JD Vance goes on the offensive, and offends, for Trump

In just 6 weeks, the U.S. VP has been anything but diplomatic in meetings with longtime allies

The word unprecedented has been thrown around in news coverage and podcasts to describe the dizzying first several weeks of Donald Trump’s second, non-consecutive term as U.S. president — from his approval of billionaire adviser Elon Musk’s seemingly indiscriminate slashing of the federal civil service, to an apparent American reset of relations with European allies.

Unprecedented would also seem to describe JD Vance’s vice-presidency thus far.

Vice-presidents have traditionally toiled in the shadows of the men who appointed them or have been given specific marching orders, as Vance predecessor Kamala Harris was in being tasked to address the root causes of migration to the U.S. The most impactful vice-presidential duty is breaking ties in Senate votes, which Vance has already done to confirm controversial nominee Pete Hegseth as defence secretary.

But after only six weeks on the job, Vance has been omnipresent at events and online, where he frequently responds to social media posts. The vice-president has managed to rankle politicians from Britain, France, Germany and Romania, as well as officials from the Catholic Church in the U.S.

An Australian premier has called Vance a “knob,” while Green Day’s Billie Joe Armstrong recently mocked Vance in a reworked lyric in Jesus of Suburbia from the American Idiot album.

U.K., France take umbrage

Vance has also already inspired a protest, rare for a vice-president. That happened in Vermont on Saturday as demonstrators lined the main street in Waitsfield, where the Vance family was set to vacation.

“Ski Russia, because JD Vance has no friends in Vermont, but he’s got lots of them in Russia so he should go there for vacation,” demonstrator Tekla Van Hoven told The Associated Press.

Trump and Vance were accused in some quarters of making statements that would have pleased Russian officials, after they angrily confronted Ukraine President Volodomyr Zelenskyy on Friday at the end of a 40-minute meeting. The sitdown was meant to be a prelude for the signing of a framework of an economic deal between the two countries, with the hopes the increased co-operation on mineral extraction in Ukraine could help smooth the way for a ceasefire between the Eastern European country and Russia.

Vance questioned whether Zelenskyy had expressed gratitude for the U.S. military aid that has undoubtedly allowed Ukraine to at least deplete Russia’s military resources three years after President Vladimir Putin approved an invasion of Ukraine. Over the course of the war, and in Friday’s meeting, according to a transcript, the Ukraine leader thanked the U.S. more than once.

When Zelenskyy asked Vance if he’d come to Ukraine since the war, knowing full well the answer, the vice-president disparaged the visits by other world leaders to Kyiv as “propaganda tours.” Those visits have seen world leaders both liberal and conservative pay respect to a memorial to the war dead in Ukraine’s capital.

The Oval Office implosion also brought to mind, for those who remembered, comments Vance made on a podcast in 2022 hosted by Steve Bannon, former White House adviser in Trump’s first term.

“I gotta be honest with you, I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine one way or the other,” he told Bannon.

Vance was less belligerent in comments to friendly Fox News host Sean Hannity in an interview broadcast Monday, but he nevertheless added fuel to the fire with an offhanded comment that seemingly disparaged European peacekeeping efforts.

Vance said that the U.S. having an economic stake in the future of Ukraine was “a way better security guarantee than 20,000 troops from some random country that hasn’t fought a war in 30 or 40 years.”

Vance denied that his comments were about Britain or France, but only they have publicly committed to a European peacekeeping force in a post-war Ukraine.

Officials from both countries were offended.

“The French and British soldiers who died fighting terrorism, who fought and sometimes died alongside American soldiers, deserve better than the disdain of the American vice-president,” French President Emmanuel Macron’s Renaissance party on X said.

James Cartlidge, the British opposition Conservative Party’s spokesperson on defence, said Vance’s comments were “deeply disrespectful,” while Johnny Mercer, a British veteran and former junior defence minister, called Vance a “clown.”

VP as attack dog

U.S. vice-presidents have served an attack dog role before. Spiro Agnew set his sights on critics of president Richard Nixon, referring to the media in a speech as “effete core of impudent snobs” and to congressional opponents of Nixon administration plans as “nattering nabobs of negativism.”

But most of Vance’s controversial statements so far have involved foreign policy, as he has questioned or even lectured leaders to their faces.

