New York. US Vice President JD Vance is distancing himself from Donald Trump after the Republican election debacle and is putting himself in position for the race for the White House in 2028. Vance blamed the Iran war started by Trump for the Democrats' landslide victory. "Everyone knows why we lost. And any discussion about what happens next has to start there," Vance wrote in a long post on the online platform X.
Trump was asked about Vance's analysis a short time later and said: "I think that's mostly true." At the same time, he reiterated: “As far as this war is concerned, I would not have done anything differently” – since it was about Iran not being able to have a nuclear weapon. Trump and Vance thus had a kind of long-distance discussion.
The vice president had previously written: "If you want to argue that it was worth it - that it was worth losing the Senate for six years - then you should do so."
In the election, the Republicans lost the majority in both the House of Representatives and the Senate. This will make it very difficult for Trump to govern in the final two years of his term. A large voter survey made it clear that dissatisfaction with Trump's policies - and especially the rising fuel prices as a result of the Iran war - was a central reason for the electoral clap.
At the same time, Trump downplayed the prospect of Vance running for president. "Maybe he won't run. I don't know who will run," he told TV cameras at the construction site of his White House ballroom. Trump had previously kept it open about who he saw as a potential successor to him in the role of Republican leader. In addition to Vance, Secretary of State Marco Rubio is also considered a possible candidate.
However, the election debacle could slow Vance's ambitions, says Marc Short, the former chief of staff to Trump's then-Vice President Mike Pence. “It certainly doesn’t help his case,” Short said. “I would even say it’s harmful.” Vance's comments seemed like "a conscious distancing" from Trump, even though he is inextricably linked to him.
At his first public appearance after the election debacle, Trump spoke primarily about his architectural projects. In addition to the ballroom, for which he had the east wing of the White House demolished, there is also a highly controversial triumphal arch and the renovation of a traditional golf course in Washington.
Vance wrote that many voters who voted for him and Trump in the presidential election two years ago were angry. A survey showed that disappointed voters wanted four things in particular: the end of the Iran war, a focus on the cost of living and inflation, putting America first and a change in relations with Israel.
Vance expressed understanding for the criticism. "To everyone who is just angry about the outcome: you should be too. Let's use that anger to get back to the job of saving our country," he wrote.
President Trump announced on election night that he would “work with Democrats to make sure things go well for our country.” In a live broadcast by Politico magazine, he referred to the “ultimate power” of his veto power, but at the same time said he didn’t want to “just sit there for two years and veto everything.”
With their majorities in the House of Representatives and the Senate, the Democrats cannot easily reverse Trump's policies - but they can at least significantly disrupt them. On Wednesday, the focus was already cautiously on the 2028 presidential election, in which Trump will no longer be allowed to run.
With regard to a possible new impeachment procedure that the Democrats could initiate with their majority in the House of Representatives, Trump appeared calm. He is “not even a little bit” worried about impeachment proceedings. In his view, such a move would “destroy” the Democratic Party. There was no reason for it, he claimed. "For what? For having a successful country?" Trump asked.
Democrat Jamie Raskin, who could become chairman of the Judiciary Committee in January, replied on CNN: “We are not afraid to impeach him.” But his party also knows that this is not a panacea. During Trump's first term in office, two attempts at impeachment by the House of Representatives failed in the Senate, where a two-thirds majority is required. After the election, the Democrats hold 54 of the 100 Senate seats and still have a chance of winning two more.
The Democrats celebrated groundbreaking successes in states where they had not been able to win for decades. In Kansas, Adam Hamilton won the first Senate seat for the Democrats since 1932, and in Texas, James Talarico became the first Democratic senator in almost 40 years. In Ohio, Sherrod Brown won the seat that Vice President Vance held until two years ago. With his victory in the hard-fought Michigan, left-wing Democrat Abdul El-Sayed becomes the first Muslim to enter the Senate.
Midway through the president's term in office, all 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 Senate seats were voted on. In the Senate, the Republicans started election day with a majority of 53 seats.
