Trump handing out buckets of warm piss

To follow up on Paul’s post below, given how much Trump insists on having his stamp on everything his washing his hands of the Iran surrender and tying Vance to the train tracks is instructive:

Donald Trump wants his name and face on everything—office buildings, banners, passports, palatial ballrooms, $250 bills, stimulus checks, arts centers. He has held public signings for nearly every executive order and piece of legislation (except for the bill on releasing the Epstein files, which was signed in secret).

And yet, Trump is nowhere to be found on his Big Beautiful Surrender Deal with Iran. That thing? Oh, that belongs to JD Vance. He’s the one defending it. He’s the one who will be signing it.1 The vice president owns it.

Which tells you everything you need to know about the merits of the MoU. If it were good for Trump and/or America, then the president would be everywhere, taking all of the credit for it. The fact that Trump is making JD eat this shit sandwich is proof that Trump (and America) got smoked by the Iranians.

So let’s put the substance of Trump’s surrender aside and focus on the politics: What is Vance’s angle?

Because here’s the proposition JD Vance is trying to sell:

I knew the war was a bad idea. I fully support President Trump. Operation Epic Fury was an amazing success. Our super-cool military crushed Iran. And I’m the one who got us out of that tough situation. Pick me and I’ll make sure we never launch another hugely successful war.

Can he get away with it?

I also agree that the answer to the last question is “maybe.” I don’t think Trump is doing this to undermine Vance per se but because he knows this deal is a dog with fleas. The question is whether Vance will be Trump’s guy when the time comes, and that question remains open. Because being Trump’s man requires unstinting loyalty to president making one huge political mistake after another, however, the value of the Republican nomination itself is diminishing. And needless to say being Trump’s public lickspittle is far from a guarantee of any further loyalty — the smart money is probably that Vance eating shit will be rewarded with Trump endorsing Rubio or something.