Updated March 9, 2026 at 3:13 PM EDT
Vice President JD Vance - famed isolationist - joined the Trump administration's efforts this week to sell the U.S.-Israel war with Iran to Americans.
As one of many key voices giving sometimes contrary rationale, the Iraq and Afghanistan war veteran made the case that this would not be like those troops-on-the-ground, prolonged missions during a recent Fox News interview.
Iran, Vance said, is not about nation-building; it's primarily about stopping Iran from getting nuclear weapons.
"What's so different about this, Jesse, is that the president has clearly defined what he wants to accomplish," he said. "I said this before the conflict started. I'll repeat it again. There's just no way that Donald Trump is going to allow this country to get into a multi-year conflict with no clear end in sight and no clear objective."
Of course, Trump's stated objectives had already changed. He had originally talked about regime change, urging the Iranian people to "take back your government" in his early social media posts after the bombings. Then, he stated four clear objectives that did not include regime change: destroying Iran's missile capabilities, destroying its navy, making sure it cannot obtain a nuclear weapon, and preventing it from arming and funding terrorism across the globe.
So when Vance downplayed regime change as a goal, it seemed to be in line with Trump's new list of objectives: "Ultimately, just whatever happens with the regime in one form or another, it's incidental to the president's primary objective here," he said to Watters.
But by Friday, Trump clearly added regime change back to his list, posting on social media that after an "unconditional surrender" from Iran and the selection of "great and acceptable" new leadership, the US would "work tirelessly to bring Iran back from the brink of destruction, making it economically bigger, better, and stronger than ever before."
All of this became another instance of Vance taking on a familiar job: attempting to articulate the president's message, when that message itself is at times confusing and self-contradictory. And while rolling with Trump's shifting messaging may make Vance a loyal vice president, it may also in the future complicate how he presents himself on any potential campaign trail.
Valuable asset
Vance's articulate speeches and responses to reporter questions make him a valuable asset to the administration, said Joel Goldstein, an emeritus law professor at Saint Louis University who has studied the vice presidency for decades.
"Trump's explanations often go on for a long time, but basically don't sort of drill down into rationales," he said. "Vance oftentimes gives a more lawyerly explanation where he states not only the position, but the rationale behind it."
It means that Vance not only attempts to explain confusing messages, but also often takes a more toned-down approach than Trump. This is apparent in the administration's anti-fraud efforts. In his State of the Union, President Trump broadly insulted Somali Americans:
"The Somali pirates who ransacked Minnesota remind us that there are large parts of the world where bribery, corruption, and lawlessness are the norm, not the exception," he said. "Importing these cultures through unrestricted immigration and open borders brings us problems right here to the USA."
Trump announced that Vance would be leading the anti-fraud program. And Vance took what is, for this administration, a gentle tone explaining the efforts last month.
"Part of the reason why we have these programs is we want to make sure that kids who grow up in families, not all that different from the family that I grew up in, that they have access to the basic necessities food, medical care, afterschool services when their family needs them, but they're unable to pay," he said.
Not that the policy is gentle — it includes holding back about $250 million in Minnesota's funding for Medicaid, which provides healthcare to low-income people, until the state comes up with a fraud-fighting plan the White House likes.
The new role gives Vance a potentially much higher profile, at the intersection of multiple priorities, even beyond the idea of saving taxpayer money: immigration, highlighting fraud in Minnesota after federal agents killed two US citizens there, and pushing states to do what the administration wants.
Fighting words
When he's softening Trump's language, Vance resembles Trump's first vice president, Mike Pence. But there are of course fundamental differences – for example, Vance's penchant for fighting words.
Vance is not merely the Yale Law grad who neatly articulates the president's policies. Vance is also Trump's anti-establishment deputy who's ready for a fight. He ripped into the White House press corps after a federal agent killed Renee Good in January.
"Everybody who has been repeating the lie that this was some innocent woman who was out for a drive in Minneapolis when a law enforcement officer shot at her, you should be ashamed of yourselves," he said at a White House press briefing. "Every single one of you."
And especially after Mike Pence certified that Joe Biden won the 2020 election — leading to the January 6 riot — the conventional wisdom was that Trump was looking for, above all, loyalty.
And that's what he got, according to Bill Kristol, who was chief of staff to Vice President Dan Quayle.
"I thought it signaled that Trump was going to go all in in his second term or a kind of authoritarian, nativist Trumpist, let's call it MAGA agenda," he said. "And I think I was right about that."
Being tied to an unpopular president could weigh on Vance if he aims to run for president in 2028, says Goldstein, the vice presidential scholar.
That's especially true if Vance wants to take on positions that differ from Trump's. That's very possible – for years before becoming a politician, Vance was a vocal MAGA critic. Now, another contradiction has arisen: ahead of 2024, he lauded Trump for keeping the US out of new conflicts and was seen as a non-interventionist, "America First" vice presidential pick. His role in supporting Trump through his current interventions may complicate how voters see him.
But for now, Vance's role is that of a loyal deputy.
"You're basically a No. 2, and you have to be able to pivot in the public's mind to being a No. 1," he said. "And that's a challenge for many vice presidents, particularly sitting vice presidents."
And it's perhaps an even bigger challenge after working in the shadow of a president who relishes the spotlight as much as Trump.
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