The speaker of the House of Representatives, the second man in line for the presidency, Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana, had to photobomb. the shot so shared taken aboard the so-called Trump Force One plane last weekend. There was no place for him at the four-person table where the real powerful brothers (Donald Trump, of course, his son Don Jr., the world's richest man, Elon Musk, and the supposed health nut, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.), were looking for greasy food. McDonald's burgers and fries during your night out to watch the UFC fights at Madison Square Garden.
But at least Johnson was in the photo. JD Vance was not.
The man who will soon be first in the line of succession was excluded from the cabal, as he apparently has been since the election of the Trump-Vance ticket two weeks ago.
opinion columnist
Jackie Calmes
Jackie Calmes brings a critical look to the national political scene. He has decades of experience covering the White House and Congress.
This has raised a question in Washington that would be louder if not for the cacophony over whether Trump's cabinet picks (alleged sexual bad boys Matt Gaetz and Pete Hegseth); admirer of murderous tyrants Tulsi Gabbard and Kennedy, the conspiracy-minded anti-vaxxer he usually is No a fast food fanatic, will win Senate confirmation to head the Justice, Defense, Intelligence and Health departments, respectively.
Where is the vice president-elect?
“Have you seen JD Vance?” former Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele he wondered on MSNBC over the weekend.
The future vice president was finally seen on Wednesday, not with Trump but in the Capitol, entering and leaving the offices. Vance, an Ohio senator for less than two years, was accompanying Gaetz to the offices of his Republican colleagues in hopes of persuading them to support confirmation of the manifestly unqualified Cabinet pick. As if Vance, instead of a vengeful Trump, had that kind of influence with senators.
Meanwhile, Musk has been so ubiquitous at the president-elect's side that Trump's advisers are reportedly get sick his. The Onion Satirists header an article, “Trump closes the bathroom door so Elon Musk can't follow him.”
For the mega-millionaire (and Trump mega-donor), whose fortune owes a lot In addition to his federal auto and aerospace contracts over the years, the camaraderie attached to Trump: at Mar-a-Lago, day trips in Washington, on the court at Madison Square Garden and then in Texas for a rocket SpaceX. launch Tuesday is already good for business.
“It wouldn't be worth anything” if it weren't for government subsidies, Trump criticized in 2022, before the two formed their mutually beneficial bond just a few months ago. Since the election, Musk's net worth has increased nearly 25% based on future growth assumptions, Bloomberg My dear. And the federal largesse it enjoys is not likely to be threatened by the spending cuts Trump has promised: Corporate welfare is rarely in Republicans' sights, but certainly not now, given that Trump has put Musk in charge of a Government Efficiency Department to identify targets to cut.
In past administrations, that's the kind of role presidents delegated to their vice presidents, the same way Bill Clinton assigned to Al Gore. “reinvent government” and George W. Bush allowed Dick Cheney to essentially call the shots on his “war against terrorism”.
More than two weeks after Trump's return to power, we know what he wants Musk, as well as Gaetz, Hegseth, Kennedy, Gabbard and more, to do. Vance, not so much.
In addition to shepherding Trump's nominees, Vance has been missing in action not only at Mar-a-Lago but also in the Senate. that caused complaints within the party this week even of trumpwhen Vance's absence from the closely divided body helped Senate Democrats, who still run the group until January, push through confirmations of some of President Biden's latest nominees for federal judges. Vance posted on X that one of his right-wing critics was a “mouth breathing moron” and then deleted the post.
“There are no more judges confirmed before inauguration day,” the chief warned Republican senators. (That's rich coming from the man who, after his 2020 loss, had Senate Republicans approve several judges, including U.S. District Judge Aileen Cannon in Florida, Trump's judicial clerk who delayed and then surprisingly dismissed (the case against him for fleeing with classified documents in 2021). As in his first term, Trump will be able to fill any vacancy left by Biden.
Vance's deleted post provided a clue about his activities lately: He's been interviewing candidates for FBI director. That suggests that Trump will indeed fire Christopher Wray, his first-term pick who subsequently infuriated him by approving, among other things, the successful search for classified material at Mar-a-Lago in 2022, and that Vance may be carving out a niche for himself. for himself as Trump's retaliatory deputy.
When Trump nominated Vance, 40, for vice president, many Republicans described the Ohio native as the future of a MAGA-affiliated party and country. However, it embodies a future that is at odds with the nation's challenges and trends.
Vance will play his to-be-determined role in an administration that appears hell-bent on exacerbating climate change with a full embrace of fossil fuels. That would accelerate the nation's fiscal insolvency by further reducing taxes for the rich. That would threaten that economy (and America's moral standing) by deporting immigrants en masse when an aging population needs their labor. And that would supposedly make America great again by returning to a system in which white men continue to dominate, despite the country's increasing diversity and the advancement of women.
Whatever Vance's role is, at least because of his virtual invisibility, he doesn't run the risk that Musk runs: stealing the spotlight from the narcissist-in-chief. That never ends well.
@jackiekcalmes
