2026-08-03T10:00:27.720Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/03/politics/trump-barrett-iran-endorsement
共和党众议员汤姆·巴雷特于7月底第三次投票限制唐纳德·特朗普总统的伊朗战争权力——试图推动对这位总司令的严厉谴责，而这项决议只有在本党议员支持的情况下才能通过。
但仅仅四天后，巴雷特就在自己位于密歇根州的关键选区内的集会上站在特朗普身边，欣然接受总统的背书，并回以友好的表态。
“他的竞选会很艰难。你们得帮他，”特朗普在将这位共和党议员请上台时说道。
“我很自豪今天能与你站在一起，”巴雷特回应道。
共和党幕僚将巴雷特与特朗普的联盟描述为一场政治权宜的联姻：很少会对违抗自己的人妥协的特朗普，给予了巴雷特非同寻常的自由度，让他可以自行其是——即便他试图阻挠总统对伊朗发动战争。特朗普明白，维持共和党在众议院的多数席位，有赖于巴雷特所在的这类郊区选区。
在努力捍卫全美竞争最激烈的席位之一时，巴雷特正借助自己的军旅经历造势，哪怕他的立场与总统以及本党多数人相悖。这场竞选的关键可能在于，巴雷特能否在与总统形成鲜明对比的同时，又不疏远自己的支持者；在特朗普执政的共和党中，这是一条孤独的钢丝。巴雷特在2024年从民主党手中夺下这个席位，而特朗普也在该选区赢得了选举。
曾在陆军服役22年并被派往伊拉克和关塔那摩湾的巴雷特，是仅有的四名投票反对特朗普政府对伊朗军事行动授权的共和党议员之一。在冲突超过《战争权力决议》规定的60天国会批准期限后，巴雷特成为唯一一名提出授权对伊朗使用武力的共和党议员，同时限制军事行动范围并设定明确的冲突结束期限。
巴雷特投票限制特朗普对伊朗的战争权力时，心里想着自己在伊拉克阵亡、葬在3英里外阿灵顿国家公墓的朋友。
“这让我心情沉重。战争的后果也让我深感不安。我有很多朋友没能回家，还有很多朋友退伍后生活艰难，”巴雷特告诉CNN。
当被问及想对认为国会无权参与授权对伊朗持续战争的总统说些什么时，巴雷特回避了这个问题：“你可以去问总统那个问题。”
周一在密歇根州的演讲中，特朗普在台下观众席有巴雷特在场的情况下，为自己的战争政策辩护。
“当有人问‘我们为什么要这么做’时，就说‘因为我们绝不能让他们拥有核武器’，就这么简单，”特朗普说。
但对这位密歇根州共和党人来说，推动国会在处理战争问题上发挥主导作用并非出于政治考量，他也不觉得有压力要改变自己的投票立场。
“对我来说，这是一次凭良心的投票，”巴雷特说。
巴雷特所做的权衡——在伊朗问题上谴责特朗普，同时设法与总统合作——是共和党幕僚认为对他们有利的策略。共和党幕僚表示，巴雷特直面伊朗战争问题，抵消了民主党对手可能发起的攻击，因为公众已经对战争行动感到厌倦。
“我认为这对他来说非常有利，能展现他的两党合作态度，并能在对自己选区至关重要的问题上提出反对意见，”一位共和党幕僚告诉CNN。“我觉得这实际上能给选民带来耳目一新的感觉。”
另一位共和党幕僚指出，巴雷特在所有竞选宣传材料中都使用直升机元素来彰显自己的军旅经历，并补充道：“他以军人身份为人所知，我认为在这个问题上，这种背景意味着他可以以权威的口吻发声，而且这看起来像是他出于为军队和国家着想的真诚反应。”
这项策略部分是为了考虑巴雷特的选民的意见，比如曾与他一同服役、现任其退伍军人顾问小组成员的杰森·彼得森。彼得森认为这场冲突毫无必要，但他表示，巴雷特曾说过在共和党内部为战争权力投票争取支持有多困难。
“这场冲突本就不该爆发。我自己也对此表示质疑。我身着军装为国家服役了20多年，”彼得森说。“现在或即将被派往伊朗的服役人员，正被置于出于不可告人目的的危险境地。在我看来，关于‘为什么要打仗’这个问题，几乎没有给出过像样的答案。”
彼得森是巴雷特组织的一批退伍军人中的一员，他们会见了退伍军人事务部长道格·柯林斯，让参与者有机会提问并探讨如何改进该机构。
巴雷特的选区涵盖密歇根州州府兰辛，该选区历来的议员都善于借助服役经历造势。曾在该选区任职六年的民主党参议员埃利萨·斯洛特金曾是中央情报局分析师，三次被派往伊拉克。巴雷特的两名主要民主党对手也都有军旅背景。马特·马斯达姆曾是海军海豹突击队队员，曾被部署到中东和太平洋各地；布里奇特·布林克曾是美国外交官员，曾在两党五位总统手下任职。
曾担任前总统巴拉克·奥巴马的军事助手、负责携带核密码的马斯达姆认为，巴雷特的转变太少也太晚，因为他花了数月时间才加入少数同僚的行列，投票限制特朗普的战争权力。
“巴雷特心里清楚。他当过兵，知道他前两次给特朗普开战争空白支票意味着什么，”马斯达姆说。“他现在这么做是出于政治原因，而非真心实意。”
即便巴雷特试图在伊朗战争问题上亮出自己的立场，马斯达姆仍计划如果自己在周二赢得民主党提名，就将巴雷特与特朗普绑定。
“他和特朗普一起露面，会极大地激发民主党人的斗志，”马斯达姆说。
但巴雷特坚定地走中间路线，哪怕他必须部分独自前行，因为他知道自己的选民对战争行动存在分歧。
“民众确实存在分歧，”他说。
巴雷特赌选民会将他与特朗普的决裂视为忠诚的决裂，而是植根于其军旅经历的信念。在特朗普和巴雷特两年前都获胜的选区，他的政治前途可能取决于选民是否相信他既能与总统站在一起，又能挺身而出反对总统。
