President Donald Trump has already established himself as a statesman of historical significance. That tends to happen when a brave man boldly defends his country while reshaping the world in the process.
Even Trump, however, would have to admit that Vice President J.D. Vance represents something the 78-year-old president never could. In short, when Vance disappears from the news cycle for days or weeks at a time, we might easily forget that the 40-year-old vice president represents not only the potential future of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” movement, but also — and crucially — the rhetorical tip of the Trump-ian spear.
During a Wednesday Cabinet meeting, Vance put his rhetorical gifts on display while scolding “the media assembled here.”
As with most of Vance’s performances, this one requires viewing from start to finish.
The vice president lightheartedly acknowledged himself as the Cabinet’s youngest member. He did that in order to frame his ensuing discussion of the terrible destruction wrought by the establishment over four decades.
“We went from the world’s manufacturing superpower to one in which we depend on the People’s Republic of China to make the things that we need,” Vance said. “We went from the proudest military in the world to one in which we failed to meet our recruiting goals. And we went from one in which bipartisan border policy was the consensus of both Democrats and Republicans to one in which we allowed 20 million people to run roughshod illegally over the countryside.”
Talk about a brilliant introduction to the problems that called the Trump phenomenon into existence in the first place. Had the establishment not hollowed out American manufacturing, weakened the military, and opened the border, MAGA might never have existed.
Vance then noted that in Trump’s first 100 days “we’ve started to reverse every single one of those negative trends.”
In a moment of impressive erudition and humor, the vice president then contrasted Trump with most of the president’s predecessors.
Was JD Vance right to call out the mainstream media?
“Let’s be honest,” Vance said of past presidents. “Most of them have been placeholders. They’ve been people who have allowed their staff to sign executive orders with an autopen instead of men of action.”
Former President Joe Biden might have taken offense at that characterization if only he had awakened from his nap to hear it.
In any event, having outlined the administration’s challenges and successes, Vance finally took aim at the establishment media.
“The reason the media attacks this administration as chaotic is because the president is solving the problems the American people set about to solve,” the vice president said.
Vance returned to the subject of the military, now under the leadership of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, and again chastised the media in the process.
“The most underreported fact of the first 100 days is that we came in with a massive recruitment shortfall, and in 100 days of Secretary Hegseth and President Trump’s leadership, we now have people breaking down the doors to join our military,” the vice president said.
“To the media assembled here, it’s a really interesting question,” he continued. “Why has that happened? Completely aside from the fact that I think it’s a good thing or I think that President Trump deserves political credit for it, why did we go from a military where people didn’t want to serve to now all of a sudden they do want to serve? That’s a story you guys should cover.”
Vance then contrasted the media’s silence on military recruitment with its wall-to-wall coverage of “Maryland Man” Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s deportation.
“Too much of the American media hasn’t learned the lessons of the past 40 years,” Vance concluded.
Readers can watch Vance’s full comments in the YouTube video below.
The vice president, of course, had it right when he went after the establishment propagandists masquerading as journalists.
Who can watch that video, however, without recalling recent and similar performances from Vance?
During the vice presidential debate in October, for instance, Vance so thoroughly dominated his counterpart, Democratic Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota — then-Vice President Kamala Harris’ 2024 running mate, for those who have understandably forgotten about him — that the performance resulted in hilarious memes.
Vance also has made rhetorical mincemeat of establishment journalists such as CBS News’ Margaret Brennan.
Perhaps the vice president’s finest performance, however, occurred in February when he called out European elites to their faces for their countless violations of civil liberties.
In short, the more Vance speaks in public, the better for MAGA, and the worse for the establishment media.
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