# Do you believe our Presidency would be more normal if JD Vance takes the office? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [October 14, 2026, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817 "2026-10-14T00:39:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 3:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817/21 "2026-10-14T03:27:10Z")
I imagine a President Vance would act more or less like a semi-normal Republican and cut out a lot of the wackier bullshit - no more pointless saber-rattling at Canada and Greenland, no more on-again-off-again tariffs, no more stunts like building big ass monumental arches and slapping his name on national landmarks. He might even be willing to shitcan bozos like Pete Hegseth and Kash Patel and replace them with, you know, competent people. But as mentioned above, he’s also an acolyte of Peter Thiel, which would bring its own brand of weirdness, especially when it comes to tech-issues, and he’s a supporter of much of what’s in Project 2025, but would go about instituting it in a more subtle, under-the-radar manner. > [@needscoffee](#): > > He was the only one of trump’s group who thought invading Iran was wrong, and he did nothing. Evil. I’ve mentioned on this board before that what keeps Vance up at night is not his complicity in enabling Trump’s antics. What keeps him up at night is the fate of Mike Pence, a loyal servant who spent four years enthusiastically kissing the orange emperor’s hindquarters, but who was cast into irrelevancy the moment he deigned to defy his master. Vance, I’m sure, is well-aware that he has to remain in Trump’s good graces if he hopes to have a political career post-2028. ---
**Author:** ![needscoffee](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/needscoffee/32/1076_2.png) [@needscoffee](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/needscoffee)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 3:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817/22 "2026-10-14T03:33:18Z")
> [@Velocity](#): > > A principled bad guy like Vance Principled? Cite? ---
**Author:** ![Snarky\_Kong](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/a183cd/32.png) [@Snarky\_Kong](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Snarky_Kong)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817/23 "2026-10-14T03:38:45Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > Vance, I’m sure, is well-aware that he has to remain in Trump’s good graces if he hopes to have a political career post-2028. I think this is unlikely to be true. Trump is very unpopular, becoming more unpopular, and has little chance to reverse it. GOP post W was all about distancing themselves; Vance is planning how to shiv Trump as effectively as possible. ---
**Author:** ![joebuck20](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/74df32/32.png) [@joebuck20](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/joebuck20)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 3:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817/24 "2026-10-14T03:49:31Z")
> [@Snarky\_Kong](#): > > I think this is unlikely to be true. Trump is very unpopular, becoming more unpopular, and has little chance to reverse it. GOP post W was all about distancing themselves; Vance is planning how to shiv Trump as effectively as possible. Trump’s poll numbers may be in the toilet, but he also maintains a stranglehold on the GOP. We’ve seen what happened to Bill Cassidy, John Cornyn and other staunch Republicans whose commitment to the MAGA agenda has been questioned by the emperor. ---
**Author:** ![Aspenglow](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aspenglow/32/76_2.png) [@Aspenglow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Aspenglow)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 3:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817/25 "2026-10-14T03:52:32Z")
Moderating: This is a thread that belongs in P&E. Moving. OP, please keep threads that are substantially political in P&E. Thanks. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 4:02am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817/26 "2026-10-14T04:02:18Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > But, would most of the crazy shit end? > > Would he be more circumspect in public statements? > > Would the public attacks on Canada end? Yes. Vance is very conservative, yes, and MAGA- yes. But he is sane. > [@Der\_Trihs](#): > > It would still be terrible and sliding toward fascism, but it would be more “normal” because Trump is a stupid, ignorant malignant narcissist with dementia and _way_ over to one side of the bell curve in terms of rationality and mental competence. Someone can be an evil idiot and still not be _as much of_ an evil idiot as Trump. More or less. > [@needscoffee](#): > > He was the only one of trump’s group who thought invading Iran was wrong, and he did nothing. What could he do? ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 4:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817/27 "2026-10-14T04:40:29Z")
> [@Aspenglow](#): > > Moderating: > > This is a thread that belongs in P&E. Moving. > > OP, please keep threads that are substantially political in P&E. Thanks Noted I put it in imho because the thread speculates what happens if Trump’s age and health requires Vance to take power under the Twenty-fifth Amendment . It’s not about a future election. It’s really whether there’s any hope that things will get back to some degree of normal if there’s a change in the presidency. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 4:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817/28 "2026-10-14T04:48:40Z")
> [@romansperson](#): > > He’ll say/do whatever his daddy figure of the moment wants him to. Which raises the question of what he would actually do if/when he _is_ the daddy figure. ---
**Author:** ![DesertDog](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/desertdog/32/11503_2.png) [@DesertDog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DesertDog)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 7:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817/29 "2026-10-14T07:57:58Z")
Tug a little on his strings. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 8:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817/30 "2026-10-14T08:01:16Z")
IMO, Vance has been trying to position himself so that when/if Trump finally shits himself to death live on stage, he’ll be able to give the “Secret Speech”, as it were, and denounce MAGA/Trumpism as a cult of personality that went too far and led the Republican Party astray from its true mission… which will mostly be the same as MAGA but without as much of the overt racism, narcissistic ego-polishing, and batshit insanity. ---
**Author:** ![Stratocaster](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/stratocaster/32/16393_2.png) [@Stratocaster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stratocaster)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 9:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817/31 "2026-10-14T09:09:43Z")
I’ll echo that Vance will continue to pander to the financial elite, religious right, etc. It’s de rigeur in the modern GOP. And, yes, he will dial down the demented racist grandpa outbursts considerably. I think a significant change, though, will be his lack of full control of the MAGA cult. I don’t think either chamber will fear him as they do Trump, and for good reason. I can’t see Vance mustering the “we will destroy this guy in the primary” reaction that Trump could with a tweet. ---
