Longtime Wall Street Journal columnist Kimberly Strassel, an avid and unapologetic supporter of Donald Trump, battered Vice President JD Vance, saying the more he tries to make himself front-page news, the worse he looks.
"There is definitely such a thing as bad publicity." Strassel wrote late Thursday, noting that Vance's high-profile failures have created a pattern of self-inflicted personal political damage.
Vance's recent stumbles are mounting at an alarming rate, she noted. The Ohio Republican delivered a high-profile speech for Viktor Orbán's re-election in Budapest — Orbán lost in a landslide. He played a central role in Iran negotiations — the talks collapsed. He spoke at Turning Point USA in Georgia — the headline was that Vance had little response to antiwar heckling.
The core problem, Strassel suggested, is Vance's compulsive need for attention, explaining, "Mr. Vance's approach is all show and all tell. He's everywhere, all the time—squeezing out every opportunity to let America know how central he is to the Trump operation and the 'new' Republican coalition."
Strassel documented Vance's frenetic schedule: "He's at the March for Life, calling for a baby renaissance. He's at the Munich Security Conference, berating European allies. He's in the Oval Office, goading the Ukrainian president into an argument. He's trekking Greenland, threatening to make it America's. He's in Rome, meeting not one but two popes. He's all over government, rooting out fraud."
"It isn't working," she bluntly advised.
The Journal columnist suggested Vance use former VP Mike Pence as a model ("Put your head down") and pointed to Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the way he conducts himself: work quietly, achieve results, let accomplishments speak for themselves –– "The payoff has been dramatic."
"A year ago, 3% of CPAC attendees rated Mr. Rubio their top choice. This time he got 35%," she recalled before adding, "The more Mr. Vance thrusts himself into the fray, hopping up and down for attention, the more Mr. Rubio looks presidential."