Vance steps into shutdown forefront as Trump's lead basher of Hill Democrats

WASHINGTON — Vice President JD Vance has emerged as President Donald Trump’s lead attack dog on the government shutdown as some Democrats lambaste what they see as a lack of White House leadership.

Vance, a former Ohio senator, helped Republicans negotiate a tax and spending bill among themselves earlier this year, but he has stepped into the federal funding fracas with no track record of helping strike bipartisan deals.

Still, Vance on Wednesday vowed to lead a pressure campaign against some of his former Senate colleagues designed to wear down vulnerable and moderate Democratic senators until they vote with Republicans on a House-passed measure that would reopen the government and fund it until Nov. 21.

“To their credit, a few moderate Democrats voted to open the government. That’s not a Republican shutdown,” he told reporters. “Now, you can disagree about a number of things, but you can’t disagree about the obvious fact that Republicans voted to open the government. The president stands ready to sign that opening of the government. We just need a few more Democrats to join us in that effort to open the government.”

The 6-foot-2-inch Marine veteran towered over the lectern in the James Brady Briefing Room, standing alongside the much shorter White House press secretary, Karoline Leavitt. As she looked on with a near-constant smile, Vance went after congressional Democrats with a confident and sometimes-charming demeanor. While he had plenty of tough talk and criticism for Democratic leaders and rank-and-file members, he delivered his lines with a smile from behind his salt-and-pepper beard.

His remarks offered plenty of red meat for the “Make America Great Again” base, and were part of a daylong media tour that started with a morning hit on Trump-friendly Fox News that, in part, went hard at Senate Minority Leader Charles E. Schumer, who could face a primary challenge in 2028 from Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez. (She has yet to announce her plans.)

“I think it’s important for the American people to realize that the far-left faction of Senate Democrats shut down the government because we wouldn’t give them hundreds of billions of dollars for health care benefits for illegal aliens,” Vance told the popular “Fox & Friends” morning show, appearing to refer to the health insurance subsidies that are are the center of the shutdown fight.

“This is basically Chuck Schumer. … He’s worried he’s going to get a primary challenge from AOC, and so he’s shutting down the people’s government to give in to sort of the left-wing coalition and their party,” he added. “And it’s craziness.”

Vance kept up the anti-Schumer messaging later in the day before a packed room of journalists at the White House.

“The Chuck Schumer-AOC wing of the Democratic Party shut down the government because they said to us, ‘We will open the government — but only if you give billions of dollars of funding for health care for illegal aliens,” he said.

One former aide to House Republican aides gave Vance high marks for his performance so far as Trump’s lead shutdown voice.

“The VP did a great job. He spent some time in the U.S. Senate so he knows Leader Schumer and how he operates. This is clearly a ‘Schumer shutdown,’” Aaron Cutler said in a Thursday email. “Reminds me of the 2013 shutdown except roles are flipped — House Republicans forced that one with a Democratic White House, and now this is forced by Senate Democrats with a Republican White House.”

But a Washington Post flash poll of 1,010 U.S. adults conducted Wednesday suggests Vance, Trump and other administration officials, as well as congressional Republicans, have some work to do to convince voters that Democrats deserve more of the shutdown blame.

The survey asked: “Who do you think is mainly responsible for the federal government partially shutting down?” Nearly half (47%) blamed Trump and Republicans, with 30% pointing a finger at Democrats in Congress. (Another 23% said they weren’t sure who to blame.)

Democratic lawmakers and strategists have panned Vance’s role as the shutdown entered its second day Thursday and appeared likely to span the weekend. They have painted Vance and Trump as purposely refusing to extend health care subsidies on which many Americans depend.

House Democratic Conference Chair Pete Aguilar said at a Wednesday news conference that Americans supported Democratic efforts “to protect their health care funding.”

“While JD Vance continues to spew lies, while Republicans are scattered across the country, we’re here. … We’re here, ready to negotiate, ready to discuss and debate, how we get out of this shutdown,” the California Democrat said.

“They have an inability to deal with the health care crisis and the affordability crisis that Americans are going through. That’s what this is about,” Aguilar added. “And it’s a shame … that they (Republicans) continue to use every lever they can to extract pain.”

One Democratic strategist assessed Vance’s Wednesday performance by calling him a Trump clone.

“The vice president made a valiant effort Wednesday to change the conversation about the federal government shutdown. Millions of Americans will suffer when their medical costs increase and then lose their healthcare because of Trump’s big bad budget bill. But Vance didn’t address the concerns of those unfortunate people,” Brad Bannon said in a Thursday email.

“Instead he harped on the usual Trump attack lines on the migrants who harvest our crops and build our homes. Who needs Vance when he simply parrots the usual Trump sound bites? Vice Presidents typically are the attack dogs in presidential administrations,” Bannon added. “But Trump has taken that dirty job for himself.”

While Vance left the White House with a wave and a smile Wednesday, some top Democrats slammed his defense of an artificial intelligence-generated meme that Trump shared on social media that depicted House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries wearing a sombrero and sporting a large curly mustache.

“JD Vance thinks we will surrender to the Republican effort to gut healthcare because of a Sombrero meme,” Jeffries wrote on social media. “Not happening Bro.”

Vance tried to laugh off what Jeffries had dubbed a “racist” meme, saying the president, who’s long had harsh words for illegal migrants, was just joking around.

“We’re all trying to do a very important job for the American people. The president of the United States likes to have a little bit of fun when he’s doing it,” his No. 2 said. “And I think that’s OK.”

In a sign of the current political environment, Jeffries’ social media post included a doctored meme of Vance with a more-bloated face and a mullet haircut. As the shutdown continues, creating AI memes appears among the very few things on which the parties agree.