Trump's Slam On Tim Walz Lets His True Feelings About JD Vance Slip

With Election Day 2024 just around the corner, Donald Trump couldn't help but take a jab at opponent Kamala Harris' VP Pick, Tim Walz. In a rally speech (via X, formerly Twitter), the former president segues from calling for cognitive tests for candidates to outright insults: "How about that guy [Harris] picked for vice president? What a loser." This comment is typical petty behavior from Trump, but what he said next let his true feelings for running mate JD Vance slip: "She picked somebody so bad. There's a certain rule. Make them really bad and they'll never take you out." Netizens couldn't help but notice how this statement reflects on Vance, with one user commenting on the original tweet: "And under the bus he goes." 

From the very beginning of their shared time on the Republican presidential ticket, Trump and Vance have had a complicated relationship. Historically, the two men only shared a party affiliation in name, and Vance was quick to denounce Trump's policies at seemingly every opportunity. Their curious alliance carried them through the 2024 campaign season, but Trump's latest not-so-subtle snub is just one of many examples of the pair's mutual dislike seeping through. Try as they might to present a unified front, the cracks in the Trump-Vance veneer have been visible all along. 

Donald Trump and JD Vance may have put their differences aside just far enough to join forces for the election, but these two politicians still aren't completely on the same page. Vance even accidentally admitted that Trump doesn't want to be seen with him in an August 2024 interview, telling NBC: "[Trump said], basically: 'I trust you. We should both be in different places, unless it's a really big event. ... Divide and conquer.'"

However, keeping your running mate at arm's length isn't just a move from Trump's playbook; even though he has reversed course on his harshest criticisms of the former president, Vance has still subtly diverged from Trump on some occasions. For example, the 2024 vice-presidential debate revealed that, although he often portrays himself as being in lockstep with Trump, Vance is still disconnected enough from the controversial politician's world view to refuse to parrot one major lie: that the 2020 election was rigged. 

When opponent Tim Walz asked if Trump lost the election, Vance only said (via NBC): "Tim, I'm focused on the future." Walz called this response "a damning non-answer," but it's also a sign of something greater; just as Trump shamelessly suggested that Vance was a bad running mate, Vance's dance around the 2020 election question shows that "united we stand" doesn't truly apply to this unlikely duo.