If there was any takeaway from Sen. JD Vance’s first interview since becoming the GOP nominee for Vice President of the United States, it’s that he said nothing especially interesting.
It’s exactly the sort of thing he’ll need to keep doing to remain in former President Donald Trump’s good graces.
On Monday night, the Ohio senator sat for an interview with Sean Hannity, where the Fox News host lobbed a variety of softball questions at Vance focused on his biography, his views on hot-button GOP issues, and his past criticisms of Trump.
“I was certainly skeptical of Donald Trump in 2016, but President Trump was a great president and he changed my mind,” Vance said, issuing the same explanation he’s delivered several times before. “I bought into the media’s lies and distortions.”
Over the course of roughly 30 minutes, Vance made it obvious why he was the ideal pick for someone like the former president, who famously values loyalty: He was sure to make clear, on several occasions, that he would be a loyal soldier for Trump, while doing little to cause controversy on his own.
Asked about his view of the vice presidency, Vance said that his job would be to “support the president in enacting the agenda.”
“Donald Trump can’t be everywhere,” Vance said. “So you’ve got to be a person he can trust, who he can rely on to actually advance the agenda. That’s the most important job.”
The most important function of the vice president, historically speaking, has been to serve as a back-up to the president in the event that they are unable to fulfill their duties.
But Vance was sure to say that he did not believe he would find himself in the presidency before 2028, declaring that Trumps “very healthy” and “going to serve four very good years.”
The Ohio senator also alluded to a central fact of the former president’s first term, something that ultimately led then-Vice President Mike Pence to resists Trump’s efforts to overturn the election on January 6: Not all Republicans were as loyal as Vance claims he will be.
“We’ve got to have Republicans who are helping him with the agenda,” he said. “As successful as he was politically, even after he was elected, certain Republicans didn’t want to actually enact an America First agenda. You’ve got to have leaders in Washington who are supporting him, not fighting against him.”
Over time, points of daylight between Vance and Trump are likely to become more clear, especially if the vice presidential nominee sits for less friendly interviews.
For instance, the Ohio senator has historically held views to the right of the former president on abortion, supporting federal restrictions on the practice while Trump states that he favors a state-by-state approach.
“My view is that Donald Trump is the leader of the Republican Party, and his views on abortion are going to be the views that dominate this party and drive this party forward,” said Vance on Monday.
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