Posted on 03/01/2025 8:01:13 AM PST by Twotone
Vice President JD Vance is distinguishing himself as the most active vice president since former Vice President Dick Cheney in the early days of the second Trump presidency, taking charge on matters ranging from finding a deal to save TikTok to castigating European elites and leveraging Senate relationships to help advance key cabinet nominees.
In addition to taking on policy and working behind-the-scenes on Capitol Hill, Vance is aggressively pushing the Trump administration’s interests across the board and defending the Trump agenda as a chief spokesman of the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement. Vance is showing himself to be a visible, committed and versatile enforcer of the Trump agenda with just a few weeks on the job under his belt.
“Vance carries credibility with so many of these senators, and at a minimum, can be a radar for how they’re viewing things and inform the White House in terms of its own legislative strategy. So yeah, he definitely plays multiple parts for Trump,” Scott Jennings, an on-air conservative pundit for CNN, told the Daily Caller News Foundation. “Obviously, communications is public-facing, and there’s also behind-the-scenes legislative strategy. It was a great pick for Trump. And Trump had an embarrassment of riches, I think, when it came to picking this number two slot, but in Vance, they’ve got somebody who can do multiple things and do them well, and has a lot of credibility in numerous venues.”
On the policy front, the vice president is keeping himself busy. For example, Trump tasked Vance to take point on finding a deal to save TikTok in the U.S. and make use of his connections to Silicon Valley and the tech industry to help that process along, sources close to the vice president told the DNCF.
Former President Joe Biden signed the TikTok divest-or-ban bill into law in April 2024 with the help of congressional Republicans who supported the bill out of concern that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) manipulates the platform to serve its own interests and undermine those of the U.S.
Trump attempted to implement a similar policy in his first term, but he later came out against the law on the 2024 campaign trail and signaled he supports finding a way to keep the app accessible in the U.S. under the right conditions.
Given that many China-hawk Republicans in Congress supported banning Chinese-owned TikTok from the U.S. market, Vance could be navigating a somewhat fraught environment as he works to find a satisfactory deal. Trump signed a day-one executive order that paused enforcement of the TikTok law for a 75-day period for a deal to be reached, so Vance will have until early April to settle the issue.
If Vance’s experience helping Trump cabinet picks clear the Senate is any indication, he could leverage his existing relationships on Capitol Hill — forged over the period of two years before Vance hopped aboard the Trump campaign in July 2024 — to find an acceptable resolution to TikTok’s complicated situation.
‘The Most Active Vice President Since Dick Cheney’
Vance played a leading role in assuaging the concerns that holdout Republican Sens. Todd Young of Indiana and Bill Cassidy of Louisiana had about signing off on the since-confirmed Human Health and Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, the Daily Caller reported on Friday. Vance was able to successfully whip the key votes for two of Trump’s most controversial cabinet picks from the two senators in part because the three men established and maintained good relations through Vance’s time in the Senate.
Christopher Bedford, senior politics editor and Washington correspondent for Blaze Media, told the DCNF he does not think Gabbard or Kennedy Jr. would have cleared the Senate confirmation process without Vance’s substantial behind-the-scenes efforts. Bedford is the former editor-in-chief of the DCNF and currently sits on its board of directors.
“From everyone I’ve spoken to who spends time with them, they have a legitimate warmth between them, a friendship which gives some cover to be more outspoken,” Bedford said of Vance and the vice president’s relationship with Trump. “He’s been an ideological enforcer, the ‘stick’ part of negotiations with the Senate, but he’s also been the ‘carrot’ part, where he’s at White House meetings past midnight with senators working to get them over the line on different nominations. I strongly suspect that if it was not for JD Vance, you would not have seen Tulsi Gabbard, RFK Jr. or Pete Hegseth confirmed.”
Biden did not make policy news often during his time as vice president, with rare exceptions like coming out in favor of legalizing gay marriage before his boss, Bedford explained, and former Vice President Kamala Harris was not widely considered to be an effective vice president for much of her tenure before she took Biden’s spot atop the presidential ticket in 2024. Compared to the two Democrats and former Vice President Mike Pence, Vance “is the most active vice president since Dick Cheney,” Bedford wrote in a Monday newsletter.
