Daniel Wolfram
Conservative commentators saw right through JD Vance’s strategy after the vice president tried to distance himself from the president and the rest of the White House.
Tuesday’s blue tsunami has created drama and an unprecedented outcome for the GOP and the MAGA movement.
In the middle of it all stood the vice president. He seemed to break with the president and the rest of the White House.
That did not go unnoticed, as he was attacked from both sides in the media.
Blaming the battlefield
The fallout began right after Election Day left Republicans reeling from a blue tsunami across the country. Vice President JD Vance led the front on who and what to blame for this GOP disaster. Here, he blamed the disaster on the war in Iran and the economic fallout from that war that hit the voters.
In a lengthy post trying to explain the loss, the vice president wrote: “The real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone. The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night.”
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That sudden shift and backstabbing did not sit well with conservative pundits. On Fox News, conservative commentator Marc Thiessen ripped into Vance for turning on an overseas campaign he had earlier backed.
“I was kinda shocked by that statement Vice President Vance put out,” Thiessen said, according to The Daily Beast. “Quite frankly, it was disloyal to the president of the United States.”
On CNN, the conservative journalist and commentator Jonah Goldberg called JD Vance out for his political persona. After the host read Vance’s post and alluded to the hypocrisy of Vance having spent most of his time on the campaign trail smearing Democratic candidates with personal insults, only to now blame the war entirely. Goldberg went even further in his critique.
“Priors on the table: I think JD Vance is a very bad politician and an exceedingly deceitful one. What he is doing is a sleight of hand. He is saying that ‘it was the war.’ Well, Trump said it was the high gas prices. He’s trying to sound extremely [reasonable] while redefining what the Republican consensus position is. I don’t think it’s going to work,” Goldberg predicted.
The ultimate loyalty test
According to The Washington Post, Donald Trump conceded that the military action hurt MAGA voter turnout, noting that “it drove the gasoline [prices] up a little bit.” However, Trump still doubled down on Iran and insisted that “if I had to do it again, I’d have to do it again.”
To Thiessen, a sitting vice president should never publicly break ranks with a president.
“I didn’t see him say, ‘Donald Trump is one of the most courageous presidents in my lifetime because he took this very difficult political decision and put the country ahead of his own political interest.’ All I heard was, ‘We lost because of the Iran war,'” Thiessen said. “Why is his vice president saying something different?”
Fox News anchor Bret Baier offered a blunt explanation for the sudden rift: “Because [Vance] wants to run for president.”
Thiessen warned that such a strategy could easily backfire. “He needs Donald Trump’s endorsement to run for president, or he’s not gonna get the nomination […] If I were the vice president, I would not be taking a line contrary to Donald Trump when it comes to the Iran war right now.”
Goldberg says Vance is the biggest loser after Tuesday
On CNN, Goldberg went even further in his criticism of JD Vance. He essentially said his political future is over after Tuesday’s results.
“I think the biggest single loser last night was JD Vance, because he is Donald Trump with twice the bigotry and half the charm. And that is not what the country said they want more of for the next two years, never mind the next six.”
Goldberg was on a panel with two others, including Lulu Garcia-Navarro, who agreed with Goldberg’s assessment.
“You’re right in that this is the death knell for JD Vance’s political aspirations for 2028. I’m with you,” she said, pointing to Goldberg. “I don’t think it’s going to work.”
Here is the full video from the CNN panel:
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