U.S. Vice President JD Vance attends a dinner for Japanese Prime Minister Sanae Takaichi at the White House in Washington, D.C., U.S., March 19, 2026. REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque
Political analysts were floored on Sunday after Vice President JD Vance seemed to struggle selling President Donald Trump's war in Iran during a recent public appearance.
Tommy Vietor and Ben Rhodes, co-hosts of "Pod Save the World," said during a new episode that Vance's recent appearance showed he is trying to "distance himself" from Trump's war, but not enough to anger the president. This stance seems to comport with Vance's rhetoric on the campaign trail, where he made it clear that he would rather take a restrained approach to foreign policy, including backing away from supporting Ukraine in its fight against Russian aggression.
But Vance's hesitancy to criticize Trump publicly suggests that the war in Iran has put the Vice President in a bit of a pinch.
"He's trying so hard to signal that he wasn't all in on this war. But also, as people have briefed, he told Trump to go big, and he owns everything they're doing," Vietor said. "It's not working, buddy."
Rhodes, a former national security advisor in the Obama White House, added that Vance's shifting stance on the war in Iran shows he's "full of s---."
"He owns this, and he's never going to be able to come out and fully-throated say he was wrong because he depends on Donald Trump for his political survival," Rhodes said. "So, you're watching JD Vance's diminution as a political figure in real time because his identity doesn't work without opposition to forever wars. It's central to him in a way ... And so, the air of the JD Vance balloon is rapidly running out."