GOP congressman defies Trump on Iran but keeps his endorsement
2026-08-03T10:00:27.720Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/03/politics/trump-barrett-iran-endorsement
GOP Rep. Tom Barrett voted for the third time to limit President Donald Trump’s Iran war powers in late July — attempting to help drive a stinging rebuke of the commander-in-chief that can only pass if members of his own party sign on.
But just four days later, Barrett stood at Trump’s side during a rally in his own Michigan battleground district, basking in the president’s endorsement and sending back kind words of his own.
“He’s going to have a tough race. You got to help him,” Trump said as he called the Republican lawmaker onto the stage.
“I’m proud to stand with you today,” Barrett responded.
Republican operatives describe Barrett and Trump’s alliance as a marriage of political convenience: Trump, who rarely gives ground to anyone who defies him, has granted Barrett unusual latitude to chart his own course — even as he seeks to thwart the president’s war with Iran. Trump recognizes that maintaining the GOP’s House majority depends on suburban districts like Barrett’s.
As he works to defend one of the most competitive seats in the country, Barrett is leaning into his military service, even if his position puts him at odds with the president and much of his party. The race will likely come down to how Barrett is able to walk that tightrope between drawing contrasts with the president without alienating his support; a lonely road in Trump’s Republican Party. Barrett flipped the seat from Democratic control in 2024 Trump carried the district in the election.
Barrett, who served 22 years in the Army and deployed to Iraq and Guantánamo Bay, was one of only four Republicans to vote against the Trump administration’s authorization of military operations in Iran. After the conflict crossed the 60-day threshold requiring congressional approval under the War Powers Resolution, Barrett became the only Republican to introduce a measure authorizing the use of military force in Iran while limiting the scope of military action and setting a firm deadline for ending the conflict.
