Speaker of the House, the second man in the presidency – Rep. Mike Johnson of Louisiana – should photobomb taken much-shown taken on a plane called Trump Force One last weekend. There is no place for him at the top four table where his real brothers – Donald Trump, of course, his son Don Jr., the richest man in the world Elon Musk, and the supposed health nut Robert F. Kennedy Jr. McDonald’s burgers and fries on a night out to see the UFC fight at Madison Square Garden.
But at least Johnson is in the picture. JD Vance didn’t.
The man who would be first in the line of succession was cut from the group — as he has been since the election of the Trump-Vance ticket two weeks ago.
Opinion columnist
Jackie Calmes
Jackie Calmes brings a critical eye to the national political scene. He has decades of experience in the White House and Congress.
That raised questions around Washington that would be loud but for the cacophony about what Trump’s Cabinet Pick – the alleged bad male sexual fellow Matt Gaetz and Pete Hegseth; fellow admirer of the murderous tyrant Tulsi Gabbard, and Kennedy, the usual conspiracy-minded anti-vaxxer not Fast food fans – will win the confirmation of the Senate for the Head of the Department of Justice, Defense, Intelligence and Health, respectively.
Where is the vice president-elect?
“Have you seen JD Vance?” former Republican Party Chairman Michael Steele amazed on MSNBC over the weekend.
The future veep was finally seen on Wednesday, not next to Trump but back on Capitol Hill, in and out of office. Vance, a senator from Ohio for less than two years, was squiring Gaetz around to the office of his Republican colleagues hoping to persuade them to support the confirmation of the manifestly unqualified Cabinet choice. It’s as if Vance, rather than a vindictive Trump, has traction with the senators.
Meanwhile, Musk has been ubiquitous at the president-elect’s side as Trump’s adviser the news ache from him. The satirists at Bawang heading item, “Trump Locks His Bathroom Door So Elon Musk Can’t Follow Him.”
For a megabillionaire (and mega Trump donor), which his fortune is much in debt for federal auto and aerospace contracts over the years, a friend who joined Trump – at Mar-a-Lago, a day-trip in Washington, the sidelines of Madison Square Garden and then in Texas for the SpaceX rocket start on Tuesday – has been good for business.
“They are worthless” but for government subsidies, Trump sniped in 2022, before the two made a mutually beneficial bond just a few months ago. Since the election, Musk’s net worth has increased by nearly 25% based on future growth assumptions, according to Bloomberg approximately. And the federal largesse he likes will not be threatened by the spending cuts promised by Trump: Corporate welfare is rarely on the Republican chopping block, but certainly not now, because Trump has put Musk in charge of a. Department of Government Efficiency to identify targets for slash.
In past administrations, this was a role that the president would delegate to the vice president, just as Bill Clinton delegated to Al Gore. “Reinvent government” and George W. Bush allowed Dick Cheney to essentially call the shots “the war on terror.”
More than two weeks into Trump’s transition back to power, we know what Musk wants, as well as Gaetz, Hegseth, Kennedy, Gabbard and others. Vance, not so much.
Aside from shepherding Trump’s nomination, Vance has been missing in action not only at Mar-a-Lago but also in the Senate. That is provocative intraparty grousing this week, even from Trumpwhile Vance’s absence in the closely divided body helped Senate Democrats, who still hold a coalition until January, to push for the confirmation of some of President Biden’s final nominees to federal judges. Vance posted on X that one right-wing critic was a “mouth-breathing fraud” and later deleted the post.
“No more judges are confirmed before Inauguration Day,” the boss warned Republican Senator. (This is very rich from a man who, after losing in 2020, Senate Republicans seized several judges – including US District Judge Aileen Cannon in Florida, Trump’s delayed judicial assistance and then surprising. fired Case against him for creating secret documents in 2021.) As in his first term, Trump will fill any vacancy left by Biden.
Vance’s deleted posts hint at his recent activity: He has interview candidate for FBI director. This suggests that Trump will indeed fire Christopher Wray, who was the first choice that angered him, among other things, by approving the successful search of Mar-a-Lago for classified material in 2022, and Vance may carve out a niche. for himself as a representative of Trump’s retribution.
When Trump tapped Vance, 40 years old for veep, the Ohioan was described by many Republicans as season from the MAGA-fied party and the state. But they contain a future that does not match the challenges and trends of the nation.
Vance will be part of TBD in an administration that looks very much to the detriment of climate change by using fossil fuels. That would hasten the country’s fiscal insolvency by cutting taxes for the wealthy. That would threaten the economy (and the moral standing of the United States) by mass-deporting migrants at a time when the aging population is in dire need of labor. And it is supposed to make America great again by returning to a system that continues to be dominated by white men, even as the country’s diversity and the advancement of women continue to grow.
Whatever Vance’s role, at least by virtual invisibility which does not reveal the risk that Musk is: Stealing attention from the narcissist in chief. That never ends well.
@jackiekcalmes
