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The ever-shrinking J.D. Vance
After a series of setbacks, the US Vice-President is no longer US President Donald Trump’s obvious successor.
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Defending US President Donald Trump policies that often turn 180 degrees overnight requires pure acrobatics. US Vice-President J.D. Vance is flailing, says the writer.
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Edward Luce
Pity Mr J.D. Vance. Having advised against US President Donald Trump’s Iran war, he was sent to Islamabad to fix it. En route to that doomed cause, the US Vice-President stopped off in Hungary to endorse another – Prime Minister Viktor Orban’s re-election campaign. The Iran talks failed and Mr Orban lost in a landslide. By the end of that tour from hell, Mr Vance’s approval rating was the lowest ever for a US vice-president at this point in a term.
The job was not designed to be fun. With the exception of the late Mr Dick Cheney, who co-governed in then US president George W. Bush’s first term, it was usually powerless. Being Mr Trump’s No. 2 brings unique discomfort.
