J.D. Vance Ridiculed by Critics After Claiming America 'Won Almost' No Wars Until Donald Trump Became President: 'This Is Pure Gaslighting'

During a White House press briefing and a CBS Face the Nation interview on Thursday, September 3, Vice President J.D Vance was excoriated after claiming the United States had "won almost none" of its wars over the last 42 years until Donald Trump took office.

Vance's comments were made while defending the Trump administration's foreign policy record and the leadership of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth.

"America has fought a lot of wars since I've been alive. 42 years. And we have won almost none of them until Donald J. Trump became the president,” Vance said.

The remarks came amid a highly tense political backdrop, including the recent resignation of Army Secretary Dan Driscoll and the ongoing U.S. military conflict with Iran, which has reached its seventh month.

Vance questioned the historical establishment at the Pentagon, stating, "What does that say about the culture of military leadership, the way that we did planning? And what does it say, frankly, about the political leadership that we've had in the White House at the Department of War for 40 years of, frankly, military misadventures?”

The Vice President faced immediate blowback from political opponents, military historians and commentators for several key reasons.

Critics pointed out that Vance's sweeping timeline erased notable U.S. military victories, most significantly Operation Desert Storm (the 1991 Gulf War), which successfully liberated Kuwait and is widely studied as a decisive American military triumph.

The current situation in Iran magnified the criticism. While Vance argued that the U.S. has destroyed Iran's nuclear infrastructure and achieved its core objectives, critics like former President Barack Obama sharply rebuked the administration, highlighting that the campaign has cost over $30 billion, depleted domestic munition stockpiles and heightened global economic instability.

Media outlets and political analysts noted a contradiction in Vance's messaging.

While using the briefing to criticize America's history of "wars," Vance explicitly refused to label the active, seven-month hostilities with Iran as a "war," downplaying it instead as a temporary conflict with "no active shooting" to quell voter anxieties ahead of the upcoming midterm elections.

“George H. W. Bush would disagree. In terms of no presidents ever winning wars, he successfully drove Iraqi forces out of Kuwait. It’s just extraordinary to say we’re not in war and to say every president for the past 40 years has been a failure,” said MS NOW’s senior national security advisor David Rhode on Morning Joe.

Social media critics seized on Vance’s comments, with popular influencer JoJoFromJerz saying, “But, but we aren’t IN a war, J.D. He never started a war, right? Isn’t that what you’ve all said since day one of this ‘military exercise’ we’ve been in for almost 7 months?”

“This is pure gaslighting, and J.D Vance is completely delusional. Donald Trump has been involved in a trade war with Canada and an actual war with Iran and lost both,” noted another.

“Trump has won zero wars,” added another.

“So now you admit Trump’s 'excursion', as the twisted ignorant dummy calls it, is a 'war.' You’re a stupid, stupid fool @JDVance. Trump has won nothing. He’s a loser. And so are you. Pathetic,” blasted a teacher on X.

For the record, Trump has claimed to have ended eight to ten wars or major conflicts, but fact-checkers and foreign policy experts state he has not actually won or permanently resolved any full-scale wars.