President Donald Trump said “I haven’t had much of a war” when New York Post columnist Miranda Devine told him that many base Republicans are angry because they thought he would be a “no-wars president.”
“But I guess a lot of the base Republicans, you hear them saying they’re angry because they thought you were going to be the no-wars president,” Devine said in the same “Pod Force One” interview the Post used for its midterm-eve exclusives. “Well, I haven’t had much of a war,” Trump replied. “If you think about it, there were also people angry because they didn’t completely annihilate them. You know, I’ve got all sorts of groups. I have those people, too.” The exchange sits in the same Miranda Devine session that produced the Post’s pardons exclusive and related veto coverage, and that Devine previewed on the Post’s Pod Force One page.
U.S. and Israeli strikes on Iran began Feb. 28. U.S. Central Command said in a Feb. 28 release that it commenced Operation Epic Fury that day. Trump told Congress in a July 10 War Powers letter that he “acted pursuant to my constitutional authority as Commander in Chief.” Congress has not declared war or enacted a specific authorization for the use of military force against Iran. As of Oct. 28, the Defense Casualty Analysis System listed 15 deaths under Operation Epic Fury and 7 deaths under Overseas Operations, for a combined total of 22 U.S. deaths in the Iran-related operations.
Stars and Stripes, citing a Pentagon estimate provided to Congress, reported the Defense Department’s war cost figure as $47.1 billion as of Oct. 16. Sen. Jack Reed, the top Democrat on the Senate Armed Services Committee, said in remarks that outlet quoted that “twenty-one American service members have lost their lives and more than 850 have been wounded because of this war,” a tally close to but not identical with the Oct. 28 DCAS combined total of 22.
Base Republicans Devine referenced have put that anger in their own words. Rep. Thomas Massie of Kentucky wrote on X that Trump’s remark “When will the war in Iran end? Whenever I want it to end” exposed “the legal fiction that it isn’t a war,” and that “U.S. law and the Constitution prohibit the Executive branch from fighting a war that isn’t declared or authorized by Congress,” in an Oct. 28 post. Two days later, Massie told Elon Musk that “Republicans in Congress let Trump start a war, increase spending, arm a genocide, betray MAHA, and cover up for Epstein’s coconspirators,” in an Oct. 30 reply. Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia wrote that Republicans “stood behind Trump cheerleading him while he wouldn’t release the Epstein files, waged an unprovoked war with Iran for Israel skyrocketing gas/diesel prices, and implemented tariffs that raised the cost of goods on every American after he promised to lower cost of living,” in an Oct. 28 post.
House Democrats have previewed funding fights if they take the majority. Rep. Ro Khanna of California said on Fox News Sunday and in follow-up posts that if Democrats win both chambers they would stop appropriations “for any further actions in the Iran War,” arguing that once both chambers refuse that money, “the president can’t veto that,” in a Nov. 1 post. At a Virginia Beach rally for Elaine Luria, House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries said Democrats want to “end this failed, reckless, costly war of choice in Iran,” according to WTKR’s report from the Batten University stop.
Trump has elsewhere described the campaign in terms that sit alongside the “haven’t had much of a war” line. At a Mar-a-Lago Halloween gaggle captured in a C-SPAN video, a reporter asked whether he expected to “go back to war against Iran as soon as this week.” Trump called that a “stupid question” and said that whether he expected to resume fighting or not, he would not tell reporters. In Corinth, Miss., while stumping for Sen. Cindy Hyde-Smith, he said he had been “fully prepared” for oil to jump “because we really had no choice,” and that Iowa pumps at $1.85 and $1.95 were the benchmark he wants back once the fight is finished.
Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent wrote on X that Strait of Hormuz transit was “back to pre-conflict levels minus Iranian barrels” and that “the world can live without Iranian oil,” after Treasury launched Operation Economic Outcast to cut Iranian oil and financial channels. Those statements describe economic pressure and shipping recovery, not a formal end to hostilities. Massie and Greene, both Republicans, aimed their criticism at congressional Republicans as well as the president for going along with the Iran campaign.
Trump told Devine he hasn’t “had much of a war” while saying other supporters were angry that Iran was not “completely annihilate[d].” Massie called the Iran fight an unauthorized war Congress allowed; Greene called it an “unprovoked war with Iran for Israel” that helped drive gas prices; Khanna and Jeffries pledged to cut further Iran-war funding if Democrats take Congress. CENTCOM dated Operation Epic Fury to Feb. 28; Trump’s War Powers letter claimed Article II authority; DCAS counted 22 U.S. deaths as of Oct. 28; and Stars and Stripes reported a $47.1 billion Pentagon cost estimate. Those are the government’s published facts next to Trump’s line.