Vance emerges as MAGA champion after Zelensky fight
The Oval Office incident has cemented JD Vance’s status in the Trump administration as an attack dog and fierce defender of the US President. But can he remain in Donald Trump’s good graces?
Vice President JD Vance mostly sat in silence for 22 minutes as President Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky took questions from reporters in the Oval Office on Friday.
By the time a journalist asked whether Trump was aligned with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Vance had had enough. Vance’s resulting interjection, in which he defended Trump’s diplomatic strategy, triggered a tense and remarkable public clash with Zelensky that up-ended weeks of behind-the-scenes negotiations to end the three-year-old war in Ukraine.
One day after the Oval Office squabble played out on televisions around the country, Vance is being praised by Trump’s conservative allies – and he is being blamed by Democrats for derailing the path to peace.
The incident cemented Vance’s status in the Trump administration as an attack dog and fierce defender of the US president. Since Trump took office nearly six weeks ago, Vance has sparred on social media with progressives, Democrats and on at least one occasion, a fellow conservative, and he made international headlines for his rebuke of European leadership during his first foreign trip.
Billionaire Elon Musk has lapped up much of the media’s attention as he makes far-reaching cuts to the federal government. But Vance is quietly carving out an expansive portfolio that ranges from foreign policy and securing a deal to save TikTok to legislative affairs on Capitol Hill. He is at the forefront of an increasingly influential wing of the Republican Party that is sceptical of foreign aid.
Those close to Vance say he sees his role as a fixer. Some of his allies compare him to a Swiss Army knife that can solve a myriad of problems for the president.
But Vance faces significant political risks as he charts his future, which could potentially include a presidential run of his own. Among them: Can he remain in the good graces of Trump, who sometimes sours on close advisers and who publicly turned on his previous vice president, Mike Pence?
For now, Vance has nurtured a good relationship with Trump. The former Ohio senator and author of the best-selling book Hillbilly Elegy also has deep ties to influential conservative figures, including the President’s son, Donald Trump Jr.
Democrats and some diplomats roundly criticised Vance and Trump for the exchange in the Oval Office, accusing the vice president of ambushing Zelensky and alleging a pre-planned effort to sabotage the meeting.
“It seemed to me that it was just, you know, JD Vance saying, ‘Hey, look what I can do, Dad!’ And it doesn’t help the situation. This negotiation should have been done behind closed doors,” Senator Mark Kelly, (D., Ariz.) said.
Former US Ambassador to Russia Michael McFaul, who served during the Obama administration, said it was “inappropriate for the Vice President to interrupt and demand a thank-you from a head of state.” Some Republicans also expressed frustration with Trump and Vance’s handling of the meeting. Representative Mike Lawler of New York, a Republican in a competitive district, said it was “extremely shortsighted to engage in that type of exchange in front of the US and international press as you work toward an agreement.” Senator Lisa Murkowski (R., Alaska) said, “I am sick to my stomach as the administration appears to be walking away from our allies and embracing Putin.” Vance’s advisers rejected the assertion that the Oval Office fight was part of a pre-planned strategy. Trump and Vance, who met before and after the meeting with Zelensky, didn’t plan for the meeting to ignite into conflict in front of reporters, administration officials said. The East Room of the White House was set up with the expectation that Trump and Zelensky would hold a televised press conference to celebrate the signing of a minerals deal aimed at moving toward peacemaking with Russia.
Vance, according to his advisers, spoke up at the meeting because he didn’t like the question asked to Trump about being aligned with Putin, and wanted to back the President up. Vance jumped in to praise Trump for engaging in diplomacy and to criticise “tough” talk from former President Joe Biden, aimed at Putin, that didn’t lead to progress in reaching peace.
Tensions escalated when Zelensky responded by recounting all the times Putin hadn’t kept his word. Vance, a longtime critic of providing US aid to Ukraine, scolded the Ukrainian president for not showing gratitude to Trump.
Even before Vance interceded, Trump and Vance had grown increasingly annoyed with Zelensky for pushing back on some of the President’s statements and for focusing on the need for a broader peace agreement, not the minerals deal that he was there to sign, according to White House officials.
Trump, according to administration officials, was impressed with Vance’s performance in the meeting. He has told White House staff several times since Friday that Pence, his estranged former vice president, would have never done that, according to an official.
“I was very proud of JD Vance, standing up for our country,” said Senator Lindsey Graham (R., S.C.). Senator Mike Lee (R., Utah) called Vance the GOAT, an acronym for greatest of all time. On Friday night and again on Saturday afternoon, the White House circulated a long list of public praise for Trump and Vance from cabinet members and Republicans on Capitol Hill.
A Marine veteran and former US senator from Ohio, Vance, 40 years old, represents a new, younger voice in the Republican Party and is viewed as Trump’s heir apparent.
But Trump made waves when he was asked in a February Fox News interview if he sees Vance as his successor. “No, but he’s very capable,” Trump said, adding that there were a lot of “very capable people.” The role of vice president is historically fraught. Trump no longer speaks to Pence. Former President Joe Biden gave then-Vice President Kamala Harris the high-profile but difficult tasks of the abortion issue and tackling the “root causes” of migration from Central America.
Like his boss, Vance has drawn attention for his eye-catching public remarks and social-media posts. Last month, he made his first foreign trip and delivered a blistering speech at the Munich Security Conference in which he accused European leaders of censoring free speech and ignoring citizens’ concerns about migration. The free speech issue came up in an Oval Office meeting on Thursday with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, and Vance defended his position.
Vance has served as a key liaison for Trump on Capitol Hill. He played a central role in persuading sceptical Republican senators to vote for Trump’s cabinet nominees.
The White House sent Vance to assuage senators last week when Trump endorsed a House budget plan that differed from the one being advanced in the Senate. Vance told senators that the president liked the package they were pursuing, and that it would be a backup should the House bill fail. He also promised that Trump wouldn’t attack them, according to a White House official.
The Vice President at times uses social media in aggressive and antagonistic ways. He defended a Department of Government Efficiency staffer who made racist statements online. He has engaged in niche debates about Catholicism on X (Vance converted to Catholicism in 2019). He attacks the press when he deems coverage unfair.
Other times, Vance uses his social-media account to post more mundane observations. “Puppy bowl just showed a chihuahua-German shepherd mix and, uh, I’ve got questions,” he wrote on X in February during the Super Bowl.
Vance and his family are skiing this weekend at Sugarbush Resort in Vermont, according to a White House official. He is the first vice president in decades to have young children living at the US Naval Observatory.
Protesters criticised Vance as he arrived in Vermont. “Support Ukraine, not Putin,” read one of the signs.
