Vice presidents are traditionally the heir apparent when the president prepares to leave office, but a new report suggests President Donald Trump has soured on Vice President JD Vance.
Based on a report by Zeteo, Trump repeatedly makes “snide, annoyed comments” about both Vance and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard for being less openly supportive of the Iran war than others in the administration. Vance in particular is described as “skeptical,” and his reluctance to publicly support the war as much as he has other administration initiatives has apparently rubbed Trump the wrong way.
“Some in the White House were taken aback by Trump’s comments about his VP, ‘if only because they had not heard the president talk that way about Vance in the past year and a half,’” wrote The Daily Beast. The White House also described Zeteo’s reporting as “totally false” in a statement to The Daily Beast.
Yet Zeteo is not alone in reporting Iran-related tensions between Trump and Vance. Writing earlier in March for USA Today, conservative columnist Dace Potas pointed out that Vance praised Trump repeatedly during the 2024 election for his supposed unwillingness to get involved in new wars.
“Trump invoked the rhetoric of isolationism on the reelection campaign trail, promising no new wars to MAGA voters who rallied around that aspect of the ‘America First’ brand,” Potas wrote, explaining that the president’s invasions of Venezuela and Iran “run counter to what Trump promised MAGA heading into the 2024 election.” Vance clearly knows this, and is therefore stuck in the position of needing to stick by a president who craves loyalty while not losing the support of his own isolationist base.
“Vance is a more talented candidate than Harris, but I’m not sure that’s enough to overcome his involvement in an unpopular administration,” Potas wrote. “Nor is it all that clear how he reconciles his intellectual opposition to interventionist foreign policy with his involvement in an administration active in that arena.”
In addition to souring Trump against Vance, the vice president’s dissatisfaction with the Iran war could elevate the presidential ambitions of Secretary of State Marco Rubio, for whom Trump has previously expressed great fondness.
“The 2028 election is more than 2½ years away, but it is very much on Trump’s mind, as he casts about for a suitable heir to his MAGA empire,” The Wall Street Journal wrote earlier in March. “For months, the president has privately polled advisers, donors and friends about the political strengths and weaknesses of his vice president and secretary of state, pitting the two young, ambitious Republicans against each other—whether they like it or not.”
The Journal added, “Less than a day after the U.S. began bombing Iran, President Trump met with two dozen donors at his Mar-a-Lago club. As attendees dined on jumbo crab and rib-eye steaks, Trump asked the crowd: What do you think of JD Vance and Marco Rubio? The guests applauded louder for Rubio, according to people in the room.”