PoliticsDonald Trump Stumbles Through 'Half-Hearted' Praise of J.D. Vance
Donald Trump seemed to beat around the bush when reacting to Gavin Newsom's criticism of J.D. Vance.
May 21 2026, Published 5:22 p.m. ET
President Donald Trump stumbled into agreeing with a premise that Vice President J.D. Vance may not have what it takes to carry the MAGA movement after him.
The viral political exchange occurred after the California Gov. Gavin Newsom publicly taunted Vance, asserting that the "era of Trump ends with Trump" because Vance fundamentally lacks the "cult of personality" needed to carry the MAGA movement forward.
When a reporter presented this critique to the POTUS on Capitol Hill, Trump seemingly accepted the premise before offering a meandering, less-than-resounding defense of his vice president.
Gavin Newsom is one of Donald Trump's loudest online trolls.
Trump delivered halting, half-hearted praise — calling Vance "talented" and "smart.”
"Well, look, uh, we've done a lot, and J.D. is very talented. He's a smart guy, he's—he'll do very well if it's—if it's J.D.. We have a lot of very talented people, uh, so I think hopefully we're going to leave something that's going to be real easy to run. We're doing—we're doing a lot, we're doing a lot, and J.D.'s a very talented guy,” the POTUS sputtered.
The comely California governor pounced on the moment, amplifying the clip on social media to highlight Trump's lukewarm endorsement and mock Vance's political durability.
'Donald Trump Basically Just Agreed With Governor Newsom'
'J.D. Vance doesn't have hat it takes to carry MAGA after Trump,' Gavin Newsom declared.
“WOW. Donald Trump basically just agreed with Governor Newsom: J.D. Vance doesn’t have what it takes to carry MAGA after Trump," Newsom wrote.
Trump accepted the premise — then awkwardly stumbled through some half-hearted praise for J.D. Brutal,” read Newsom’s wildly popular press office X account.
Vance is statistically the least popular vice president on record, compared with his modern predecessors at the same stage in office.
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J.D. Vance is not performing well in the polls, and neither is his boss.
Data analysis of national polling aggregates shows that Vance's popularity has hit historic lows since taking office in January 2025.
While vice presidential approval ratings have broadly trended downward over the last few decades, Vance’s numbers represent a record low for modern polling.
According to national polling, Vance's net approval rating is -18 points. This represents a severe 21-point negative swing from the beginning of his term, when he maintained a slightly positive net approval of +3 points.
J.D. Vance is among names being thrown around as potential Republican candidates for president in 2028.
This downward trajectory follows a pattern that began during the 2024 campaign trail. Immediately following the 2024 Republican National Convention, Vance became the first non-incumbent vice-presidential nominee since 1980 to register a net-negative favorability rating (-6 points), tracking far below the historical post-convention average of +19 points.
While Vance maintains the strongest position among conservative voters for the 2028 Republican presidential nomination, commanding 53 percent of the support in a recent CPAC straw poll, Secretary of State Marco Rubio has experienced a massive surge, surging to 35 percent (up from just 3 percent previously). Observers credit this "Marco Mania" to his high-profile diplomatic handling of the Iran conflict and strong White House briefing room appearances.
