Vice President JD Vance had, arguably, a worse week last week than Democrats, who are still reeling from Senate candidate Graham Platner’s campaign collapse in the wake of credible sexual assault accusations.
That is the opinion of Wall Street Editorial Board member Allysia Finley, who wrote on Monday that the veep just ended a week that he would likely want to forget.
In her column, she compared the Ohio Republican to “the classic children’s book ‘Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.'"
In a word, she said Vance’s attempt to solve the administration’s Iran war debacle was left in “tatters,” and adding insult to injury, Donald Trump switched his allegiance to Ukraine once again — at odds with comments made by Vance.
“The cease-fire he negotiated with the Iranian regime went up in smoke. His foreign policy of retreat and defeat took another blow after Russia banned diesel exports due to fuel shortages caused by Ukraine’s long-range strikes on its refineries. Then President Trump diverged from him by signaling increased support for Ukraine,” she wrote.
"To cap it off, hedge-fund magnate Ken Griffin, a major Republican donor, said he’d favor Secretary of State Marco Rubio in a matchup between the two for the 2028 GOP presidential nomination,” she continued before adding an “Oof.”
Unlike the Alexander of the children’s book, she wrote, “the vice president’s travails are a result of his own doing.”
“Iran’s leaders understood Mr. Vance’s aims better than the other way around. They knew Mr. Trump was losing patience with the war as midterm elections approached. They have squeezed the desperation to bring an end to the war for all it was worth. After the administration lifted its blockade and sanctions, the regime cranked up oil exports, which allowed it to rake in billions of dollars to finance its terrorism,” she explained before calling out the vice president as “naive,” which could explain why a powerful donor like Griffin threw him overboard.
“Mr. Vance might dismiss Mr. Griffin as a ‘business elite’ who ‘worships’ the market, as he does other traditional Republicans. But Mr. Griffin represents a sizable share of Republicans whom the vice president alienates at his own political risk,” she warned.