“Down he goes! JD Vance getting dragged down along with the president of the United States.”
That line from The Daily Beast quoted Harry Enten, CNN’s chief data analyst, on the vice president’s popularity ratings falling a steep 21 points since January last year. His fall mirrors that of his boss President Trump, whose MAGA supporters appear to be turning away in the wake of his Iran adventure and the resultant cost of living crisis.
“Trump is imploding, and he’s probably going to take JD down with him unless there’s a course correction,” The Daily Beast quoted a source close to Trump. The latter himself has been passing sarcastic remarks about his vice-president, questioning his stand which is against the war.
But Vance himself while opposing the war has also veered towards Trump, giving the impression he was fully behind him, which as vice-president he has to be.
Vance is relatively inexperienced both as a first time senator and in his current job and as The Guardian noted, his remarks ahead of the Islamabad talks indicated not only inexperience, it may have lent greater strength to the Iranian stand.
Vance had said, “if we could get to a situation where the Iranians were willing to accept our terms”, that provoked Javad Zarif, former Iranian nuclear negotiator, to describe it as “US take it or leave it arrogance.” As Zarif underscored: “The US must learn: you cannot dictate terms to Iran. It’s not too late to learn. Yet.”
Is it too late for Vance, is the unspoken question. Trump sent him to campaign for Hungary’s Viktor Orban, only to see him lose. Then Trump took aim at the Pope and the resultant fallout has left Vance, with his strong Christian stand, looking distinctly diminished.
The Daily Beast noted how Vance’s critics especially Democrats, have seized on his missteps to publicly mock and ridicule him. California Governor Gavin Newsom has described him as ineffective and questioned his fitness for high office.
But these are still the early days of the Trump administration, the mid-term polls are distant on the horizon and one can expect the president and his reluctant vice-president to continue carrying the flag and seek to make America great again.
