The American president is already thinking out loud about the next military operation. In doing so, he creates problems for his deputy – who is worried about the next election.
Mar 17, 2026, 3:02 amMar 17, 2026, 3:02 am
The American Vice President was prepared. When JD Vance was asked by a journalist in the Oval Office of the White House on Monday whether, as an avowed isolationist, he “fully” supported the Iran war, his answer was: “I know what you’re up to. They are trying to drive a wedge between us,” between him, the vice president, and Donald Trump, the commander in chief of the American armed forces.
Isolationist or opportunist? JD Vance avoids strong statements on the war in Iran.Image: keystone
But Vance, who at least at the beginning of Trump’s term in office was considered his natural successor in the 2028 presidential election, did not want to allow this. That’s why the Republican announced in the Oval Office: The President had announced years ago that Iran would never be allowed to have a nuclear weapon. “And I agreed with him.”
From this we can conclude that the anti-interventionist Vance is now also in favor of the Iran war. After all, one of the president’s goals is to destroy the regime’s weapons program in Tehran. But remarkably, Vance, a shrewd rhetorician, avoided putting his support in clear terms. Instead, the Vice President announced that he was pursuing the approach that he wanted to make the military operation “as successful as possible.”
Tucker Carlson sees himself as a victim of the CIA
There are two reasons for this contortion of the vice president. First, Vance is still seen internally as a skeptic of the Iran War – after he couldn’t prevent the start, He’s probably hoping for a quick end. He can only achieve this goal if he doesn’t mess it up with Trump, while he is already planning the next American intervention with Secretary of State Marco Rubio. (Rubio is considered Vance’s opponent.) The American president said of Cuba on Monday: “It’s a beautiful island. Great weather! I will have the honor of taking Cuba.”
And secondly, the 41-year-old Vance seems to be afraid that the conflict in the Middle East could destroy the coalition that twice paved the way for Trump to the White House.
This fear is not unfounded. The majority of the president’s core voters support the war against Iran. But some figureheads of the “Make America Great Again” movement are criticizing the government in increasingly harsh tones. Last weekend, commentator Tucker Carlson claimed that the CIA suspected him of espionage after he spoke to sources in Iran as a journalist.
Tucker Carlson sees the end of media freedom in the USA.Image: keystone
For Carlson, these investigations – for which there is currently no independent confirmation – already represent the end of freedom of expression in the USA. Unsurprisingly for his followers, the polemicist also immediately announced who he held responsible for this development: the so-called Israel lobby in general and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu in particular.
Carlson has been arguing with other prominent commentators in the MAGA camp for some time because of such anti-Semitic outbursts. He is at loggerheads with Mark Levin, who hosts a daily radio show and also appears regularly on Fox News. Levin, a Jew, was a “warmonger,” Carlson claimed. Levin, in turn, fired back by referring to the competitor as “Qatarlson” – because Tucker Carlson is allegedly supported financially by the Gulf state of Qatar.
Trump’s chief of staff suffers from cancer
All of this may sound petty, and not all that important to a foreign audience. How important this dispute in the MAGA camp is for Trump (and therefore also for Vance) became clear at the weekend. The president then felt compelled to speak out. In a lengthy statement on the Internet service Truth Social, Trump sided with Levin and expressed his trust in the commentator. “Anyone who speaks badly about Mark,” Trump wrote, “will quickly be sidelined.” Because Levin’s critics are not Maga.
Those were actually clear words. But Trump failed to end the dispute. Carlson also complained Monday that war critics were being called un-American. And his allies Megyn Kelly cracked raunchy jokes about Mark Levin.
Vance has not yet commented on the controversy on social media. Instead, the vice president sent sincere well-wishes to the White House chief of staff. 68-year-old Susie Wiles previously announced that she had breast cancer. Fortunately, her doctors discovered the cancer early and she was “encouraged by a good prognosis,” Wiles told the New York Times.
However, the chief of staff does not want to pause her work. She has a lot to do at the moment. (aargauerzeitung.ch)