Britain was already on the receiving end of a Vance jab, but the vice-president earned a rebuke in the Oval Office Thursday from Prime Minister Keir Starmer after offering unsolicited opinions about the state of free speech in the U.K.

In Germany last month, Vance bypassed officials from the coalition government and instead met with the leader of the far-right AfD.

Despite Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and credible reports that Putin critics have been maimed or killed in European cities, Vance said Russia was not the continent’s biggest issue. Instead, he spoke of a “threat within,” running down critics of policies and laws concerning speech, freedom of assembly and immigration.

Striking contrast with Trump’s 1st VP

Vance’s comments can be compared to those of Mike Pence, who eight years earlier appeared at the same summit as Trump’s vice-president.

Pence told the gathered that European countries needed to spend more on their own defence, he also assured them that the U.S. would “stand with Europe today and every day” and that the Trump administration would “continue to hold Russia accountable, even as we search for new common ground.”

Pence, of course, ended his vice-presidency defying Trump’s wishes to go along with his fraudulent claims of an unjust election loss in the 2020 presidential election. A mob of Trump supporters descended the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, with some chanting, “Hang Mike Pence.”

When Vance was chosen by Trump to be his running mate last year, Tucker Carlson told Axios that one of the reasons was that “he doesn’t secretly hate Trump, as all the rest of them do,” referring to other vice-presidential candidates.

That steadfast support was only a few years old at the time. In 2016, Vance wrote in an USA Today op-ed that Trump’s policies “such as they are, range from immoral to absurd,” and he also criticized the real estate mogul-turned-candidate in interviews with CBC News.

Vance has since said that Trump, through his campaigning and first term in office, opened his eyes to corruption in Washington.

Ex-White House adviser Bruce Reed, speaking to journalist Kate Andersen Bower for her 2018 book First in Line: Presidents, Vice-Presidents, and the Pursuit of Power, said history has shown that relationships between presidents and vice-presidents can evolve, or sour over time.

“The vice-president’s real power derives from his relationship with the president,” said Reed, the former former chief of staff to then-vice-president Joe Biden. “In the end, the leash is only as long as the president chooses to make it.”

At present, Vance appears to have a very long leash, and his comments might indicate — to the chagrin of Western allies — that Trumpism in some form won’t go away whenever its originator departs the political arena.

Trump’s enforcer, MAGA translator: How JD Vance is growing his power as vice president

WASHINGTON – Vice President JD Vance didn’t hold back.

The public portion of President Donald Trump’s meeting with Volodymyr Zelenskyy was nearly over when the Ukrainian leader posed a question to America’s second-in-command. The vice president took offense and went on the attack.

Pointing his finger at Zelenskyy and waving his hands, Vance accused Trump’s guest of being “disrespectful.”

“You should be thanking the president for trying to bring an end to this conflict,” Vance said, leaning in.

Zelenskyy sat, arms crossed, and engaged Vance as Trump listened and eventually piled on. Gone were the days of vice presidents silently nodding on during diplomatic stagecraft.

From whipping votes for Trump’s troubled nominees in Congress to slamming liberal governance in Europe, Vance has seized an early role for himself as Trump’s enforcer in the U.S. and abroad.

The standoff in the Oval Office put Vance at the center of a sea change in American foreign policy and signaled how the 40-year-old vice president, who served a partial U.S. Senate term before his election to the White House, has stealthily amassed political power.

Trump is not known for sharing the spotlight, but close allies and advisers say Vance has his trust and he’s been pleased with the probable 2028 presidential candidate’s performance so far. With Trump term-limited from running again, Vance could be the one defending the Make America Great Again legacy in the next presidential election.

In the Zelenskyy meeting, Trump had a split second decision to make, Turning Point USA founder Charlie Kirk, a staunch Vance backer, said: Does he disagree with Vance and try to diffuse the conflict?

“He doubled down and had JD’s back,” Kirk noted. He said the moment demonstrated Trump has “a lot of respect” for Vance.

Trump showed his trust by dispatching Vance on a pair of high-profile missions when his new administration was just getting started. The president sent Vance to the southern border Wednesday, immediately after Trump’s joint address to Congress, to push the administration’s hardline immigration message. Vance also delivered a fiery rebuke to European leaders at the Munich Security Conference last month.

Premeditated, methodical and selective in his approach, Vance’s style is complementary to the president’s, advisers to both men said.

