JD Vance Reappears With Dirty Post-Election Duty And No One Can Ignore The Elephant In The Room
Although they ultimately ran a successful campaign together, president-elect Donald Trump isn't quite ready to give his left-field VP pick, JD Vance, a break from awkward situations. In late November 2024, a source close to Vance told The Hill that the incoming vice president was put in charge of introducing two eyebrow-raising cabinet nominees, Pete Hegseth and Matt Gaetz, to several important Republican senators. The worst thing about this dirty post-election duty isn't just that Vance's fellow senators don't view Hegseth and Gaetz favorably; some of them barely knew who Hegseth was before Trump gave him the defense secretary nod.
When this news broke, several observers couldn't help but notice the elephant in the room: Trump and Vance's complicated relationship hasn't become any simpler since their election victory, and Trump is still perfectly happy to have Vance handle some of the more unpleasant tasks associated with their rise to the executive branch. As one netizen pointed out on X, formerly Twitter, Vance's scheduled meetings with GOP senators will put him in the line of fire with those who don't support Trump's surprising picks: "Trump's throwing [Vance] under the bus." Another tweeted that Vance is essentially acting as a glorified babysitter: "He's been named chaperone of the misfit toys. Meanwhile at MAL, Trump and Elon [Musk] are crafting the new admin." This situation is undoubtedly unpleasant for Vance, but considering Trump's petty, dismissive behavior along the campaign trail, we're betting he's used to it by now.
Trump is still keeping his running mate at arm's length
The often bizarre dynamic between Donald Trump and JD Vance was one of the most memorable aspects of their 2024 campaign, and it appeared to boil down to one thing: maintaining distance. For example, it seemed as though Trump didn't want to be seen with Vance on the campaign, though he couched it as an intentional strategy. As Vance explained to NBC News, in August 2024, Trump pushed for a "divide and conquer" strategy that frequently saw the running mates speaking solo at rallies and other events.
Even now that the pair have won the election, Vance doesn't appear to be a regular fixture in Trump's posse. The VP has missed out on several major photo ops, including a widely shared photo (via X) of Trump enjoying a fast food meal with some of his nearest and dearest. The tweet is captioned, "POV: walking by the cool kids table," but Vance is likely hearing, "you can't sit with us." Is tasking Vance with introducing the cabinet nominees just an attempt to keep him comfortably out of Trump's way? Given the minimal effort Trump has made to actually collaborate with his VP so far, it's hard to see the situation in any other light.