Iranian Values 👑

More Trump Than Trump When Trump defeated Biden, everyone knew he had been elected for a four-year term. But Trump’s landslide victory in 2024 set off a search among Republicans for someone who embodied Trumpism more than anyone else and could eventually succeed him. JD Vance suddenly became the luckiest politician in America. By blindly following Trump and embracing his ideas, he positioned himself as the most deserving candidate to replace him. Vance’s biggest problem is that if you take Trump’s name away from him, there is very little left to offer. His entire political identity is tied to Trump, and if Trump’s ideas for running America fail, Vance’s political future will collapse with them. According to polling, the implementation of Trump’s agenda — from tariffs and immigration crackdowns to fuel prices and Middle East policy — has steadily eroded different parts of the Republican electoral coalition. But rather than acknowledge reality, Vance is doubling down. He wants voters to believe that the problem was never Trump’s ideas, but the failure to implement them properly. These days, Vance is becoming more Trump than Trump himself. He is even willing to commit political suicide at Trump’s expense just to prove his loyalty. He puts forward some of the worst possible ideas on Iran — not because he is unaware of the consequences, but because he knows that if they fail, Trump and others will take the blame. He can then present himself as the man who stood for the genuine, uncompromising implementation of Trump’s ideas. Vance’s hastily published post, just hours after the Republican electoral defeat, had one clear purpose: “I told you so, but nobody listened.” In a text riddled with contradictions and flaws, he offered a superficial analysis of the situation, attempting to rewrite the events of the past two years and even distort the motivations and message of voters. As if the problem were not the administration’s performance, but its failure to follow the version of Trumpism he prescribes. Another Republican defeat in the next election could spell the end of Vance’s political career. He knows perfectly well that, to save his own future, he must distance himself in advance from the consequences of the administration’s performance while continuing to portray himself as Trump’s most loyal defender. In an administration where a populist like Vance is supposed to call all the shots, there is little point in having an experienced politician like Marco Rubio around. Perhaps the smartest move for Rubio would be to resign from the Cabinet. Let Vance, Witkoff and Kushner have this administration. They can take responsibility for the ideas whose costs everyone else will end up paying.