Where Is J.D. Vance?

Where is Vice President Vance? That is the question as President Trump directs the attack on Iran, at first from Mar-a-Lago, flanked by his chief of staff, Susie Wiles, and secretary of state, Marco Rubio. Turns out that the veep was back at Washington D.C., with assorted Cabinet members. Mr. Vance also appeared missing from the president’s side during the operation to capture the erstwhile president of Venezuela, Nicolás Maduro. Is Mr. Vance on the outs? The Daily Beast reckons that he “has made no secret of his skepticism over America’s involvement in foreign wars, and sources say the split has affected his relationship with the president.” Two years ago Mr. Vance noted that “Our interest, I think, very much is in not going to war with Iran. It would be a huge distraction of resources. It would be massively expensive to our country.” Both the Times and the Atlantic report that Mr. Vance had reservations about “Operation Epic Fury.” The Gray Lady reports that the vice president “intensely questioned” the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, General Dan Caine, and the CIA director, John Ratcliffe, before our planes took off. Due diligence is no disgrace, especially when American lives and treasure are at stake. Still, it is hard not to see that Mr. Vance is losing altitude.One liberal, Ross Barkan of New York Magazine, reasons that Mr. Vance “might end up the 2028 nominee, but Trump’s second term absolutely belongs to Marco Rubio.” He predicts that “Neoconservatives, beginning with Rubio, will be able to dominate American foreign policy for the next three years. This is their comeback, their new golden age.” Certainly the isolationism taken as Mr. Vance’s default position appears to be at least on pause. Mr. Vance, a Marine, is not wrong to ask tough questions about America’s role in the world in the wake of the wars in Afghanistan and Iraq. Mr. Trump twice won the presidency on platforms that offered alternatives to the conventional wisdoms of both Democrats and Republicans. In 2016, Mr. Trump was the only major Republican nominee to denounce the Iraq War, a stance that, though we don’t agree with it, may have aided his campaign.There is no gainsaying that Mr. Vance remains a figure in his own right. Mr. Rubio says — for now — that he will back him for the 2028 nomination for president. Polls put Mr. Vance in the van of that race. Mr. Vance’s penchant for isolationism, though, appears to rest adjacent to his support for the podcaster Tucker Carlson, who has emerged among the bitter critics of Israel and a mocker of the Jews. Mr. Vance, to his credit, has not adopted that stance. Concerns that the views of Mr. Carlson held sway at the White House — he was spotted at the Oval Office last week — were dispelled as America and Israel joined forces against the Islamic Republic. Mr. Carlson calls the attacks “absolutely disgusting and evil” and warns that “this is going to shuffle the deck in a profound way.” The erstwhile congresswoman Marjorie-Tayor Greene is also incensed. Mr. Trump is at least making the right enemies.Yet it is not exactly clear — at least to us — where the vice president stands, though he could speak soon. The Times relates that, in respect of the attack against Iran, he counseled the president to “go big and go fast.” Constitutionally, Mr. Vance is independent of the president, who cannot command him so much as to get a cup of coffee. He is the president of the Senate, where he has an elegant office. It may be a good place to bide time for a bit.

Where Is J.D. Vance?

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