President Donald Trump and those close to him are increasingly aware that the longer the Iran war stays in the headlines, the more he risks long-term damage to his legacy.
Right now, the concern is near-term: Trump is stuck in a stalemate with Iran that threatens to tank Republicans’ chances in the midterms. “Let me refer you to Jimmy Carter,” as one person close to Trump put it, referencing the Iranian hostage crisis that undercut the former president in 1980.
Some Trump allies are hoping that if the administration can’t end the war, it can at least lower the public’s interest. “If Iran becomes background noise instead of daily front-page news, [the] midterm impact will be much less than if there’s constant whiplash and escalation,” a person close to the White House argued.
One way to prevent a Carter-like fate: lowering gas prices. But the war has kept many of Trump’s backers in a sour place about his ability to change the narrative.
“We can’t get the good news of this administration on the front page, and we cannot get the bad news of this administration off the front page — why would the press suddenly want to cooperate?” the person close to Trump argued.