US Vice President JD Vance stole the show of the shouting match between President Donald Trump and Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelenskyy on Friday as he triggered the never-seen-before meltdown on television of world leaders when he imparted a lesson of gratitude to Zelenskyy. This is Vance’s second major show in international affairs — as his critics do not call Friday’s fallout a win though Zelenskyy softened his stance hours after the ugly spat.
A few weeks ago, Vance’s unorthodox remarks at the Munich Security Conference signaled a new working style of the US Vice President who did not baulk before accusing European leaders of suppressing free speech and censorship. The White House meeting of Trump, Zelenskyy saw Vance in a new role of a defender of his boss Trump and neither did Trump intervene to diffuse the situation.
Accusing Zelenskyy of leading “propaganda tours” of the destruction done by Russian invasion, JD Vance said he has been to Ukraine and seen the situation. “I think it’s disrespectful to come into the Oval Office and try to litigate this in front of the American media,” Vance said, his voice rising. “You bring people on a propaganda tour, Mr President … Do you think that it’s respectful to come to the Oval Office of the United States of America and attack the administration that is trying to prevent the destruction of your country?”
“During the war, everyone has problems,” Zelenskyy replied. “But you have nice ocean and don’t feel now. But you will feel it in the future.”
It was then that the meeting took an ugly turn and Zelenskyy left the White House without signing the minerals deal.
‘Pitbull’ or ‘next President’?
JD Vance is the first choice of the Republicans as the next presidential candidate. Even in the recently concluded CPAC (Conservative Political Action Conference), Vance won 61 per cent support as the presidential candidate for 2028. Vance’s strong stance in the Zelenskyy meeting made the call stronger.
In fact, Elon Musk called Vance the next president after Vance’s interaction with UK Prime Minister Keir Stamer where Vance spoke about free speech.
However, Vance was called Donald Trump’s ‘attack dog’, and ‘pitbull’ as he triggered the face-off.
‘JD is different than Elon’
One US official told Reuters that the face-off was the flexing of JD Vance. “Vance is different than Elon. For him to sit and take on Zelenskyy in front of Trump was a very big moment. He moved to support the president, and Trump loves it when people step out to do the confrontation that he usually does,” the official said.
‘He’s not speaking loudly’: How Trump backed JD
During the heated argument, Zelenskyy referred to Vance as JD and asked, “What kind of diplomacy, JD, you are speaking about?” Vance called Zelenskyy ‘Mr President’ and said, “I’m talking about the kind of diplomacy that’s going to end the destruction of your country.”
Zelenskyy noted that Vance was speaking loudly but Trump who was enjoying the confrontation stepped in and said, “He’s not speaking loudly.” “You’ve done a lot of talking. Your country is in big trouble.”
Later in the day, JD Vance did not put any statement on social media after the face-off. He only shared President Trump’s statement on the confrontation maintaining a low profile on X.
