About a week after launching the war in Iran, Donald Trump was asked whether there was any daylight between him and JD Vance on the merits of the conflict. The president conceded that his vice president had been “philosophically a little different” from him on the overall mission. Referring to Vance, Trump added, “I think he was maybe less enthusiastic.”
In the days and weeks that followed, Vance, who famously boasted about Trump’s foreign policy restraint during his audition for the vice presidency, carefully toed the White House line, though he occasionally refused to give straight answers to questions about whether he was fully “on board” with the war.
There were also published reports from unnamed sources close to the vice president, emphasizing his behind-the-scenes “skepticism” of the military offensive, suggesting Vance and his team, by leaking to reporters, hoped to maintain some distance from the war in the event it proved disastrous.
Trump, however, had a very different perspective about his vice president and his culpability.
On April 1, for example, more than a full month into the war, the White House hosted an Easter luncheon, where the president sought an update on Iran peace negotiations. “How’s that moving?” Trump asked. “It’s going good, sir,” Vance replied.
Pressing further, the president asked, “Do you see it happening?” The vice president responded, “Uh, we’re going to brief it to you.”
Then it was time for the punchline. “So if it doesn’t happen, I’m blaming JD Vance,” Trump told attendees. “If it does happen, I’m taking full credit.”