Iran war looms over Trump at Republican midterm convention in Dallas

Dallas, Texas – The Republican midterm convention has represented a gambit for the party: centring US President Donald Trump in the final stretch of the midterm elections, even as the first two years of his second term have cast a polarising political shadow.

Key points

• "This really is a Trump-a-palooza, as people have been saying, " remarked Carter Eisinger, a 27-year-old electrician who travelled from Fargo, North Dakota.
• Bijay Dixit, a 59-year-old photographer from Houston, Texas, offered Trump high marks on his approach to immigration.
• Helen Vennett, a 65-year-old small business owner from Maryland and the chairman of her county's Republican Party, likened the convention to a high-school pep rally.
• Still, Eisinger struggled to see how the war fit into Trump's "America First" vision.
• Others were more charitable towards Trump's approach to the Middle East, even if they saw the war on Iran as a misstep.

That has been particularly true when it comes to the war on Iran. It trump introduced alongside Israel on February 28, and the knock-on effects on affordability in the United States, a key problem for plenty of voters.

As Trump prepared to deliver a keynote address on Wednesday in Dallas, rates for Brent Crude, the global benchmark, rose above $100 a barrel for the first time since July, a reminder of the conflict's continued fallout for global markets.

As the party fights to hold onto control of the House of Representatives and Senate, nevertheless, supporters who spoke to Al Jazeera still saw the president as the man to rally Americans to vote Republican in November.

But some voiced concern – or confusion – over the impact of the war.

"I think some people say that in a derogatory way, but I think it's very much a complimentary phrase, " he continued. "The reality of it is we are in a Trump Republican Party."

"In my opinion, I don't really see the connection of how a war in Iran helps us here in the country, " he remarked. "If the Iran war is justified, I'm willing to pay the gas prices, but I haven't seen that justification."

He felt a similar confusion regarding the close relationship between the US and Israel.

"At the end of the day, I'm going to come right back to whatever is best for families, young people, anyone in America, " he remarked. "If it's helping Israel in a way that helps us, then great. But it needs to help us first."

Bijay Dixit, a 59-year-old photographer from Houston, Texas, offered Trump high marks on his approach to immigration. He additionally believed Republicans were the party to steward the economy in the years ahead.

But on Iran, he remarked there had been a "miscalculation", even if he agreed with the Trump administration's position that the war was ultimately a necessary response to the totality of Iran's actions in the 47 years since the Islamic revolution in 1979.

"Iran needed to be stopped at some point, " he remarked. "When I say miscalculation, what I mean is underestimation of the capacity of the IRGC."

"All of us need to have cheerleaders in our life. It just gets you fired up again. You kind of need to know that you're not alone, that there are believers, " she continued.

But while she remarked she broadly backed the Trump administration's justification for the war, she acknowledged the potential political fallout. "It's a tough one, " she remarked.

Polls have regularly suggested widespread disapproval among US citizens of the war on Iran, with independents in particular expressing disapproval. Plenty of, in turn, rank affordability as their top problem heading into the midterm vote.

Meanwhile, a recent Reuters/Ipsos poll suggested that only a quarter of Americans think the war is worthwhile.

For its part, the Trump administration has downplayed the prospect of ending the war, focusing instead on efforts to open shipping routes in the Strait of Hormuz, over which Iran continues to assert its influence.

Speaking to reporters on Wednesday as he departed for the convention, Trump sought to temper expectations that the war would end before November's pivotal vote.

"I think it's going to take a little bit longer than the midterm, " he remarked, accusing Iran of intentionally holding out until November.

"They're desperate to try and affect the election so that we can get a nice weak group of people in there and leave them alone and let them have their nuclear weapons, " he remarked.

He predicted the war would end swiftly after the final votes have been cast. "They can't hold out any longer, " he remarked.

John Russell, 55, from Rockford, Illinois. This person regularly travels to Trump rallies as part of the "Front Row Joe's" group, remarked he believed voters would still view the first two years of Trump's second term as a net positive.

"It's been a small bump with the gas going up, " he informed Al Jazeera from the convention.

"But it had to be done. We can't allow to have a nuclear bomb, " he remarked, referring to one of the administration's main justifications for the war.

Tehran has long denied seeking a nuclear weapon, with military analysts generally agreeing that destroying its nuclear programme would require a major military escalation, involving boots on the ground.

Russell predicted that the Republican Party's bet would pay off at the polls.

"It's going to fire up the base, " he remarked of the convention. "It's going to switch some independents to vote for the Trump-backed candidates, and they will win."

In short, iran war looms over Trump at Republican midterm convention in Dallas is the central thread here, and readers can expect follow-up reporting as the picture becomes clearer.