By Danny Kemp, AFP
JD Vance exploded onto the world's television screens in February when he triggered a row with Ukraine's leader Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House. Photo: Jim Lo Scalzo/EPA/Bloomberg via Getty Images via CNN Newsource
Analysis - JD Vance has taken the historically thankless job of US vice president by the scruff of the neck, carving out a role as the Trump administration's global attack dog in its first 100 days.
Whereas some of his predecessors have waited out their time a heartbeat away from the presidency, the ambitious 40-year-old has not been afraid to insert himself into world events.
Vance exploded onto the world's television screens in February when he triggered a blazing row with Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office, before President Donald Trump jumped in to berate the Ukrainian president too.
Read more:
Why JD Vance took the lead in attacking Zelensky
And it was the former Ohio senator that Trump dispatched to Greenland to back up his extraordinary territorial claims over the Danish-ruled island.
Beijing also lashed out at him for saying Washington borrowed money from Chinese "peasants."
"In some ways, Vance is in the mould of other vice presidents. He's unfailingly loyal to the president, knows not to overshadow the boss, and acts as an attack dog," Matt Dallek, a professor of political management at George Washington University, said.
But Vance has also made "in-your-face comments that represent something of a departure from his predecessors".
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'Disrespectful'
Nobody quite knew which version of Vance to expect when he started the job.
Photo: AFP / Brendan Smialowski
Was he the Vance from his bestselling 2016 memoir Hillbilly Elegy, widely viewed as an explainer for the right-wing Rust Belt politics that helped drive Trump's first election win?
Was he the US Marine veteran, the Yale-trained lawyer, the devout Catholic convert, or the tech investor who came later?
Or was he indeed the Trump critic who once compared the Republican to Adolf Hitler?
But within weeks of taking office it was clear Vance had reinvented himself again - as the ultimate 'Make America Great Again' enforcer on the world stage.
US Speaker of the House Mike Johnson, right, and Vice President JD Vance applaud as US President Donald Trump addresses a joint session of Congress at the US Capitol in Washington, DC, on March 4, 2025. Photo: WIN MCNAMEE / AFP
During his first big foreign trip he launched a withering attack against Europe on culture war issues at the Munich Security Conference, warning there was a "new sheriff in town".
Then in February he proved his fealty to Trump with the Zelensky clash.
"Have you said 'thank you' once, this entire meeting?" Vance said to Zelensky, calling the Ukrainian leader "disrespectful" before Trump took over.
Vance later insisted he had not been the "bad cop" in a premeditated row.
'Very lonely'
But the Zelensky clash reflected Vance's growing ideological clout in the Trump administration. He has long been hawkishly sceptical on US aid for Ukraine while pushing for Europe to do more for its own defence.
Commentators have described him as the most influential vice president since Dick Cheney, who under George W Bush championed the war in Iraq, where Vance was once deployed.
Vance's key role in the administration burst into the open with the Signalgate scandal, when a journalist was mistakenly looped into a group chat about US airstrikes on Yemen's Huthi rebels.
"I just hate bailing out Europe again," Vance lamented, saying that it was the EU that would benefit most from US military action to stop Huthi attacks on shipping in the Middle East.
Vice President JD Vance and second lady Usha Vance tour the US military's Pituffik Space Base on March 28, in Pituffik, Greenland. Photo: Jim Watson/Getty Images via CNN Newsource
Then Vance became the frontman for Trump's claims over Greenland, making a visit that NATO ally Denmark condemned as provocative.
"We can't just ignore the president's desires," Vance said during his trip.
The world got a rare glimpse during the visit of Usha Vance, his wife and mother of their three children, whom he has credited as steadying influence.
Usha Vance admitted in a recent interview that it could be a "very lonely, lonely world" for her husband in his new role.
That role is also seen as a natural stepping stone for the highest US office.
Vance himself has admitted that he could run for president in the 2028 election, but only after consulting with Trump.
Trump however has declined to endorse him just yet - amid speculation that the incumbent could himself somehow defy the US Constitution and run for a third term.
"No," Trump told Fox News's Bret Baier in February when asked if he viewed Vance as his successor. "But he's very capable."
-AFP
