Rove expecting Trump to resume ‘kinetic action’ against Iran after midterms
There's something worth paying attention to in Rove's timing. If he's right that strikes against Iran wait until after the midterms, that tells you the administration sees military action as politically costly before an election. Voters tend to react badly to new overseas conflicts when they're heading to the polls, and a strategist like Rove would know that calculus better than most.
I'd want to know where Rove is getting this from, though. He's been out of the White House for years, and his track record on predicting Trump's moves has been mixed. It's possible he's reading the same tea leaves everyone else is, or that he's heard something specific. The interview doesn't make that clear.
What connects here is the broader pattern of how foreign policy gets timed around domestic politics. It's not new, but it's a reminder that military decisions rarely happen in a vacuum. Whether you think that's cynical or just realistic probably depends on how much you trust the people making the calls.