JD Vance will say many embarrassing things during his next two-plus years as vice president, but smart Democratic campaign consultants should keep a recent video close at hand for use in 2028. During a March 16 press availability in the Oval Office, Vance insisted that, unlike the decades of “dumb presidents” before him, Donald Trump is a “smart” one.
The vice president was asked why he was supporting Trump’s war with Iran after having crowed in 2023 that he opposed foreign interventions. (Vance backed the president, he said then, because Trump would avoid “starting world-historic catastrophes in the Middle East” and was a man of “great restraint.”) With his trademark smirk, Vance pointed to the president’s great intellect as the reason why Americans should “trust President Trump to get the job done.”