Less than two months into the new administration, Vance already has found multiple ways to turn a position that President John Adams once described as “the most insignificant office that ever the invention of man contrived” into a platform for bombshell moments.

“JD views his role as whatever helps the president, helps the administration the most at a given time, and sometimes that requires working behind the scenes,” a longtime Vance adviser who was not authorized to speak publicly said. “And then, sometimes, it requires him to peacock.”

Vance was pilloried by the national security establishment and accused of betrayal for berating an ally in the Zelenskyy confrontation.

“I think it was regrettable,” Sen. Lisa Murkowski, R-Alaska, said.

The fallout continued during a vacation the vice president took to Vermont last weekend that drew hundreds of protesters and led Vance to move his family to a different hotel for “more privacy.” A British politician scorned Vance this week after he suggested in an interview that the UK was a random country.

Still, Vance’s strident defense of Trump’s policies are helping him make inroads with MAGA – even if activists aren’t ready to crown him their heir just yet.

Unlike the odd couple pairing of Trump and former Vice President Mike Pence, who was added to the 2016 ticket to reach Evangelicals and traditional conservatives but was Trump’s temperamental opposite, the Trump-Vance match is a MAGA mind meld.

Trump eventually broke with Pence amid the fallout from the 2020 election, and activists are waiting to see how Vance performs. It’s too early to judge his performance yet, they say, but the vice president’s early impression could linger into 2028.

Chastising Europe

Vance was on his first overseas trip as vice president, and America’s allies were distraught.

It’s not Russia or China that poses the greatest threat to Europe, Vance said in accusing European leaders of restricting democracy and free speech. “What I worry about is the threat from within.”

Afterward Christoph Heusgen, Germany’s former ambassador to the United Nations and the retiring chair of the Munich Security conference said, “We have to fear that our common value base is not that common anymore.”

Michael McFaul, who was U.S. ambassador to Russia under former President Barack Obama, said Vance gave a “big lecture to all the Europeans about all their problems with democracy,” and chose not to chastise dictatorships in Belarus and Russia.

MAGA, on the other hand, was thrilled.

“Absolutely told the Europeans to their face what they needed to hear,” DeLois Stallman, a Virginia lawyer and self-described Christian homeschool mom, said a week later at the Conservative Political Action Conference just outside Washington, D.C..

Vance knew it would “raise eyebrows,” said Sen. Markwayne Mullin, R-Okla., a friend and former colleague of the Ohio Republican. “I commend him for it,” Mullin said.

Trump in the Zelenskyy meeting said that he was pleased with the content. The president has been blasting Europe for its trade deficit with the U.S. and pushing its nations to spend more money protecting the continent.

A White House official said Trump was given a heads up on Vance’s remarks before he delivered them. The pair have a warm relationship and a substantive partnership, two officials who were not authorized to discuss private conversations said.

Trump invited Vance to a closed-door briefing with television anchors the day of his joint address to Congress. They have continued a White House tradition of a standing weekly luncheon. Vance has his hand in almost every part of Trump’s agenda, whether it’s tariffs, national security, border policy or health care. And it’s by design, the White House official said. Vance helps articulate the policies, while Trump calls the shots.

“They’re a great one-two combo. They are consistent in every one of these issues, and JD Vance has turned out to be one of the president’s most vocal, articulate and effective defenders and surrogates,” Kirk said.

The approach harkens back to the reason Vance – a bestselling author and former venture capitalist who was critical of Trump before he ran for office – became the 2024 GOP running mate over other candidates who weren’t as deeply immersed in his world view.

Trump world figures most aligned with MAGA – Kirk, the president’s eldest son, Don Jr, and conservative media figure Tucker Carlson – lobbied hard for Vance. They had been allies, but grew close during a joint trip to East Palestine, Ohio, to survey the damage from a train derailment almost 18 months earlier, the White House official said.

The built-in trust between Trump and Vance has provided the vice president with a significant amount of leeway. After the Trump administration fired a Department of Government Efficiency employee for racist online posts, Vance pushed for him to be rehired on social media. As Elon Musk used DOGE to bulldoze through federal agencies, controversy began to build, including around the team of young tech workers tapped for the job.

Among the comments on the account linked to Elez: “Normalize Indian hate.” Vance’s wife Usha is the first Indian American second lady. They are raising three young kids.

