Even when he is out of the spotlight.
| Even in Private, JD Vance Puts America First |
| A key detail from Atlantic Magazine’s story on the Trump administration accidentally leaking its plans to bomb Yemen is being overlooked. The content of JD Vance’s messages. In case you haven’t seen the report, administration officials accidentally included Atlantic’s editor-in-chief in a Signal chat dedicated to discussing this month’s airstrikes in Yemen. This gave the journalist unprecedented access to the government’s process that led to the attacks, pulling back the curtain on what America’s most powerful figures are really like behind closed doors. The chat included well-known power players like Pete Hegseth, Mike Waltz, Marco Rubio, Stephen Miller, Tulsi Gabbard, and yes, Vice President Vance. It reveals why Vance was such an excellent choice to be a heartbeat away from the presidency. “Team, I am out for the day doing an economic event in Michigan. But I think we are making a mistake,” he messaged in response to the group’s gung-ho sentiments about launching the strikes. “3 percent of US trade runs through the [Suez Canal]. 40 percent of European trade does. There is a real risk that the public doesn’t understand this or why it’s necessary. The strongest reason to do this is, as POTUS said, to send a message.” Vance also argued for delaying the attacks for a month and lamented the fact that, as usual, America was doing Europe’s dirty work for them. “I just hate bailing Europe out again,” he added a few minutes later. Let’s take a step back. Yes, the Vice President’s hesitations may seem insignificant because the strikes wound up happening anyway. But they’re not. Firstly, the dialogue shows that real, substantive policy debates are happening inside the administration. Its highest members are not afraid to spar with one another over issues that matter. The chat was not an echo chamber. Dissent is allowed. Even more importantly, the messages reinforce the fact that the Vice President and likely future commander-in-chief is genuinely wired to want to avoid American interventionism rather than recklessly drop bombs all around the world to flex his manhood like so many of his predecessors. That doesn’t mean the Yemen strikes were examples of such recklessness. It shows that Vance’s antennas were up to make sure they weren’t and that his anti-war messaging isn’t just a public front. Imagine what would have happened if previous Republican VPs currently held the post. Would Mike Pence have pushed back against the strikes? Please. Dick Cheney? He probably would have been furious they hadn’t happened already. But not Vance. America could have avoided its disasters in Iraq and Afghanistan if the Vice President’s kind of thinking was present inside the Bush administration. The same goes for Korea and Vietnam. As the world plunges deeper into its nuclear era, it’s a relief to know Vance is where he is. He may wind up saving us all. |
John Barleycorn 