It does take one to know one. Anthony Scaramucci lasted eleven days working for Donald Trump and so he should know better than anybody what it is to be the golden boy one minute and the black sheep the next. According to the New Republic, “Scaramucci foretold that Trump’s 2024 campaign obituaries will consider Trump choosing Vance over a more moderate pick, namely Nikki Haley, a misstep. “He could have appealed to a broader base of people, to women, to more independents. But he didn’t. He went hard MAGA, he went with a strange guy that’s very dull on stage, and you know, Trump hates that,” Scaramucci said.”
Asked if he thought Vance would be replaced, Scaramucci replied, “I’ve had that experience with Donald Trump. I do think he could. It’s just a question of how many Scaramuccis J.D. is going to last.”
Scaramucci is not the only one making such predictions. While the Trump campaign insists it has no intention of booting Vance, there has been growing speculation in recent days that he is not long for the V.P. slot.
The vice presidential nominee made headlines yesterday for his remarkably poor performance in polls. Citing one from CNN, Business Insider reported that Vance is “the least-liked vice-presidential candidate since 1980.”
There are a few big differences between Scaramucci and Vance. One was a White House communications officer and the other is on the ticket for vice president of the United States. The delegates have already voted. I don’t know if it’s possible for Trump to simply cut bait at this point. Again, and always, some event in Trump world is a case of first impression and stirs up a legal dispute. Most presidential candidates have their act together enough to vet their vice presidential choice beforehand. Some candidates do learn later on that they’ve made a mistake. Certainly John McCain came to regret Sarah Palin, George H.W. Bush had to have regretted Dan Quayle and John Kerry said that he later regretted John Edwards.
But they all stuck with their choices, regrets or not. Will Trump stick with Vance? If he dumps Vance, it’s going to look ridiculous. It’s going to look like he didn’t know what he was doing, which is accurate, but if there is one thing Trump can’t stand, it’s admitting that he made a mistake about something. He hates being wrong.
So could Vance be persuaded to resign, then? I would say that’s the stronger possibility. It would make Vance look like a complete idiot and it might tank the rest of his political career, but what would his choices be? To tell Trump, “No, I’m staying, I don’t care what you think?” Slim chance of that.
And you know what’s comical about this? J.D. Vance is Junior’s pick. Junior just loves and adores J.D. Vance. He got him on the ticket. So guess where Trump’s wrath is going to be directed?
Hey, I heard Jared’s been hanging around lately? For which post, VP, or more likely Trump campaign manager? Chris LaCivita and Susie Wiles may not be there much longer. Rick Wilson pointed out in his podcast Friday that LaCivita and Wiles had “no Plan B. Nothing.” They just assumed Joe would stay in and when that wasn’t the case, utter chaos.
That sure is a shame for poor Darth Vance.
Specially when the notoriously scurrilous gossip about his sexual furniture fetish is being partly disproved, and his real underlying qualities are coming to the fore.
“He hates being wrong.” No, he hates being shown/proven to be wrong, especially publically.
I’m sure part of Trump does want to dump Vance. He was smiling during Vance’s speech at the convention because a) he knew how jacked up his MAGAs were about Vance and b) with TV instincts he knew Vance wouldn’t steal any of HIS thunder. That was then.
The fallout, even before the couch humping and cat lady stuff blew up in the news was unexpected. Now people are openly laughing at him, GOPers are quietly saying Vance was a huge mistake and worst of all laughing at Vance and the Trump campaign. And Trump.
When the fallout started with Harris so seamlessly taking over as our standard bearer Trump and his campaign were caught flat-footed. Their initial reaction might have boxed Trump in. Remember now, there was a narrative they pushed that a “weak,” “old” and “feeble” Biden had admitted he wasn’t up to the challenges of the Presidency. Combine that with Trump’s years long claims of “only the best people”, not to mention word was out he’d been leanding a different direction and only picked Vance at the last minute and as I said Trump is caught in a trap of his own making.
If he dumps Vance (and how? What a mess that would be) then he’s admitting he made a spectacularly bad choice. His best line of attack against Biden about bowing to pressure would be gone in a flash. Trump’s tiny shriveled testicles are in a vise with pressure already applied and HE is the one who put them there. And dialed up the pressure!