Cheney may not see today’s key policy issues the same way as Vance, but he was indeed a highly active vice president. Cheney is considered — including by his critics — to be one of the most powerful and engaged vice presidents in American history; he influenced policy related to the war on terror, worked to corral his former colleagues on Capitol Hill and played a major role in helping get Bush administration personnel in place, among other important undertakings.
Senators who have seen Vance at work in his new role also describe the vice president as an asset to Trump as he takes on the status quo in D.C.
Republican Wyoming Sen. John Barrasso highlighted Vance’s “strong, personal relationships across the Senate Conference” that make him “a key member of our team” in a statement to the DCNF. In a statement of his own, Republican Indiana Sen. Jim Banks described Vance as “a big strategic asset” to Trump who “believes in the president’s agenda, can articulate it clearly and concisely” and knows how to navigate Capitol Hill. ‘He Suffers No Fools’
Vance has been a fixture on legacy media Sunday news shows since being nominated to be Trump’s vice president in July 2024, consistently sparring with liberal hosts asking aggressive questions about the impacts and causes of Trump administration policy while often rejecting the premises underlying the hosts’ inquiries.
These exchanges have produced many viral moments, including his famous “I don’t really care, Margaret” retort in a discussion with CBS News’ Margaret Brennan about whether an Afghan migrant arrested while planning a terror attack in Oklahoma had been “properly vetted.”
Saw the encounter on FOX yesterday live. Only wish they had warned us so I could have my popcorn ready!! JD Vance was fantastic. He is going to be #48 if he keeps this up.
Damn right. He’s got my vote for 2028.
Can you imagine the Cackler in that situation?
JD Vance is not the VP, he is the COO of the country and any good CEO which is really what President trump is needs a great COO as his #1. With Mr. Vance the office of VP as placeholder and irrelevant is transforming before our very eyes to an active member of the executive team. This is wonderful.
Vance is Making The Vice Presidency Great Again.
I just love the fact that Trump gives JD the room to flex, he is the one to carry the MAGA torch
The problem with not having Harris around is the end of Jimmy Failla’s funny segment “wine or pills” were he played a Harris clip and the panel had to determine if she was drunk, stoned or both.
His predecessor was shorter than the sign that said “Your IQ needs to be this high to enter the VP Office”.
When the first hundred days are over it will be interesting to see what he’ll do as a followup. I see him expanding the base of the party with our young folk. Look at Charlie Kirk at the universities. JD could do the same in a good cop versus bad cop (Trump)persuasion. When Trump’s gone there will be less need for fighting on the lefts’ level.
Then there are the wannabe POTUS folk among the democrats. He can identify the serious ones and then challenge each to an individual debate. For them to get the nomination they’ll have to go through the enemy at the gate. Clear the table.
Vance isn’t the typical invisible VP, he’s teamed with Trump and a powerful actor in his own right. Great to see. It’s great that they shut down the strong-arm tactic by the puppet Zelensky. Z’s diplomatic assistant was in tears over Z’s stupidity.
Catchy slogan. But despite some distinguished Americans that have held the vice-presidency, I’m not sure that the office was ever ‘great’. What was that line about the office being “a warm bucket of spit?” (or some other bodily fluid)
J D Vance is doing his job as VP which is to insulate the POTUS.
Vance is like any other high value executive that Trump would hire in the private sector. Trump expects him to be competent, high energy, and to return value. Trump is not going to waste such an important resource.
President Trump keeps JD close and in the loop and is training him to take over and be ready just in case
Our president is ever the statesman and concerned for our country
Usually VP’s only get to attend heads of state funerals.
I almost can’t wait for the next election. I suppose we’ll be sick of winning by then
He needs to learn all he can at the knee of ‘The Master’ in four short years. We’re going to need him in 2028!
AND 2032
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