Once again, Vance appeared to get ahead of Trump, who said at a news conference that he wasn’t aware of the situation. Yet, the president added, “I’m with the vice president.”

The employee, Marko Elez, was reinstated.

Vance ‘whips’ votes for Trump

At the president’s joint address to Congress on Tuesday night, Vance’s had Trump’s back.

As Democratic Rep. Al Green of Texas interrupted Trump, repeatedly, Vance stood behind the president on the dais, signaling with his thumb for the unruly lawmaker to be booted.

Vance’s public display from his seat presiding over the chamber of the U.S. House of Representatives came after months of behind the scenes work for the administration on Capitol Hill.

The former Ohio senator who served for two years put his relationships to work getting Trump’s controversial Cabinet nominees confirmed, at the president’s direction.

“He’s very effective as a member of the whip team. And I consider him a member of my whip team,” Sen. John Barrasso, R-Wy., the chief Republican vote counter, said.

Among the most imperiled was Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, who was mired in controversy over a sexual assault allegation, which he denied and never faced charges over. Hegseth also faced questions about his drinking and management of two veterans’ nonprofits.

On the day of the Hegseth vote, panic spread throughout the GOP that Republican Sen. Thom Tillis might not back the Trump nominee.

Trump had threatened to back a primary challenger against the North Carolina senator in 2026, according to the New York Times. Vance had met with Tillis at the White House.

Tillis said Vance didn’t try to strong arm him. “The only thing that was instrumental were the facts.”

The longtime Vance adviser said, “He held their hands, and he listened to them.” The adviser added, “He’s a very good attack dog, but he’s actually really good at being a peacemaker, too.”

Congressional deal making is expected to be part of Vance’s role going forward, as the administration works to get a mammoth tax cut and immigration bill through Congress.

“He’s strategic. He’s really cool under pressure, and he knows how to talk to members,” Barrasso said.

2028 talk begins

Sitting for an interview at Mar-a-Lago, Trump’s Palm Beach estate, two weeks after being sworn into office, America’s 45th and 47th president weighed in on whether Vance was his chosen successor.

“No, but he’s very capable,” Trump told Fox News, adding: “It’s too early.”

Vance shrugged it off, saying he agreed with Trump. “We’ll worry about presidential politics at the appropriate time,” Vance told DailyMail.com.

The comments were eye opening. Trump himself already was plotting his re-election bid upon taking office in 2017. While he is limited by the Constitution to two terms, Trump has openly been toying with a third. His refusal to endorse Vance reads to some like he is keeping his options open for the future.

The vice president’s allies say he knows his political fortunes depend on Trump. “I think the view of JD is the best way for him to help himself is to do everything he can to make sure this administration is successful,” the Vance adviser said.

Vance has plenty to prove on the relatively short runway to 2028, and the impression he makes in the early days of Trump’s second term could be pivotal.

McFaul, the former Obama-era ambassador, said he never once saw then Vice-President Joe Biden jump in during a bilateral meeting like Vance did with Zelenskyy. But the Feb. 28 Oval Office clash, he said, got people’s attention.

“Normally, you wouldn’t be talking about vice presidents when the president is meeting with the head of state, and yet, he…got us all to focus on him,” McFaul said. “It would stand to reason that that would be good for his election efforts come 2028.”

Vance’s early outspokenness has been a blaring horn to MAGA voters that he’s fighting for them. He came in first in a CPAC 2028 straw poll in late February with 61% support.

Still, attendees said they’re keeping their options open.

“I like Vance but I also liked Mike Pence,” said Deborah Yanna, an Iowa Trump delegate who was selling sequined MAGA jackets at CPAC. “It just takes a little bit. You just kind of gotta watch and see how they act and react.”

“Somebody’s gonna earn it,” added Stallman, the Virginia lawyer.

Vance’s mind was still on the 2024 presidential campaign during the White House meeting with Zelenskyy.

He brought up a trip the Ukrainian president made to a Pennsylvania munitions plant late last year, accusing the world famous foreign leader of campaigning “for the opposition.”

That wasn’t an official campaign event, though Vance’s mention of the scene between the Ukrainian president and Pennsylvania Democratic Gov. Josh Shapiro, implied he knows a political moment when he sees one.

He might be having one himself now, too.