Did JD Vance Break With Trump?

Vance’s post-election remarks on Iran, Israel, and the war raise an unsettling question: Was he merely explaining the loss—or positioning himself for 2028?

Sally Zelikovsky | November 9, 2026

In the wake of what was a disheartening election, President Trump responded to questions about JD Vance’s post-mortem that we lost because of the Iran War by agreeing that “it’s largely true...because it drove the gasoline up a little bit short term and...probably...it’s true but...if I had to do it again, I’d have to do it again because long term, uh, it’s the only answer. You can’t let Iran have a nuclear weapon.”

Vance then, without White House approval, posted a lengthy comment on X that included “The reason we lost is the war. The President himself said so last night.”

Marc Thiessen and many listeners were incensed by his X post and rightly accused Vance of disloyalty to President Trump for failing to clarify that it was the right thing to do and that they’d do it again.

I immediately suspected the Veep was trying to distance himself from Trump to position himself as the successor to MAGA in a bid for the presidency in 2028—something Thiessen alluded to as well. That’s not altogether far-fetched and will be a problem for anyone in the Trump administration who seeks a run, much as it was for Kamala Harris in 2024.

Vance continued his lengthy X post, claiming “an unnamed pollster” told him voters targeted four issues Republicans would have to correct before they could win back support:

1.    End the war against........

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