The day before Joe Kent resigned from the Trump administration as the director of the National Counterterrorism Center, declaring he could not in “good conscience” support the war in Iran, he reportedly met with Vice-President J.D. Vance. Vance and Kent had been allies in the MAGA realm, representing the isolationist, war-skeptical faction that seemed ascendant in Trump’s 2024 campaign. Kent presented his resignation letter to Vance, and the vice-president told him to check with Donald Trump and his chief of staff, Susie Wiles.

Though much of the recent media focus has been on Kent and Tulsi Gabbard, the onetime isolationist turned hawkish director of national intelligence, it is Vance who will ultimately have to wrangle with the political fallout of Trump’s decision to attack Iran. Assuming Trump does not illegally seek a third term, all early polling — as well as history and conventional wisdom — suggests it will be Vance accepting the nomination two and a half years from now. On Wednesday, he held a campaign-style event in Michigan to try to sell Trump’s domestic agenda even as inflation spikes upward and gas prices surge as a result of the war. It is an incredibly awkward moment for Vance, who was supposed to be the star of the Republican Party and Trump’s heir apparent. To ensure he remains in the good graces of the base voters who........

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