When Barrett cast his votes to restrict Trump’s war powers in Iran, he’s thinking about his friend who died in Iraq and is buried in Arlington National Cemetery three miles away.
“That weighs heavily on me. And those effects of war weigh heavily on me. I’ve got a lot of friends who didn’t come home. I got a lot of friends who struggled after they came home,” Barrett told CNN.
When asked what his message is for a president who believes Congress does not have a role to play in authorizing the ongoing war with Iran Barrett sidestepped, “You can ask the president that question.”
With Barrett in the audience during Trump’s speech on Monday in Michigan, the president defended his approach to the war.
“When somebody comes up and says, ‘Why are we doing this,’ Just say, ‘Because we cannot let them have a nuclear weapon.’ It’s very simple,” Trump said.
Yet for the Michigan Republican, pushing for Congress to assert itself in how to handle the war is not political, and he doesn’t feel pressured to change his vote.
“This is a vote of conscience for me,” Barrett said.
The calculus Barrett is making — of rebuking Trump over Iran while also finding ways to work with president — is a strategy that GOP operatives believe will work to their advantage. GOP operatives say that Barrett addressing the Iran war head on neutralizes the potential attack from his Democratic opponents as the public has soured on the war effort.
“I think this is really good for him to show that he’s bipartisan and can push back on the things that are really important for him in his district,” one GOP operative told CNN. “I think it’s actually kind of a breath of fresh air for voters.”
Another GOP operative pointed out that Barrett has a helicopter to signal his military experience on all of his campaign branding and added, “He is known as a military guy, and I think that context on this issue means he can speak as a voice of authority, and it comes off as a genuine reaction of him doing what he thinks is best for the military, the country.”
This strategy is in part to consider the vote of Barrett’s constituents like Jason Peterson, who served with him and is a member of his veterans’ advisory group. Peterson views the conflict as needless but says the congressman has shared how difficult it is to build support in the Republican Party for the War Powers vote.
“The conflict should not have even started. I question it myself. I’ve been in uniform and served my country for over 20 years,” Peterson said. “Servicemembers that are in Iran right now or about to be, are being placed in harm’s way for ulterior motives. There have been little answers, in my opinion, in terms of the why.”
Peterson was part of a group of veterans organized by Barrett to meet with Veterans Affairs Secretary Doug Collins, giving participants an opportunity to ask questions and explore how to improve the agency.
His district, which represents Michigan’s state capital of Lansing, has a history of representatives who lean into their service experience. Democratic Sen. Elissa Slotkin, who represented the district for six years, was a former CIA analyst who served three tours in Iraq. And two of Barrett’s top Democratic opponents come from military backgrounds. Matt Maasdam was a Navy SEAL who deployed throughout the Middle East and the Pacific and Bridget Brink was a US foreign service officer who served under five presidents from both parties.
Maasdam, who was former President Barack Obama’s military aide responsible for carrying the nuclear codes, thinks Barrett is pivoting too little, too late, as it took him months before he joined a handful of his colleagues in voting to restrict Trump’s war powers.
“Barrett knows better. He was in the military. He knows what it means when he gave Trump a blank check the first two times to go to war,” Maasdam said. “He’s doing what he’s doing for political reasons, not because he actually believes it.”
And Maasdam plans to tie Barrett to Trump if he wins the Democratic nomination on Tuesday even if Barrett has tried to stake out his own position on the Iran war.
“Him being out there with Trump fires up Democrats a lot,” Maasdam said.
But Barrett is steadfast in carving out a middle ground, even if he must go it alone in part because he knows his constituents have split views on the war effort.
“People are divided for sure,” he said.
Barrett is betting voters will see his break with Trump not as disloyalty, but as conviction rooted in his military service. In a district where both Trump and Barrett won two years ago, his political future may depend on whether voters believe he can stand with the president — and still stand up to him.
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