angel S. Rampersad, Pvt. Isabella Gonzales, killed during an attack on Muwaffaq Salti Air Base in Jordan, and Sgt. Michael Emmanuel Swinton, killed in action during a controlled detonation of a downed one-way unmanned aerial system at Erbil Air Base in Iraq, at Dover Air Force Base in Dover, Delaware, U.S., July 22, 2026. REUTERS/Evan Vucci
|
|
|
|
- July 24: Democratic National Committee panel expected to propose 2028 presidential primary calendar
- July 27: Deadline for Maine Democrats to choose Senate candidate
- July 28-29: Funeral services for South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham
- July 29: Anthony Fauci, the former head of the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, to testify in the Senate on the origins of COVID-19
- August 4: Primary elections in Kansas, Michigan, Missouri, Virginia and Washington
|
|
|
|
This newsletter was edited by Ross Colvin and Alistair Bell and produced by Rawan Yaghi.
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
Reuters Politics U.S. is sent once a week. Think your friend or colleague should know about us? Forward this newsletter to them. They can also sign up here. Want to stop receiving this email? Unsubscribe here. To manage which newsletters you're signed up for, click here. This email includes limited tracking for Reuters to understand whether you’ve engaged with its contents. For more information on how we process your personal information and your rights, please see our Privacy Statement. Terms & Conditions |
|
| |
© 2026 Thomson Reuters. All rights reserved.
3 Times Square, New York, NY 10036 |
|
|
|
|
|
Comments
Post a Comment