How Trump’s ‘little detour’ to Iran became a roadblock in the midterm elections

WASHINGTON (AP) — Noor Dubow says he regularly votes for Republican candidates who he believes align with his economic views — even though he’s never been a fan of Donald Trump, finding himself repelled by some of the president’s dehumanizing rhetoric toward immigrants. But this year, when Dubow cast his early ballot in the midterm election, he found himself tipping more toward Democrats because of his frustration with Trump’s decision to go to war with Iran. “Where are the Republicans in Congress?” asked Dubow, 44, a dispatcher at a trucking logistics firm in Columbus, Ohio, where he has a bird’s eye view of the disruption that surging fuel prices are having on the economy.

“Why aren’t the Republicans holding Trump accountable?” The Iran war, which Trump often describes as a “little detour,” has emerged as an unforced liability for the president, who once promised to keep the U.S. Republican strategists privately acknowledge that the war is severely damaging the party’s push to retain control of Congress for the final two years of Trump’s presidency as rising gasoline prices drive up costs across nearly every sector and new hostilities emerge. Voters are tired of elevated gas prices High energy costs and voter fatigue over the nearly eight-month-old war — one that Trump predicted at the onset would last a matter of weeks — are weighing heavily on Republican candidates.

Regardless of the outcome of the Nov. 3 elections, an AP-NORC poll published last week found that voters from both major political parties want the next Congress to focus on making life more affordable and end the war in Iran that’s had enormous ramifications for the global economy. The situation has only become more complicated for Republicans making their case to voters.

The conflict has spread, with Iran-backed Houthi rebels carrying out a series of attacks on Saudi Arabia’s oil infrastructure and airports. A Saudi-led coalition has responded with its own deadly attacks on Houthi-held territory in Yemen. Over the weekend, the State Department said it was reducing staffing at four U.S.

embassies in the Middle East after receiving intelligence that Iran has stepped up efforts to target American personnel in the region and elsewhere. Trump insists costs of war have been no big deal Diesel prices continue to hover near all-time highs in the U.S., creating trouble for Repu…