Dem
47
GOP
53
All vice presidents who have dutifully served their traineeship and want a promotion have the built-in problem of having to defend the president they served with while also showing that they are capable of running the show on their own. This means disagreeing with the president at least occasionally. When Kamala Harris was asked what she would have done differently than Joe Biden, she couldn't think of anything. This tied her closely to an unpopular president. This may not have been the thing that sank her, but it certainly didn't help.
J.D. Vance is enough of a politician to understand that if he comes out against any of Donald Trump's policies, Trump's supporters will hold that against him. Yet he needs to put some daylight between himself and Trump to show that he is his own man. He may have found the issue he needs to pull this trick off: the Epstein files. Trump has said it is time to move on, so Vance is open to keeping the story alive. In particular, he wants Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor to testify before Congress. Focusing on Epstein is clever because: (1) Randy Andy is not an American citizen and does not live in the U.S., so if subpoenaed, he just won't show up and (2) this is about a personal failing of Trump (being "involved" with a notorious sexual predator) and not a policy issue that would upset MAGA voters. The publication of this photo from the Epstein dump last Friday does raise questions about what the former prince is doing with this woman (or if she's an underage girl). Did she faint? Is he about to give her mouth-to-mouth resuscitation?
This may be an excellent issue for Vance because many MAGA voters think Trump is hiding something and if Vance becomes the champion of getting it all out there, many MAGA voters will give him credit for doing what they want.
Since Vance is not mentioned in the Epstein files, another thing he can do is lash out against the "incestuous elites" mentioned in the files. He's safe here, but Trump is definitely not. So, this is a veiled suggestion that Trump belongs to the "incestuous elites" but one with plausible deniability if Vance is called on it. In an interview with the Daily Mail, Vance said: "I think that it just shows there's an incestuous nature to America's elites, and it's pretty gross. And, a lot of people, I think, it reflects very poorly on them. Bill Gates, Bill Clinton, a lot of others." This leaves enough room for people to think: "Hmm, was Trump one of the 'others'," while Vance leaves himself room to deny that he meant to include Trump in the "others" if asked about it.
Vance has roughly until the midterms to think of more ways to separate himself from Trump without separating himself from Trump's policies and Trump's voters. It gives him something to do for the next 10 months. (V)