JD Vance and a terrible, terrible, no good, very bad week

Who had a worse week, the Democrats or J.D. Vance? Democratic progressives have spent the last week trying to wash out Graham Plattner’s hair after one of his dates accused him of sexual assault. Democrats can only hope voters take action soon.

Meanwhile, the Vice President experiences a series of misfortunes reminiscent of the classic children’s book “Alexander and the Horrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day.”

The ceasefire he negotiated with the Iranian regime evaporated. His retreat and failed foreign policy were dealt another blow when Russia banned diesel exports due to fuel shortages caused by remote strikes on Ukraine’s refineries. President Trump subsequently disagreed with him and said he would increase his support for Ukraine.

Finally, major Republican donor and hedge fund tycoon Ken Griffin said he supports Secretary of State Marco Rubio in the race between the two for the 2028 Republican presidential nomination. coin. Unlike Alexander, the Vice President’s suffering is of his own making.

Trump declared the ceasefire with Iran “over” on Friday, but the regime has never adhered to it. The president said earlier this week, “They violate the deal every day. They lie. They cheat. They kill.” Wasn’t Mr. Vance’s negotiation of a memorandum of understanding with Iran last month a harbinger of peace for our time?

It is clear that he does not understand the regime with which he is negotiating. “I think as long as they do the right thing, they see a real opportunity to turn the page,” he said. “We have a trump card, and if they don’t live up to their commitments, we’ll figure out what to do when we get there.”

Now we are here. It didn’t take long. A week after the deal was signed, the Iranians began firing on ships passing through the Strait of Hormuz. “After signing this memorandum of understanding, the Islamic Republic of Iran will do its best to arrange for the safe passage of commercial ships from the Persian Gulf to the Sea of ​​Oman and vice versa, free of charge for only 60 days,” the agreement said.

As a real estate developer, will Mr. Trump lease a property if the tenant pays the rent on a “best effort” basis — and only for 60 days?

But Mr Vance insisted the regime would understand that it was in its best interests to act in good faith. “They want a brighter future,” he said. But the regime’s vision for a brighter future requires nuclear weapons to control the region rather than bring prosperity to its people.

Still, Mr. Vance expressed optimism about “joining forces with the hardliners and pragmatists behind this idea, not just because they want a peace deal now, but because 47 years of Iran’s policy toward the United States has been a mistake.” Last week’s reports of a new Iranian plot to assassinate Trump suggested the opposite.

Iran’s leaders understand Vance’s goals better than the other way around. They know that Trump is losing patience with the war as the midterm elections approach. They did everything they could to suppress their desperation to end the war. After the government lifted blockades and sanctions, the regime ramped up oil exports, earning billions of dollars to fund terrorism.

Mr. Vance may have anticipated this outcome. In October 2024, he criticized the Biden team for easing sanctions on Iran and releasing restricted assets in the hope that doing so would “make the Iranians a better partner and maybe put them more on track to becoming a rational country. But that didn’t happen. They just used the money to buy weapons against Americans.” Exactly.

In his new book, “Communion: Finding the Path Back to Faith,” Vance mocks “globalists” as “misleading” and “naive.” He explained that his opposition to military aid to Ukraine as a senator was based on practical considerations: “There is a huge gap between Ukraine’s and Russia’s ability to project military power, and we lack the capabilities to enable the Ukrainians to close and maintain that gap entirely on our own.”

No one thinks the United States should support Ukraine alone. The Europeans provided substantial aid. Vance’s argument is undermined by Ukraine’s ability to push back Russia and hamper its energy infrastructure and military supply chains in recent months. Who is naive and misguided?

Equally naive and mistaken is his belief that the government can revive a more traditional American culture through trade protection and industrial policy and withdrawal from the world. That might explain Mr. Griffin’s preference for Mr. Rubio.

Vance is likely to view Griffin, as he does other traditional Republicans, as a “business elite” who “worships” the market. But Mr. Griffin represents a sizable segment of Republicans, and the vice president risks alienating them politically.