—KEY STORY: CNN: Vance will be Trump’s point person on Capitol Hill. “Tasked….to help oversee his policy priorities and ensure lawmakers don’t stand in the way of enacting his agenda.
Alayna Treene and Steve Contorno also note, in their report.
Multiple people close to Trump and Vance maintained it is too early for the transition team to begin having discussions about what his priorities will be, but insisted Vance will take his cues directly from Trump.
However, Vance has publicly and privately acknowledged the issues he cares most about — particularly the ones he clamored to be a leading voice on during his short time in the Senate.
“In JD’s view, his role of VP is to take on any issue that President Trump would like him to take on,” the person close to Vance told CNN. “With that said, it’s no secret that JD strongly cares about issues immigration, tech, and the economy.”
— Vance went to Capitol Hill to try to to persuade senators to confirm Matt Gaetz and other cabinet picks. Gaetz withdrew his name from nomination later in the week.
— Republican lawmakers may have implicitly criticized Vance for not showing up to vote to block some of Biden’s judicial nominees. Grassroots Republicans (in particular, Grace Chong from Steve Bannon’s war room) were less subtle.
In response: Vance tweeted that he and Trump were interviewing for a new FBI director. He’s since deleted the post, but not before calling Chong a “mouth breathing imbecile.”
My sense: However skillful a communicator in debates and interviews, Vance has thus far, shown a lack of discipline and politic on X. Not that Trump does. But Vance isn’t Trump, and needs to get better at thinking twice before he tweets.
“Do no harm” for Veep picks doesn’t end at the conclusion of an election. It extends to an administration.
Vance will need more than his current roster of support from the tech bros and manosphere in 2028. Or will he?
There’s a pervasive sense that the GOP, now a majority and fronted by some big egos, has to start showing some signs of fracture. The MAGA world unity has been otherworldly the past year and now that the election is done, it’s hard to see it continuing to this extent. Whether and how it does will have so much to say about 2028.
–Finally, an Emerson Poll has a 2028 GOP race at 1) Vance 30% 2) DeSantis 5% 3) Vivek 3% 4) Haley and Kennedy 2%.
