Vice-president JD Vance has addressed reporters after Donald Trump described him as being hauled away ‘like he was a little boy’.
The exchange resurfaced while journalists questioned the vice president during Trump’s trip abroad — his first state visit to China since 2017 — where the president was also filmed making alleged ‘power gestures’ toward Xi Jinping.
Earlier this week, Trump spoke in the White House Rose Garden and singled out his Security Service, praising their actions during an alleged assassination attempt involving the POTUS on April 25 at the White House Correspondents’ dinner.
“I thought you did a great job two weeks ago. You know why? Because I’m here,” he said.
Trump then recounted the moment Vance was removed from his seat, saying the VP was lifted out of his chair ‘like he was a little boy’.
Trump joked of the evacuation: “I said, ‘How come they didn’t lift me up so fast?’ JD got ripped out of the chair, that was the view of the week.”
Although the remarks prompted plenty of reaction, Vance didn’t immediately issue any public response. Still, it hasn’t stopped the press from repeatedly bringing up how Trump speaks about him.
On May 13, Vance hosted a press conference to promote a new anti-fraud task force — the same day Trump was photographed shaking hands with Xi on the other side of the world.
Vance said the president’s absence was noticeable, even likening his situation to Macaulay Culkin’s Home Alone character waking on Christmas morning to find his family has left for Paris without him.
After the event, CNN’s Kit Maher asked Vance about Trump’s habit of publicly floating potential successors, including Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
“Why do you think he does that?” asked Maher. “Do you think it’s a little bit of toying with you both over your succession? Why do you think he brings that up?”
Vance responded by joking about Trump’s former The Apprentice TV series, saying: “Well, I just don’t think it sounds like the president of United States to have a televised competition for who would succeed him as his apprentice.”
He added, sarcastically: “I just think that’s not at all what you would expect the president to do.”
He then said: “But no, look, I think the president, he’s always been fascinated by politics. If you talk to him, he was fascinated by politics 30 years before he ever ran for office. So I think it’s natural for him to joke around with us a little bit. to play around with the idea, but I can tell you, the president is as focused as any of us on making sure we do as good of a job now for the American people.”
The questions come shortly after Trump spoke about the 2028 election on May 11 and tested the room by asking: “Who likes JD Vance? Who likes Marco Rubio?”
He followed it up with: “Is it gonna be JD? Is it gonna be someone else? I don’t know,” he added.