Though he’s technically next in the Constitutional line of succession should anything happen to so-called “President” Donald Trump, Vice President JD Vance isn’t held in very high esteem by his boss, according to an illuminating report from the New York Times.
In fact, Trump fears that Vance would be a “disaster” if he were to run for president in 2028.
Trump has privately said that Vance has never won a political race without his help, and has serious doubts he could even contend for the 2028 Republican nomination.
Among the more recent transgressions by Vance, the Times notes, is that Trump thinks his VP takes way too many vacations and screwed up peace talks between the United States, Iran, and Pakistan, suggesting it was a mistake to send his Veep as a negotiator, a role Vance clearly had no credentials to spearhead.
Asked earlier this month by Fortune who could best carry on his “dealmaking legacy,” Trump replied, “Whoever gets this is going to be very important, and if you get the wrong person: disaster.”
Vance was standing behind Trump in the Oval Office at the time.
As you’d expect, the Trump administration denied the Times report, with Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, whining, “Any false media narratives from unknown and unnamed sources fabricating stories clearly do not have any knowledge of the truth.”
“Vice President Vance has done a remarkable job of helping implement the president’s America First agenda,” Cheung added.
Vance’s eager support for the Iran conflict has made many Republicans sour on him, according to former Georgia GOP Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene.
“He is no longer in a place where he can hang on to his former reputation. There’s nothing that can protect him any longer.”
Clearly, Trump isn’t eager to “protect” Vance, and it would seem he has almost no confidence in the man he chose to be his second in command.
For his part, Vance is finding out the hard way that Donald Trump is loyal to no one but himself. The rest of us are expendable.
