J.D. Vance, Trump’s vice-president has often said that his job is to support the president.
He’s also made sure that people know he was against the Iran war, the 12 day war, and so on, with careful leaks. Publicly he’s all pro-whatever Trump says or does, but he’s trying to have it both ways.
The MOU gave him a present, he was able to say that Israel are ungrateful turds who shouldn’t be so violent: nine million people can’t kill their way out of all of their foreign relations troubles, and that Trump is the only major world leader who has supported them (essentially true. In this calculus only Russia, China, Turkey and the US matter.) Israelis turning on Trump are ungrateful. (Well yes, but you didn’t expect people whose idea of making war is to kill children en-masse to have a fine moral sense.)
Anyway, here he is:
US Vice President JD Vance, in a New York Times interview, criticised Israel’s far-right National Security Minister Itamar Ben-Gvir and Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich for their opposition to the Iran deal, saying that “you can’t kill your way out” of security problems pic.twitter.com/JGr3rn4o0b
— Middle East Eye (@MiddleEastEye) June 19, 2026
Vance has always had a very narrow road to follow. He wants to be President. He can’t directly oppose Trump on anything publicly because even if Trump is driven from office in disgrace, there’s a hard core of primary voters who will never give him up. On the other hand Trump’s becoming increasingly toxic and it’s pretty clear that he’s going to leave office very unpopular.
This issue killed Kamala. She was ahead and doing well. I still remember when she was asked on TV if there was anything she’d have done different than Biden. She said no. And it was at that moment I knew that Trump was going to win: she needed to say something, even something a bit weak “well, I admire what the President has done, but I’d like to have done even more to bring down grocery prices and to end the Gaza war” say.
Vance is attempting to get around this with his loyalty pledge: you support the President even if you disagree, but you can disagree and advise him so be hind the scenes.
He’s hoping that two-step, “I was loyal to Trump, but I would have done some things differently” will keep him electable.
We’ll see. A lot will depend on who Democrats nominate. Democrats rarely select their most popular candidate, they prefer party loyalists who can be expected to keep the corporate pork rolling and not upset important funders like the Israeli lobby.
If Democrats serve up a lukewarm candidate and if Vance makes his turn correctly, he could squeak in as the next President.
Iran MOU update: As predicted the Israelis kept attacking in Lebanon, the Iranians said they wouldn’t go to the signing in Geneva on Friday till the fighting stops, and negotiations won’t start till they do. Israel appears to be attempting to take an important strategic point Ali al-Taher hill. Hezbollah is going all out to stop them. We’ll see if the US is capable (politically, it can easily do so in principle) of discipling Israel.
🚨BREAKING: A Huge Battle Ongoing With An Enormous Amount Of Israeli Casualties In South Lebanon
Israel is advancing from three different routes towards the Ali al-Taher Hills area.
4 Israeli military vehicles completely destroyed, Hezbollah fires AD missiles at warplanes &… pic.twitter.com/oyfpjMQXym
— MintPress News (@MintPressNews) June 18, 2026
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Bob
Isn’t the crux of the biscuit here that the US just has to turn off the weapons spigot if they genuinely are opposed to what the entity is doing?
Looks like the entity has taken a real pasting in the hills. On their own channels they are blaming Hezbollah for breaking the ceasefire.
With the alleged oil crisis in the balance, surely even the most demonic of demons must realise their PR is not going to get any better by making Iran close their strait again?