In private, JD Vance probably frets over whether it was a smart move to hitch his wagon to Donald Trump. Sure, he’s just a heart attack away from the presidency, but his political reputation is tied to Trump and he’s now duty-bound to defend him no matter what.
We also know how he really feels. In 2016, Vance dubbed Trump as potentially “America’s Hitler”. Later that year, he called Trump “cultural heroin” and said “I find him reprehensible”. He’s also dismissed Trump as “a moral disaster”, an “idiot”, and a “total fraud”.
But when he sucked up his pride and bent the knee to Trump for the sake of his career, even he probably didn’t expect to have to humiliatingly handwave away convincing evidence that his new boss was up to his eyeballs in Jeffrey Epstein’s sick crimes. But hey, here we are:
The Democrats don't care about Epstein. They don’t even care about his victims. That's why they were silent about it for years. The only thing they care about is concocting another fake scandal like Russiagate to smear President Trump with lies.
— JD Vance (@JDVance) September 8, 2025
No one is falling for this BS. https://t.co/u3pHgBtQDf
Not working out like you planned, huh?
There may be a powerfully dramatic and satisfying irony to all this. In lashing himself to the good ship Trump, Vance has forever tied his reputation to Trump’s. Who knows what else will come out about Trump and Epstein’s links, but so long as he’s vice president, Vance will have to defend his boss no matter how damaging the revelations are.
Trump won’t be around forever, and the 41-year-old Vance likely has visions of a long and glittering political career stretching far into the future, almost certainly including a presidential run of his own. But right now, he’s busy stacking up ammunition for any potential opponent, who can simply point to Vance’s current statements and describe him as a man willing to dismiss and cover up obvious evidence of sexual abuse.
There may come a time when Vance realizes to his horror that if he’d just toughed out a few miserable years criticizing or staying neutral on Trump from within the Republican Party, he’d be a much better presidential candidate.
But, for now, Trump is dragging Vance down into the filth with him. Pass the popcorn, because we’re going to love watching him squirm.