It’s a no-win situation for Trump. He can lose little (relatively) by dumping Vance this weekend (still, under RNC rules how is that possible? Same with replacing him? I’m sure it can be done but it won’t be pretty and the press, though cowed by Trump will have a field day over him having caved and making moves out of desperation) but will he? The longer he waits the worse it will look because doing it weeks from now will be seen as weakness on his part and he can’t stomach that thought either.
Most importanly Trump hates losing and while dumping Vance in the next couple of days could be losing small it’s still losing and he knows it. I’m not sure Trump is willing to admit he made a YUGE mistake. We’ll see.
His unrecognized dilemma is that his congenital inability to admit making this mistake will probably be a major factor in his losing the election – say g’bye to having the DOJ follow your order to drop all cases against you, fool! It will probably dawn on him 30 seconds after the race is called as for Kamala on Faux News – but then again, it may not, since he doesn’t MAKE mistakes.
“What the hell happened?” will be the question babbled over and over by the stable genius who is “a legend in his own mind”, and can claim to not know the meaning of the words “surrender” or “capitulate”, or any other words of three or more syllables, as “the nice young men in their clean white coats” come in to take him away (Hahaaaaa-aaaah).
“He can lose little (relatively) by dumping Vance this weekend (still, under RNC rules how is that possible? Same with replacing him? I’m sure it can be done but it won’t be pretty and the press, though cowed by Trump will have a field day over him having caved and making moves out of desperation) but will he?”
BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Did you SERIOUSLY write “RNC rules” and think no one would catch that? The RNC is under Trump’s absolute control: Chairman Michael Whatley owes his very position to Trump (given Trump’s support of his “candidacy”) and the Co-Chair is Trump’s daughter-in-law, Lara. If Trump says, “I’m going to replace Vance today with ____,” both Whatley and Lara are going to nod in full agreement and begin writing the RNC’s official endorsement of the new Vice-Führer candidate. And there will be ZERO public opposition to the candidacy from anyone (not even Don Junior who’ll suddenly be “JD Who? Never heard of the guy”). Even Vance will put out a statement (probably written by Whatley or Lara or some other deep Trump flunky) in which HE will put all the blame on himself for “misleading President Trump and his team” about his past and for causing any embarrassment to Trump and the Party.
The real problem–as you point out–is that Trump does NOT suffer embarrassment well (or, at all, for that matter). No matter how long it is before Trump replaces Vance (if he actually does), it’s going to cause personal embarrassment for Trump. Trump will do his best to blame others for Vance’s candidacy (and, Don Junior is going to have, as Ricky Ricardo would say, “some ‘splainin’ to do” over promoting Vance) and he’ll probably be able to get his MAGAt “faithful” to view Vance as an apostate (I foresee all of Vance’s previous anti-Trump talk to *suddenly* resurface as part of the reason for dumping Vance–“He was never a REAL Trump supporter, never REALLY behind the movement, just a leech who used us for his own purposes”) but the rest of the public won’t be fooled–they’ll just see one more “well, his usefulness for Trump ran its course, so on to the next schmuck.”
J.D. – Don Jr., or DJ – think about it folks. JD or DJ? Two assholes at the youngish end of middle age. White guys with matching beards. Fric and Frac. Could be brothers. Come to think of it, given how Trump would screw any woman with a pulse if she was made up and well built (have no idea what Vance’s mom looked like back then but being an addict doesn’t preclude someone being pretty or handsome) who knows? He might have indulged in a quick boink and sperm donored little J.D. Half brothers? Weird is becoming the word when it comes to Trump World now so what the hell. “People say” they are half-brothers to put it like Trump does when he wants to toss out some theory. Just sayin
Replacing Vance would require Donald admitting he made a mistake, and Donnie Donuts cannot admit he was wrong. He will.double down. Academic I was “an old friend so I gave him.a chance for that reason. Being a nice guy, I felt I could count on him, but he just wasn’t up.to the job so I had to let him go, and I think he was actually relieved. You hire the Mets, you don’t get the World Series.”