Whether he succeeds in getting a “peace” agreement with Iran or not, the vice president’s attempt at appeasement isn’t going to help him or President Trump.
After months of cooling his heels as U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio took the lead on a number of foreign-policy initiatives, including the war on Iran, U.S. Vice President JD Vance has now emerged from the shadows. Having opposed the war from the start, Vance’s stock rose within Trumpworld as the president grew frustrated with Iran’s refusal to surrender.
As a Memorandum of Understanding was agreed to between the United States and Iran, with Israel cut out of the process, it was Vance taking questions about the issue on the White House podium. He was then dispatched to Switzerland to negotiate a conclusion to the war that would presumably ensure freedom of navigation in the Strait of Hormuz, lower gas prices and somehow also accomplish the key initial goal of the war: ending the threat of an Iranian nuclear program.
Persuading Trump to sideline the highly competent Rubio—and being allowed to both shelve and insult America’s Israeli allies—was no small triumph for the vice president. Putting Vance at the helm of American foreign policy represented a victory for the neo-isolationist and anti-Israel wing of the administration and the Republican Party. It also further solidified, at least for the moment, the vice president’s status as the frontrunner to succeed Trump in 2028.
Be careful what you wish for …
Nevertheless, the veep should have been more careful about what he had wished for.
