How Much Humiliation Can Vance Take? "As his political fortunes dim, his soul has become a depreciating asset." [View all]

At a closed-door Easter luncheon at the White House, President Trump decided to entertain the crowd by humiliating his understudy.

Mr. Trump demanded an update on Iran peace negotiations from Vice President JD Vance. “How’s that moving?” Mr. Trump asked, in a video of the event the White House seemed to have accidentally posted online.

“It’s going good, sir,” Mr. Vance replied from the audience. Mr. Trump cut off the rest of his response.

“Do you see it happening?” the president asked, about a successful end to the war.

“Uh,” the vice president replied. “We’re going to brief it to you.”

Then Mr. Trump delivered his punchline. “So, if it doesn’t happen, I’m blaming JD Vance,” he said, to laughter. “If it does happen, I’m taking full credit.”

Does Mr. Vance still not realize that the joke is on him? The interesting thing is not that he keeps debasing himself but that he gets less and less in return each time. As his political fortunes dim, his soul has become a depreciating asset.

https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/07/opinion/jd-vance-trump-iran-hungary-orban.html?unlocked_article_code=1.ZVA.E9Zb.Od_LiecHPKCj&smid=url-share