BAKU, Azerbaijan, September 29. US President Donald Trump is seeking to limit the political fallout from the ongoing war with Iran ahead of the US midterm elections, according to Paul Musgrave, an associate professor of government at Georgetown University in Qatar.
Musgrave said Trump was being “disingenuous” when he claimed that he was not thinking about the electoral consequences of the war.
“I think it would be ridiculous to assume that President Trump is not worried about the electoral effects of the war. I think he is clearly interested in them and he’s trying to find ways to get out of the bleeding that the Republican Party is going through,” Musgrave said.
“So he’s trying to make sure that those costs are mitigated because that’s really what he cares about politically,” he added.
Musgrave also said Iran has “a pretty sophisticated view of US politics”. He noted that Tehran has been closely observing US political dynamics since 1979, including the political difficulties faced by President Jimmy Carter during his 1980 re-election campaign amid high gasoline prices and the hostage crisis involving Iran.
According to Musgrave, Iranian officials may see Trump’s interest in avoiding a major Republican defeat in the midterm elections as something that could work to Tehran’s advantage and may believe they can secure a better deal through negotiations.
