The vice-president has endured his most humiliating – and damaging – week as his boss’s fall guy. How much more can Maga’s great hope take?
F
or a would-be president, JD Vance has an unfortunate habit of getting into fights he cannot win. Three losing battles in the past week – with Iranian negotiators, Hungarian voters and Pope Leo – brought censure, humiliation and mockery raining down on his head. None were of Vance’s choosing. All were fought vicariously on Donald Trump’s behalf.
The vice-president is paying a high price for sycophantic loyalty to his boss. His poll ratings are plunging. His Maga succession hopes falter. He suffers by association – although his own inflammatory statements and misjudgments often make matters worse. Yet amid growing doubts about Trump’s mental health and fitness to govern, Vance remains the White House’s next-in-line.
Given he’s expected to seek the presidency in 2028, the question arises: will Vance continue to meekly act as Trump fall guy for another bruising two-and-a-half years and hope to survive, as Claudius survived Caligula? Or, faced by career-ending disaster as the “mad king” drags everyone down, will the worm turn, as Brutus turned against Caesar?
