Vice President J.D. Vance broke his silence amid the escalating online war of words between President Donald Trump and his former ally and key campaign donor, Elon Musk.
“President Trump has done more than any person in my lifetime to earn the trust of the movement he leads,” Vance said on X (formerly Twitter) late Thursday night. “I'm proud to stand beside him.”
On Friday, Vance spoke out once more, reaffirming his stance and support of Trump.
"There are many lies the corporate media tells about President Trump. One of the most glaring is that he's impulsive or short-tempered. Anyone who has seen him operate under pressure knows that's ridiculous," Vance said.
"It's (maybe) the single biggest disconnect between fake media perception and reality."
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Vance’s public statements came after Musk, who recently left his role leading the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), indirectly brought the Vice President into the row.
On Thursday, Musk responded “yes,” endorsing a social media post that said “Trump should be impeached” and that Vance “should replace him” in the White House. (As of early Saturday morning, Musk's impeachment-related post was no longer showing, with X users instead receiving a notice that reads: "Sorry, that post has been deleted.")
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Musk also acknowledged an X post from Vance, sharing a laughing emoji in response to the Vice President's commentary that it had been a “slow news day.” Revealing he was sitting down with popular podcaster Theo Vaughn for an interview, Vance quipped: “What are we even going to talk about?”
The row between Trump and Musk imploded after Musk aired his grievances with Trump’s "Big, Beautiful Bill," which is being considered by the Senate. The Tesla CEO branded the bill a “disgusting abomination” and posted more than two dozen messages on his social media platform on Wednesday, targeting the legislation. He ramped up his efforts to thwart the bill's progress when he told his millions of followers to “call your Senator, call your Congressman… kill the bill.”
Trump responded, telling reporters in the Oval Office that he was “disappointed” with Musk. The row then spiraled and turned personal, with the two going back-and-forth via posts shared on their respective social media platforms.
Read More: Revisiting Elon Musk’s Most Controversial Moments in the White House
“Without me, Trump would have lost the election,” Musk said. “Such ingratitude.”
Another post saw Musk claim that Trump is listed in the Epstein files, and that’s why they haven’t been made public in their entirety. He did not provide evidence pertaining to this. (The Epstein-related post from Musk had also been deleted as of Saturday morning.)
Meanwhile, on Thursday, Trump had said via Truth Social: “Elon was ‘wearing thin.’ I asked him to leave. I took away his EV Mandate that forced everyone to buy electric cars that nobody else wanted (that he knew for months I was going to do!) and he just went CRAZY!”
It remains to be seen if there's a path to reconciliation for the President and his former right-hand-man has spiraled. But Vance has made his position clear with his show of support to Trump.