**Author:** ![CoolHandCox](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/coolhandcox/32/16233_2.png) [@CoolHandCox](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CoolHandCox)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 12:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817/32 "2026-10-14T12:06:26Z")
The appearance of something normal might return. But the core is rotten and Vance won’t do anything to fix it, would be powerless to fix it, and would likely just take advantage of it. So nothing would change. ---
**Author:** ![Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/son_of_a_rich/32/5439_2.png) [@Son\_of\_a\_Rich](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Son_of_a_Rich)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 1:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817/33 "2026-10-14T13:05:07Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > What could he do? Resign. Which is what he should have done after the horrific double tap summary executions in the Caribbean. ---
**Author:** ![running\_coach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/running_coach/32/15836_2.png) [@running\_coach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/running_coach)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 1:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817/34 "2026-10-14T13:22:42Z")
> [@needscoffee](#): > > > [@Velocity](#): > > > > A principled bad guy like Vance > > Principled? Cite? Not all principles are good principles. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817/35 "2026-10-14T13:23:18Z")
> [@CoolHandCox](#): > > The appearance of something normal might return. But the core is rotten and Vance won’t do anything to fix it, would be powerless to fix it, and would likely just take advantage of it. > > So nothing would change. Vance’s lack of political experience concerns me. It will require skillful leadership to guide the country and restore our standing Internationally. Fully healing could take a generation. Imho Ending the irrational, public outbursts is the first step. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 1:36pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817/36 "2026-10-14T13:36:41Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > What would a Vance Presidency look like? The operative word is lengthy. Any MAGA presidency is going to code, to me, as non-fascist authoritarian. But lots of patriotic centrist voters reject that framing and will give Vance a honeymoon extending through November 2028 election day. > [@aceplace57](#): > > I know he’s very conservative. > > But, would most of the crazy shit end? Depends what crazy is meant. Vance would be more consistently isolationist. Less bombing of Iran. Maybe none. Much less risk of invading Panama or Greenland. No military risk to Canada. Maybe Cuba would even be safe from invasion, but that part of my crystal ball is blurry. And after the ballroom and the arch are completed, no more bizarro D.C. construction projects. If by crazy shit we mean the President ruling by decree, intimidating free media, acting cruelly to immigrants, treating European democracies as the enemy, looking for ways to divide the country over sexual and gender minorities, and seeking ways to cheat at elections, there is no reason to predict he would be better or worse. > [@aceplace57](#): > > Would he be more circumspect in public statements? > > Would the public attacks on Canada end? Yes and mostly respectively. > [@aceplace57](#): > > How about it? Would JD be a better, more rational President compared to Trump? More rational? He would sound more rational than Trump (although less presidential than GW Bush or Nixon). Better? To me, worse than Trump, because a likely four more authoritarian years would allow MAGA to consolidate power. ---
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817/37 "2026-10-14T13:55:19Z")
> [@joebuck20](#): > > I imagine a President Vance would act more or less like a semi-normal Republican and cut out a lot of the wackier bullshit - no more pointless saber-rattling at Canada and Greenland, no more on-again-off-again tariffs, no more stunts like building big ass monumental arches and slapping his name on national landmarks. He might even be willing to shitcan bozos like Pete Hegseth and Kash Patel and replace them with, you know, competent people. > > But as mentioned above, he’s also an acolyte of Peter Thiel, which would bring its own brand of weirdness, especially when it comes to tech-issues, and he’s a supporter of much of what’s in Project 2025, but would go about instituting it in a more subtle, under-the-radar manner. Yeah, pretty much all of ^this^. If Vance became President tomorrow, things would be better in the short term, because the sideshow of trumpian insanity would stop. But in the longer term, if Vance somehow got himself elected for a 4 year term, things could be even worse. Because he’d work on making the worst of the real Republican agenda happen while projecting a bland, harmless political exterior. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 1:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817/38 "2026-10-14T13:59:48Z")
I will take the minority position that he would be considerably better. That doesn’t mean he would be good. He’s gone too far down the MAGA road to be good. He wouldn’t be able to abandon that because that’s what got him here. I do believe our foreign policy would be considerably better. He would still be in bed with Netanyahu but he won’t be attacking our allies because of some perceived slight. He won’t be praising Kim. He may listen to generals. Hopefully he would put in a SECDEF that allows for frank discussion in the pentagon. Domestic policy would continue as it is without the crazy mood swings guiding daily operations. ---
**Author:** ![DeadTreasSecretaries](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deadtreassecretaries/32/4817_2.png) [@DeadTreasSecretaries](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadTreasSecretaries)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 2:05pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817/39 "2026-10-14T14:05:13Z")
Nah, Trump’s erratic behavior is part of the image he’s built his personality cult around, and what allows him to get away with everything he does. Vance projecting a surface-level normality would make it a lot harder for him to rule the executive branch like a dictator the way Trump does. ---
**Author:** ![msmith537](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/d9b06d/32.png) [@msmith537](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/msmith537)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 2:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817/40 "2026-10-14T14:09:51Z")
That’s basically it. Vance simply doesn’t command the fanatical following that Trump does for some reason. So regardless of what you think of his policies, he will have to content with a lot more resistance, both outside of and within his party. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817.md?page=3)