"You're fired" were not only words that Donald Trump famously used when he was hosting the hit reality show "The Apprentice" during the 2000s — they are also words he used a lot during his first administration.
Trump clashed with a long list of appointees the first time he was president, including two national security directors (HR McMaster and John Bolton), a U.S. attorney general (Jeff Sessions), a secretary of state (Rex Tillerson), an FBI director (James Comey) and a White House chief of staff (Gen. John F. Kelly) — all of whom were either fired or resigned in frustration. Near the end of his first administration, Trump even clashed with two officials who had often described as loyalists: then-Vice President Mike Pence and then-U.S. Attorney General Bill Barr.
During his second administration, Trump has made a point of surrounding himself with staunch, unquestioning loyalists — including Vice President JD Vance, a former Trump critic turned passionate devotee. But Sarah Baxter, in an op-ed published by i Paper in the UK on April 18, argues that Vance, like Pence before him, is quite expendable.
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"The U.S. public is not seeing a lot of Vance," Baxter observes. "This may seem strange to British readers, as he has just given an interview to the British publication UnHerd about the 'real cultural affinity' between America and the UK. But while he attends White House meetings with dignitaries and pops up from time to time on Fox News, Trump is not obliging him with much of a domestic profile. Vance is not rich enough or fun enough to be part of Trump's posse, but he is clever enough to pose a threat."
Loyalty, Baxter argues, is a one-way street with Trump.
"Being vice president can be perilous, as Trump's first VP Mike Pence found out," Baxter writes. "During the January 6 Capitol riot, Pence put his oath to the U.S. Constitution over loyalty to his boss and was thrown to the wolves. The ambitious Vance is taking the opposite course: shamelessly shilling for his boss. But he is equally disposable. Trump, who doesn't 'do' abroad unless he has to, has been sending Vance here, there and everywhere, far from Washington. Fancying a third term for himself, the 47th President disapproves of the way some right-wing influencers have taken to calling his young sidekick '48.'"
Republican New Hampshire Gov. Chris Sununu is bullish on Vance, believing he has a good shot at becoming the United States' first post-Trump Republican president. But according to Baxter, "loyal soldier" Vance has to tread carefully in order to avoid offending Trump.
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"The president loves to divide and conquer," Baxter says. "If Vance wants to succeed him, there is going to be a cage fight."
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Sarah Baxter's full op-ed for i Paper is available at this link (subscription required).