According to Olivia Rinaldi and Caitlin Huey-Burns’ reporting, Vice President JD Vance has proven something of a Senate Whisperer in persuading a handful of reluctant Republicans to cast votes in favor of Donald Trump’s most controversial nominees for his cabinet.
The CBS reporters highlight Vance’s role in helping swing Republican Senators Bill Cassidy, Todd Young, and Susan Collins in favorable directions for some of the president’s nominees.
Of the three senators mentioned, Collins’ comments below are the most interesting, considering she’s from a blue state and the Republican with the most political and ideological leeway to defect.
Collins told CBS:
“I think all of us who have served with JD have had conversations with him,” she said. “I’ve talked to him, for example, about the difference between our relationships with Canada, which is very important in my state, versus our relationship with Mexico and China.”
Vance only served two years in the Senate and, consequently, didn’t have time to build the deep relationships that form among long-serving senators.
Nevertheless, on the face of it, his personal touch seems to be resonating.
However, it’s crucial to include the disclaimer “on the face of it” because — the senators’ comments aside — it’s hard to figure out how much of Vance’s success has to do with the reported personal touch, or instead Donald Trump’s immense influence and the genuinely risky decision to oppose his nominees.
Tell JD “no”, and you’re telling Trump “no”. And maybe telling your prospects in an upcoming GOP primary “no”, as well.
When Iowa Sen. Joni Ernst seemed to be leaning against supporting Trump’s Defense Secretary nominee, Pete Hegseth, Trump’s allies within Iowa and, nationwide, applied enormous pressure to sway her.
Bob Vander Plaats, a legendary conservative activist in the Iowa GOP, told KCCI in Iowa, “The American people spoke,” and equally influential Iowa conservative talk show host, Steve Deace, said on his radio show that he’d consider running against Ernst in a primary, if she didn’t back Hegseth.
Those are two powerful voices in the insular circle of Iowa Republican politics, and while Ernst probably wouldn’t have a problem winning a general election, a primary threat would be legitimate.
Soon after express skepticism, Ernst met with Hegseth and ultimately proved a key vote in favor of him, advancing him to a full floor vote.
But it wasn’t just Ernst who faced MAGA wrath for potentially opposing one of the president’s nominees.
Indiana Sen. Todd Young (R) also faced considerable pressure from Elon Musk and his massive following when he voiced doubts about Tulsi Gabbard.
After the pressure campaign, Young ultimately voted to advance Gabbard to a full Senate vote after a phone call with Musk.
Thus, it’s difficult to tease out how much of came from JD Vance’s powers of persuasion vs. a fear of retribution in a party dominated by Trump.
So the question is pending: Is he a true Senate Whisperer or just an extension of Donald Trump’s influence. Of course, it could be a bit of both.
2028 TAKEAWAY:
Vance is already in great shape with the MAGA movement. He’s also famously cozy with tech titans.
His one area of weakness comes among establishment Republicans, who are wary of his protectionist and isolationist instincts.
Of course, “establishment Republicans” hold less influence in the party than ever — both as primary voters and elected officials. And their numbers are diminishing to the point of becoming an endangered species in elected politics. Mitt Romney and Rob Portman retired, and Mitch McConnell is on his way out.
But however cozy Wall Street has become with Trump, most think it’s a marriage of convenience and that old guard Republicans would prefer someone more reflective of Ronald Reagan’s ideology than Vance.
Nevertheless, if Vance is able to prove himself palatable to establishment Republicans, he’ll have managed to inch closer to uniting the key factions of the party ahead of a ’28 bid — MAGA populists, tech titans, and the establishment.
That would be tough to beat.
But as always, his prospects remain more dependent on the success of Trump’s first term than anything else.
[Photo: Public Domain/JD Vance vice-presidential photo]
