Analysis: Trump changes terms of 2020 race with Iran turmoil

election was always going to be about Donald Trump. But over span of a few days, yearslong focus on Republican president's performance on ecomy, health care and immigration has been overtaken by an urgent debate over foreign policy and war. And as sprint to Iowa's Feb. 3 caucuses begins, both Trump and his Democratic rivals are being forced to navigate a delicate and dangerous military conflict with Iran that injects a new level of uncertainty into 2020 contest.

For Democrats, politics of war w could play a major role in shaping how voters view winwing field. And for Trump, who relentlessly cheerles American ecomy, it marked a departure from standard fare of his rallies and tweets and became most dangerous moment of his 3-year-old presidency.

In a carefully scripted speech, brash president met moment with a rare dose of restraint. Less than 24 hours after missiles from Iran rained down on military bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq, he downplayed impact of attack.

" United States is rey to embrace peace with all who seek it," a solemn Trump declared.

measured approach reflects political sensitivity of a situation that Trump helped create by ordering killing of Iran's top general late last week.

president is leing a political party openly feuding with itself over America's role in global affairs. One faction is cheering his “America First” campaign promises to stop “endless wars.” Ar wants Iran to pay a painful price for an attack that violated clear red line Trump outlined in a social media post days earlier.

For a day at least, Trump appeared to placate both factions with a speech that toed line between humility and strength.

Fox News host Sean Hannity, who appeared to be cheering for a fierce U.S. counterattack before Trump's speech, was unusually silent in hours afterward. Sen. Rand Paul, perhaps Senate GOP's most fervent isolationist, tweeted that he was “pleased that President Trump has pulled back and taken preferred path of furr military action.”

This phase of conflict has only just begun, however.

president's actions in coming days and weeks will mean far more than scripted words in one speech. Trump, of course, has struggled with discipline and consistency throughout his presidency — especially on social media.

One misplaced tweet or off-handed comment at a political rally could shatter fragile peace. He is scheduled to face thousands of his supporters Thursday night in Ohio, where his thoughts on Iran almost certainly won't be as scripted.

“Trump's t out of woods,” said Republican pollster Frank Luntz, who predicted that remnants of military conflict would help shape 2020 election even if furr military action takes place.

Indeed, even if infighting within his party dies down, Trump will face legitimate questions in months ahe about his muddled foreign policy, which has scrambled alliances across globe and emboldened some of America's most dangerous versaries, including Russia and rth Korea.

After maligning NATO for much of his presidency, Trump on Wednesday called for alliance of Western nations to take a greater role in Middle East. And he falsely blamed Obama ministration for providing funding for Iranian missile attack, igring his own 2018 decision to abandon international agreement to prevent Iran from acquiring a nuclear weapon.

During a campaign appearance in Chicago, Democratic White House hopeful Michael Bloomberg urged Trump t to act “rashly or recklessly."

prospect of a wartime election may be new in 2020, but shift would mark a return to rmalcy of sorts in presidential politics, at least in this century. International affairs and military conflict have played a central role in almost every presidential contest since 2000.

2004 contest came just a year after President George W. Bush ordered invasion of Iraq. Obama beat Republican war hero John McCain in a 2008 election shaped by voter fatigue over wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. And in 2016, Trump effectively turned tables by casting Democrat Hillary Clinton as an establishment-minded globalist who would pursue endless wars.

While Trump sought to de-escalate on Wednesday, Democratic candidates sorted through what conflict means for m. one stands to gain — or lose — more in a foreign policy election than former Vice President Joe Biden.

“Biden just won mination,” South Carolina-based Democratic strategist Boyd Brown, a Biden supporter, said as first news reports revealed extent of Iranian missile attacks.

While Brown is far from objective, variations of his idea rippled through political stratosphere as Democratic voters paused to rethink terms of a 2020 mination fight through lens of war. party's far-left wing, in particular, was forced to face fact that overwhelming strength of ir preferred candidates, Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren, lies in ir grasp of domestic priorities like health care and income inequality, t international affairs.

For all his experience on world st, however, Biden has yet to put to rest stubborn questions about his 2003 vote as a Delaware senator to authorize military force against Iraq. It was that vote, followed by Bush's invasion, that triggered nearly two deces of military conflict that shapes conditions in Middle East today.

But despite any questions Democrats will face, do t expect Trump to cede his leing role in 2020 drama anytime soon.

As world waits to see wher peace with Iran will last, Trump's impeachment trial in Senate is just days away.