President JD Vance? More slogging through a sewer of odious politics

The Washington Post ^ | November 6, 2026 | George Will

[TBP]

With an urgency commensurate with the stakes, temperate Americans of all political persuasions, but especially conservatives, should act together to implement this proposition: JD Vance’s ambitions must be stymied.

He says Tucker Carlson (Putin fanboy, Hitler apologist, Churchill disparager, megaphone for Holocaust denial) is his friend, therefore Carlson belongs in the conservative movement. Vance said he will not throw Carlson “under the bus,” because a Vance virtue is acknowledgment of his debts: Carlson ardently lobbied Donald Trump to make Vance his running mate.

A president’s character counts because the nation cannot count on the sufficiency of the Constitution’s Madisonian ingenuity. The separation of powers, congressional primacy (if Congress will assert it) and judicial review will not constrain a president who can act more quickly and nimbly than those who would restrain him, and who lacks a constitutional conscience.

If Vance is the Republicans’ 2028 presidential nominee, for 12 years the party will have been led by people uninterested in, and inimical to, the policies and manners of conservatism, intelligently understood. If you think America would be fine without a truly conservative party, look around. We are there.

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TOPICS: Culture/Society; Editorial; News/Current Events; Politics/Elections; US: District of Columbia
KEYWORDS: 2028wipeout; constiuttion; districtofcolumbia; georgefwill; president; vance; washingtoncompost; washingtonpost

[TBP]

I agree with just about everything Will says in this column. And he actually understates the Tucker Carlson problem. It's not just Carlson; it's the "neoliberal" pseudo-right of which Carlson is a part. They believe in using government to impose a cultural restoration without constitutional restraints. While I agree with most of their cultural aims, their methodology is dangerous. I am with Levin, Lindsay, Shapro, and Erickson on this.

The so-called New Right (I call them the pseudo-right) has the same disdain for constitutional restrains as the left has and Vance is in their orbit.

And while Vance is unwilling to disavow Cucker Qatarlson because you don't throw friends under the bus, he broke off his friendship with Rod Dreher after Dreher warned him about the Groypers and urged him to disavow them.

Then there's Palantir, the huge private surveillance company that Vance is close to.

The conservative campaign strategist Morton Blackwell always taught that "personnel is policy." The people you fill your office or administration with are the ones who will implement the policies. Given Vance's associations with Carlson, Thiel, and the like, the people who would likely staff a prospective Vance administration are most likely dangerous identiatarian authoritarians who should be kept far away from the levers of power.

Trump is just an unmoored populist with a big ego who thinks everything and anything is negotiable. A listless vessel, to use Ron DeSantis's term. (And he brings out the worst in his enemies.) Vance is a dangerous demagogue with ties to bad and dangerous people and ideas.

I posted a couple of months ago that I cannot vote for him if he's the nominee -- which, thankfully, is less likely after Tuesday's results.

[Brian Griffin]

The only way Vance will become President is if Trump resigns or dies.

For many years to come, all newly elected presidents will be Democrats.

[Rummyfan]

One, I was not aware Will was still alive. Two, JD will not be the nominee in 2028.

[DIRTYSECRET]

Sounds like a Captain Obvious column for those of us in the know.

[ryderann]

This is more like slogging through a sewer of leftist media.

[Georgia Girl 2]

As much as it pains me to agree with the WaPo JD Vance is not presidential material.

[dfwgator]

He’s no go for me.

[Salman]

Would President JD Vance go Pinochet on the Democrats?

Because that's what we need.

[Iron Munro]

[Mr. K]

well, if WASHINGTON POST says so...

[Lurker]

“ I agree with just about everything Will says in this column”

Another beta cuck faux Republican chimes in right on cue.

And I ain’t talking about Will.

L

[Georgia Girl 2]

👍

[cgbg]

This should be fun—a contest to fight for the future of the Republican Party.

On one side we have old geezers like George Will who want to make the worlds safe for...the military industrial complex, Israel, wealthy plutocrats...

On the other side we have energetic young men banning together to fight for their future in their country serving their interests.

I wonder who will win.

[RetiredArmy]

Sorry if this offends the Vance folks here, but I am a Marco lean right now. I agree with JD on the Iran war crap, however I hate Tuckless Karlson.

[Jeff Chandler]

I remember George Will.

[Alberta's Child]

Marco Rubio’s decision to sign onto the 2013 Senate amnesty bill — with such duplicitous @ssholes as John McCain, Lindsey Graham, and Jeff Flake, mind you — is going to be an anchor around his neck forever.

And let’s keep in mind that the same Senate Democrats who went out of their way to oppose Trump’s cabinet nominees after the 2024 election somehow managed to conjure up a 99-0 confirmation vote for Marco Rubio.

I would write in Ronald McDonald in 2028 before I cast a vote for a Beltway establishment clown like Rubio.

[Thapsus_epiphany]

So, the pip squeak turncoat finally found his voice again, did he?

Dear George was never a conservative, always using his big vocabulary to make conservatives look and sound stupid, and forever taking the side of his liberal friends in the media.

When the going got rough George turned on conservatives, always finding fault instead trying to help.

What George thinks and / or says matters very little, and it’s WAY too early to be making predictions about 2028, personal preferences aside.

[SPDSHDW]

The Democrats will not fix the cost of living situation, or do anything they were supposedly elected to fix. It’s going to be way worse in 2 years then now.

Means 2028 is in play for the Presidency whereas an R victory in the mid terms would not have been the case.

I prefer Vance over the others in the shallow Bench, but realistically Rubio is probably the nominee and most likely to win.

[Ronald77]

I very much that we will ever again see a Republican president and likely never see another Republican Congress.
How quickly we surrender our freedoms for lies.

[ProgressingAmerica]

“On the other side we have energetic young men banning together to fight for their future in their country serving their interests.”

Ok, look. There are enough Gen Z mouthpieces on You Tube spouting what is desired here. You do not have to cloak your true meaning behind cute couched words.

On the other side we have energetic young men banning together to fight for their future in their country serving welfare checks.

Because that’s what the new right wants. Right wing socialism, lethargy, and free stuff. You say “their interests” We know what that is. Right wing welfare queens.

The mask is off. “Their interests” It’s wealth redistribution.

It’s wealth redistribution. Gibsmedats. That is what they want.