President Donald Trump joked that Vice President JD Vance would shoulder the blame if his Iran peace deal doesn't work out, but Republicans are already projecting their dissatisfaction with the agreement onto him.
The 80-year-old president returned to Washington, D.C., after meeting with world leaders in France and signing the memorandum of understanding at the Palace of Versailles, and Politico's Playbook reported that oil industry insiders and GOP lawmakers aren't happy with the terms.
"Plenty of Republican lawmakers are also uncomfortable, in private at least," Playbook reported. "The economic support being offered to the regime is very unpopular, and few will have enjoyed watching Trump defend Iran’s right to ballistic missiles on live TV. (Marco Rubio said depleting missile stocks was a core aim of the war, remember.)"
"One Hill Republican told POLITICO’s Inside Congress the deal represents 'total surrender,”' the report added. "But in public, most Republicans are biting their tongues, ultimately relieved the war is ending with more than four months before the midterms."
Trump jokingly told reporters that he was setting up his 41-year-old vice president as the scapegoat, just in case the deal goes sideways.
“If it works out, I’m going to take the credit. If it doesn’t work out, I’m blaming JD,” Trump said Wednesday at a press conference at the G7 summit near Geneva. “You better be careful, JD. He’s going to turn his plane around and get the hell out of here.”
That already seems to be happening behind the scenes, according to Playbook.
"Republicans reluctant to criticize Trump directly are seeking to pin the blame on VP JD Vance instead," the outlet reported. "But here’s the thing: Vance world is relaxed at the prospect of this being framed as the 'Vance Peace Deal,' Dasha [Burns] reports on today’s Playbook Podcast, given the broad unpopularity of the war."
White House officials seemed to agree that cutting a deal with Iran was the best political move available, and Vance's willingness to be the frontman for that reflects that view.
"Without question, the biggest potential political liability Vance had was the unpopularity of the war in Iran,” said one person close to the White House. “So it’s fascinating to watch his biggest enemies in the GOP unwittingly inoculate him from that liability by branding him as responsible for the peace deal.”
"He now gets to do a media tour defending the president — AKA the kingmaker of our party — from their idiotic criticism of the deal,” the person added. “While even his critics would acknowledge that the vice president is a smart guy, sometimes what really matters in politics is how stupid your enemies are.”