JD Vance’s one-two-three jig on ‘Trump Doctrine’ success in Iran: Nia-Malika Henderson

Key topics:Vance defends Trump’s Iran strikes, unveils so-called Trump DoctrineVance positions himself as Trump’s loyal heir for 2028 ambitionsPublic disapproves strikes; skepticism grows over Vance’s shifting stances.Sign up for your early morning brew of the BizNews Insider to keep you up to speed with the content that matters. The newsletter will land in your inbox at 5:30am weekdays. Register here.Support South Africa’s bastion of independent journalism, offering balanced insights on investments, business, and the political economy, by joining BizNews Premium. Register here.If you prefer WhatsApp for updates, sign up to the BizNews channel here.The auditorium doors will open for BNIC#2 on 10 September 2025 in Hermanus. For more information and tickets, click here..By Nia-Malika Henderson.In his short political career, Vice President JD Vance has already proven himself to be a political shapeshifter who morphs into whatever suits his political ambitions. It’s how he went from being an anti-Trump CNN commentator to President Donald Trump’s second in command in just eight years. Now he is ditching another persona, that of the anti-interventionist, as he tries to sell Trump’s strikes on Iran’s nuclear facilities to a skeptical MAGA base and equally skeptical public.In a speech Tuesday in Ohio, Vance unveiled what he called the Trump Doctrine, describing the attacks as an overwhelming success, even as preliminary reports suggest something far less.“What I call the Trump Doctrine is quite simple: Number one, you articulate a clear American interest and that’s, in this case, that Iran can’t have a nuclear weapon,” Vance said at the dinner. “Number two, you try to aggressively diplomatically solve that problem. And number three, when you can’t solve it diplomatically, you use overwhelming military power to solve it and then you get the hell out of there before it ever becomes a protracted conflict.”The move highlighted Vance’s role as an explainer and defender of what could become one of Trump’s most significant actions. Trump’s goal is the Nobel Peace Prize and Vance’s goal is succeeding him by sometimes being more Trump than Trump, vouching for him at every turn, using the kind of bombastic and insulting language that breaks through and that MAGA has come to expect. He referred on Meet The Press to the presidents of the last 25 years as “dumb presidents,” who led Americans into costly foreign entanglements, something that Trump would avoid. “Vance is, generally speaking, one of the most articulate spokespersons they have. He stays on message,” said Joel Goldstein, author of the book The White House Vice Presidency: The Path to Significance, Mondale to Biden, adding that his language works for MAGA, yet not for the general public. “The problem is, Trump doesn’t stay on a predictable message so Vance says things that are inconsistent.”Remember that in a March chat on Signal, Vance was much more on brand with MAGA, disagreeing with Trump’s decision to strike the Houthis in Yemen and arguing that it was mistake. “There is a real risk that the public doesn’t understand this or why it’s necessary,” he wrote at the time, adding, “I am not sure the president is aware how inconsistent this is with his message on Europe right now.”.Read more:.The Economist: JD Vance slams Europe's free speech flaws - White House hypocrisy aside.This time around, Vance has been a nonstop presence on social media and on cable news. But again, Trump’s quickly shifting messages have left him and Vance publicly at odds, as happened with whether the goal in Iran was regime change, which is anathema to the MAGA base. “We don’t want to achieve regime change,” the vice president said on Sunday to ABC. The very next day, his boss posted: “It’s not politically correct to use the term, ‘Regime Change,’ but if the current Iranian Regime is unable to MAKE IRAN GREAT AGAIN, why wouldn’t there be a Regime change???”“I wonder if other VPs had as much excitement as I do,” Vance tweeted on Tuesday. Indeed, Vance, 40, is different from those who came before him. He has tied his political fortunes completely to Trump, emerging from Elon Musk’s shadow to become first among a team of rivals that includes Secretary of State Marco Rubio and Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth. All three stood behind Trump as he claimed on Saturday during a White House address that “Iran’s key nuclear enrichment facilities have been completely and totally obliterated.” Vance is likely in pole position for 2028, as he navigates a truncated timeline that fits his man-in-a-hurry approach to higher office. Yet his closeness to Trump is not without peril given Trump’s insistence on mini-me-ism and sycophancy. “Vance seems to go out of his way to position himself as a loyal spokesperson to an extreme degree. The inherent challenge is that you inherit baggage and it becomes difficult to distance yourself, particularly if you have a president who doesn’t want people to have distance,” Goldstein said. “Vice president is the best springboard, but by the same token, it depends on the relationship with the president and the character of the person makes all the difference.” A president’s governing record also matters. Trump rose to the White House by positioning himself as an outsider who was skeptical of the foreign policy establishment of both parties. Now, in trumpeting kinetic action in the Middle East, Trump and Vance sound very much like the presidents and vice presidents who preceded them and suggested that involvement would be quick, easy and lead to stability and peace. Americans, wary of more wars, aren’t buying it. A CNN poll shows that 56% of Americans disapprove of the strikes and 44% approve. The poll was largely completed before Iran’s retaliatory strikes, the announcement of a ceasefire and initial reports showing that the strikes set back Iran’s nuclear program by only a few months. It’s hard to imagine the numbers improving. Most Americans, 58%, believe the strikes will make Iran more of a threat. While Republicans overall back the president by 82%, just 20% of GOP-leaning voters younger than 45 say they strongly approve of the strikes. Vance’s big gamble is that come 2028, voters will want a third Trump term rather than a fresh start. Yet Vance, ever the chameleon, could remake his political identity again, and show up as whoever he thinks gives him the best chance at the top job. Americans should maintain their skepticism. .© 2025 Bloomberg L.P.

JD Vance’s one-two-three jig on ‘Trump Doctrine’ success in Iran: Nia-Malika Henderson

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