No need to blame. He might try saying what Biden said — unify the party.
I see no harm in his telling the truth — Vance didn’t poll well.
As for the last day when Trump can be reasonably sure all ballots will show the new VP name, someone here said September 1. But if Trump wins in November, whatever the ballots said, his electors will vote for the new ticket. All that matters is the name given on the certificates of ascertainment.
Maybe he should just find another running mate who’s also named James David Vance.
I don’t know; make me an offer. But make me both halves of an offer: tell me exactly what I’ll get if I step down while Trump heaps praise on me — and tell me exactly what fresh hell is in store from me if Trump loses and heaps all of the blame on me. Okay, tell me a little more about the carrot. And then tell me some more about the stick. And then close with the carrot.
I kind of like your odds of making the sale.
Well, that gave me a chuckle.
It would certainly have novelty value.
Regarding Vance needing to step down before Trump replaces him, that’s per current Republican National Committee (RNC) rules. They can have change the rules whenever they want. And I’m seeing a bunch of articles saying that Trump controls the RNC,
So Donald can privately tell Vance that we can do this the easy way, or we can do it the hard way.
The only difference would be the false promises Trump makes in the first instance. Once you give him what he wants, you’re no longer of any value to him. In either case, if Trump loses, you’re the fall guy who cost him everything. And even if Trump wins, well, that was all Trump’s doing. You were just the guy who Trump had to keep away from his couches.
In either case, your political career is done. When Trump excommunicates you, every MAGA in the county will turn on you. You maybe finish out your term as Senator, and then get primaried.
I am constantly amazed at the number of people who have hitched their fortunes to Trump only to end up completely without dignity, credibility and in some cases, a livelihood. Think about Pence, Jeff Sessions, Giuliani and now Vance, they all crawled on their knees to kiss his ass and they all will have nothing to show for it.
He won’t be replaced. He doesn’t overshadow Don the Con (has no ‘accomplishments’). He’s loud. He’s a willing and enthusiastic liar (lies matter little to the cult). Hypocrisy, thy name is Vance, is a feature, not a bug.
His wife is a ‘distraction’ to the white nationalists but not enough to switch votes or not show up at the polls.
No, he won’t be replaced, but he will be a national joke for the rest of his life.
And a very highly paid media analyst.
“Mr. Former VP Laughingstock Candidate, on a scale of “Potatoe” to “Couch Fucker”, how much does this latest scandal affect their campaign?”
There is no upside for Vance voluntarily withdrawing and too much work for Trump to get the RNC to drop him. Opportunism and laziness make interesting bedfellows.
I wasn’t counting on a promise from Trump in the first instance; I was counting on a promise from a Guy You Can Do Business With, who’d have the archetypal trait of actually following through when a bargain is struck: someone who (a) sure, offers a straight cash bribe dressed up as a cushy consulting job or whatever; but who also (b) pays up once the offer is accepted — because, as Jerry Seinfeld would emphasize, that’s really the most important part.
Is a guy other than Trump standing by to switch things from insecure to sinecure?
You ever notice how many disgraced fascists go on Dancing with the Stars? That’s weird.
Well, we have no way of knowing that. But how would Trump respond to this? Someone else bribing Vance to stand down makes Trump look even weaker.
Pence ended up crashing on friends’ couches after leaving office. I can’t see anyone letting Vance do that.
You won the internet today.
See, I figured the first part there takes care of the second part — that we have no way of knowing who’d actually be bankrolling this scenario, sure as we don’t get to see Trump weakly standing off to the side while someone else bribes Vance to stand down — because we only get to see Vance say some stuff and drop out of the race.
And — much like when a CEO or the head of a university or whatever disingenuously explains that he’s stepping down because, gosh, he’d sure like to spend more time with his family or something — we all just sort of give a resigned nod to each other in a manner that says, look, we don’t get to see any of the behind-the-scenes stuff on this one; but it’s theater, right?
I mean, yes, the whole thing only hangs together if there are people willing to so pay off folks in situations like this: discreetly and reliably. But I guess I kind of took for granted that we all take for granted that there are, in fact, rich people who fit that bill.
Except that most regular people have no stake in such mostly-private affairs. But when it touches on the office adjacent to the most powerful person on the planet? There’s no way Vance shows up with a shiny new 10 million dollars a year job, and someone doesn’t start asking questions.