Republican vice president nominee JD Vance sparred with moderators on two networks this Sunday as his running mate increasingly shies away from facing questions posed by mainstream journalists and instead tours the comparatively friendlier podcast circuit.
On CNN, Vance battled with Jake Tapper of State of the Union over new assertions made by John Kelly, Trump’s former White House chief of staff. Kelly told news outlets this month that his former boss praised Adolf Hitler and commented that he wanted loyal generals like the Nazi generals who served the Third Reich.
Tapper questioned Vance about Kelly’s retelling of events, and Vance responded by accusing the former chief of staff of harboring an agenda — specifically, wanting to expand US military involvement overseas. Vance’s evidence for that claim was Kelly’s choice of publication for his remarks: The Atlantic, helmed by Jeffrey Goldberg, whose support of the Iraq War Vance saw as some sign of an overarching anti-Trump conspiracy.
“All of these people, including the former vice president [Mike Pence], all of these dozens of people who worked for Trump just have this horribly damaged worldview and they're all just going after Donald Trump because they want to send people into war?” Tapper asked.
Vance responded, “absolutely”.
“All of these people, Jake, they came into office thinking that they could control Donald Trump,” Vance said.
“Mike Pence thought he could control Donald Trump?” Tapper asked.
“Yes, he did,” Vance responded, to Tapper’s shocked laughter.
On NBC’s Meet the Press, he’d go on further to call Kelly, a distinguished retired general in the Marine Corps, a “disgruntled ex-employee.”
"This disagreement is not about personalities. This disagreement is because John Kelly didn't like the peace-through-strength policy of Donald Trump,” Vance claimed to Kristen Welker.
He was also on CBS’ Face the Nation. There, he faced questions about the growing gender gap in the 2024 race and denied that Trump or he had a “problem” with women.
The vice president has been Trump’s chief spin officer in front of the media as the former president himself has retreated from journalists, wary about questions about his increasingly bizarre campaign appearances and the conspiracy theories that dominate his rhetoric — as well as criticism of his threats against Democrats, the media and others he has called “enemies from within.”
Vance dealt with some of that criticism on Sunday, and deflected questions about Trump promising to put Liz Cheney, a Republican critic of the former president, before a military tribunal for her work on the investigation into the January 6 attack. He also lied about reporting of the aforementioned topics, falsely calling them “anonymously” sourced when nearly a dozen former Trump administration officials who told reporters about Trump’s rhetoric used their names on the record.
Cheney herself responded on CNN: “It does take a lot of contortions and a real desperation to try to convince people that they shouldn't listen to those who know Donald Trump best.”
One of Vance’s greatest strengths — his media training and willingness to push back against tough questioning — is what drew him to the Trump ticket, buoyed by support from Donald Trump Jr and Steve Bannon. The first-term Ohio senator has much experience in this matter, given the gauntlet of questions he himself has faced regarding his own past description of Trump as “America’s Hitler.”
Polls indicate that the race is tied nationally and close in as many as a half dozen battleground states as the campaign enters its final week.
