US Vice President JD Vance sees his political future fading as he remains loyal to President Donald Trump. A disastrous adventure in Iran, an economy in chaos, a government riddled with corruption that will reverberate in courtrooms and investigative committees for decades to come. In view of the danger of being increasingly perceived as a symbol of the failure and broken promises of Trump’s second term in office, Vance is launching a media offensive – to remind people that they should have liked him at some point. It starts with a visit to “The View”.
The ladies of “The View” have long been popular targets of Trump’s supporters – and this time the ABC talk show hosts came well prepared. Vance, on the other hand, seemed anything but willing to actually defend his administration’s actions.
The moderators repeatedly confronted the vice president with the fact that Trump has not kept his campaign promises – from the economy to the Epstein files – and instead prefers to enjoy his own enrichment and self-aggrandizement.
The economy as a sticking point
“One theme keeps coming up, and that’s the economy. Inflation is rising, wages are falling, gas prices are starting to fall in light of the Iran deal, which we’ll get to later,” said moderator Alyssa Farah – who herself worked in Trump’s first term. “What do you say to the voters who trusted you to cut costs from day one – and will they be happy by November?”
NAVARRO: Trump said he loves inflation
JD VANCE: What he said, Ana, is he loves the fact the inflation is going to come down
WHOOPI: That’s not what he said
BEHAR: Are you his interpreter, or his vice president? come on pic.twitter.com/VNXTzb9NOv
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) June 16, 2026
Vance responded that it would ultimately be “up to the voters,” and boasted that oil and gas prices, which had skyrocketed due to Trump’s confrontation with Iran, had begun to fall again. When the hosts alluded to Trump’s recent comment “I love the inflation” – a response to recent economic data showing a sharp rise in consumer prices – Vance jumped to the president’s defense.
“What he said is that he loves that inflation will go down when this war is over,” Vance claimed. “He said: ‘I love the inflation, because it’s going to come down when the war is over.'”
Vance’s role as interpreter
Trump actually didn’t say that.
“Are you his interpreter or his vice president?” asked Joy Behar.
The hosts also asked Vance about Trump’s lavish spending on monuments in his own honor, half-hearted restoration projects in Washington DC and lavish events for his corporate supporters – including the UFC fight he hosted at the White House over the weekend.
“All these things – why is he doing this when everyone knows Americans are struggling? What is he spending all this money on?” Behar asked, pointing out that Trump has called the growing financial and affordability crisis a “hoax.”
Vance again insisted that Trump was being misunderstood, saying that his boss had only meant the claim that the republican caused the crisis is a hoax.
Epstein files and the book
“Let’s talk about my book, I’m here to sell books!” Vance exclaimed at one point, after being repeatedly asked about the Trump administration’s various attempts to bury the Epstein scandal and Trump’s unwillingness to deliver on the transparency promised during the campaign.
And they actually talked about his book.
“As someone who admitted to chasing ambition – which you describe in the book – but who now says faith brought him back to his priorities,” said co-host Sara Haines. “I have to quote your own words from 2016: ‘Fellow Christians. Everyone is watching when we apologize for this man.’ […] Help me explain to my children what they are doing [von dieser Regierung] experience.”
Vance defended his transition from Trump critic to loyal follower. “There comes a point where you say: I made predictions that turned out to be wrong, and in politics – as in everything – I think it’s important to say: I was wrong about some things, and I was wrong about him,” he said.
Haines wasn’t finished yet. “I can explain to my children why boundaries are important. It’s much harder for me to explain when I see someone being dragged out of their home who isn’t a violent criminal,” she said. Co-host Ana Navarro suggested that Vance personally visit the border to see how children are treated in detention centers.
What is he willing to apologize for?
Vance evaded and pointed out that there were only 30 seconds left in the segment – to which Navarro replied that he was the vice president and could go ahead.
At one point, Haines asked Vance what he was “willing to apologize for in the name of power.”
For a growing number of Americans, the answer is: everything. Vance has publicly bowed to the president’s every whim over the course of his first 18 months in office — even as reports of his private panic and frustration with the state of affairs leaked out.
Vance insisted at one point that his new book was actually “far less political than you might think.”
“You said you were a lapsed Catholic,” the vice president said to Behar. “I’m a bad Catholic. I think that’s true for all of us – that’s why as Christians we need grace because we recognize that there are certain things we still need to work on.”
But for all his preaching, Vance doesn’t seem particularly willing to admit that he still has some catching up to do in his own politics – and he’s certainly unwilling to say what Trump, who is less than two years into his term with an approval rating of less than 40 percent, should do differently.