Megyn Kelly Says Donald Trump Lost Control of His Party With the Iran War

Megyn Kelly said Wednesday that Donald Trump lost control of the Republican Party when he launched the war with Iran, and that Tuesday's Democratic sweep has ended the domestic half of his presidency.

"Domestically, his agenda is now over. That piece of his presidency, the domestic piece of it, is effectively over," Kelly said on The Megyn Kelly Show. She said Trump has "absolutely no one who is going to work with him in the US Congress unless he becomes a Democrat."

Kelly is not a Republican. "I'm a registered independent. I'm more right leaning I think than your average independent," she said, adding that she had been registered with each party before and would "never put back on a team jersey" for either one.

Megyn Kelly on the Iran War and Trump's Party

Kelly put the war at the center of the results. "Trump launched an unnecessary war in Iran in the Middle East. The very thing he promised us that he would not do. When that happened, he lost control of his party," she said.

She told Republicans they now have to "reflect, rebuild, and reinvent in the image of no man" and learn to win "without daddy on the ballot."

For support, she read a post on X from Vice President JD Vance, who wrote that "many people who voted for Trump Vance in 24 voted for Dems in 26." Vance listed four things a pollster said would bring those voters back: ending the war, focusing on the cost of living, putting America first and changing the U.S. relationship with Israel. "The reason we lost is the war," Vance wrote.

Trump himself was unrepentant on Wednesday. Asked about Vance's post, he said, "I think it's largely true," but added: "If I had it to do again, I'd have to do it again because long-term, it's the only answer. You can't let Iran have a nuclear weapon."

Kelly Rejects the 'On the Ballot' Defense

Kelly dismissed the argument that Republicans lost because Trump's name was missing. "This would not have gone differently had Trump been on the ballot because he effectively was. This was a referendum on him and his policies," she said. "It's Trump's spin to say it would have been a landslide for Republicans had he been on the ballot. That's just not true."

She noted that he had spent months "telling everybody pretend I'm on the ballot." At a rally for South Carolina Senate candidate Darline Graham, Trump said, "What I really want you to do is pretend please, that I am on the ballot," Michigan Public reported. Kelly said Graham lost to Democrat Annie Andrews by 4.4 points. Now that voters have taken his advice, Kelly said, "he ignores and forgets that advice."

Trump's approval stands at 38.3 percent, with 58.6 percent disapproving, according to PolitiKool's polling average. On the economy, PolitiKool's polling average puts his approval at 29.7 percent.

What the Exit Polls Show

Kelly said that 89 percent of voters called the cost of living a crucial or major factor in their vote and that 74 percent said the same of the Iran war. Both figures match the national exit poll conducted for NBC News and other outlets.

Tom Bevan, co-founder of RealClearPolitics and one of the show's guests, said Republicans lost men by three points and won white voters by only four, swings of 17 and 13 points from 2024. His margins don't match the NBC exit poll, which has men backing Democrats 50 percent to 48 percent and white voters split 49 percent to 49 percent.

Kelly later said voters ages 18 to 29 had shifted 32 points toward Democrats, then read figures from Patrick Ruffini, a pollster at Echelon Insights, that put the shift for the same age group at 48 points and the shift among Latino men at 57 points.

The Count So Far

The results were incomplete when Kelly spoke. Democrats have won a majority of at least 54 Senate seats, and the Alaska and Mississippi races are still too close to call, Al Jazeera reported. Kelly put the Republican count at 44. Mississippi's certification is due November 13, and Alaska's ranked-choice results are not expected until November 18.

Democrats have won control of the House, CBS News reported. Kelly said NBC News projects they will finish with 258 seats to 177 for Republicans, and that Cook Political Report has them on pace to pick up around 30 seats.

What Happens Next

Bevan pointed to 2010 as proof that parties can recover quickly: Democrats lost 63 House seats that year, two years after Barack Obama's 2008 win. Kelly made the broader point that a crushed party can return "as short as two years later" and "come back with a roar."

She did not say who should lead that rebuild, only that it would not be Trump. "You can't ride the Trump coattails anymore," she said. "He cannot save you."