Israel is no alibi for Trump’s midterms loss - opinion

US President Donald Trump's explanation for the Republican midterm defeat was revealing. Voters disliked the Iran war. Gasoline prices had risen. Some Republican candidates had failed him. And, he added, there was “a great dislike – incredibly – for Israel.” In one breath, the president acknowledged the costs of his own decisions and then reached for a familiar escape hatch: blame the ally.The exit-poll figures tell a less convenient story. In the national poll graphic, 55% of voters said government corruption was “crucial” to their vote and another 36% called it a major factor. Cost of living came close behind, at 49% crucial and 40% major. The sharpest distinction is in the “crucial” category, where corruption leads by six points.Taken together, the figures show two issues occupying almost the entire electorate's field of concern. They do not prove that corruption alone decided the election, but they make it impossible to pretend Israel was the central explanation.The concerns of American votersThese are not abstract anxieties. Voters saw a government that appeared increasingly preoccupied with the interests of its president, his family, donors, and political loyalists. The AP's post-election analysis found that many voters believed Trump was obsessed with his own interests, amid questions about cryptocurrency ventures, business dealings, and the privately funded White House ballroom.A president can call himself a fighter…