From staying in a $10,000-a-week English manor to a palace in Jaipur, JD Vance spent much of this year on lavish vacations. When he wasn’t jetsetting on the taxpayers’ dime, Vance was at the center of the White House’s biggest scandals — strategizing around the Epstein Files scandal, flip-flopping on the pardons of violent January 6th insurrectionists, jeopardizing the lives of service members through Signalgate, and serving as the public face of Donald Trump’s government shutdown — to name a few. 

Vance has pledged blind allegiance to Trump and supported his every move. As one of their allies said, “There’s just no daylight” between them. 

In response, DNC Rapid Response Director Kendall Witmer released the following statement: 

“JD Vance has been Donald Trump’s most loyal puppet, backing his reckless decisions at every turn. When he wasn’t jetsetting around the world on the taxpayers’ dime, Vance was getting himself embroiled in the biggest scandals this year. Instead of standing up for everyday Americans, Vance has served as Trump’s glorified attack dog, gaslighting Americans about the failures of this administration while they pay the price for its disastrous policies.” 

The Epstein Files Scandal
Vance hosted a meeting with Trump’s top cabinet officials to discuss strategy on their bungled handling of the Epstein Files. Vance and the rest of the White House humiliated themselves with infighting, finger-pointing, and dysfunction all year, trying to block the release of the files and make the scandal go away. 

Pardoning violent January 6 insurrectionists
Vance vehemently advocated for Trump to pardon over 1,500 people convicted or charged in connection with the January 6th insurrection — and was reportedly “behind the scenes pushing as hard as possible” for broad pardons and commutations, even for violent insurrectionists, despite Vance publicly saying he only wanted pardons for those who “protested peacefully.” When Trump pardoned violent offenders anyway, Vance was silent. 

Signalgate
In March, Vance played a central role in Signalgate, when top Trump aides added a reporter to a conversation about planned airstrikes in Yemen. A Pentagon watchdog recently found that the leak risked U.S. service members. Once the scandal broke, Vance went as far as saying that the incident “reflected well on [him].” 

Ripping away health care and food assistance from millions of Americans
Vance cast the tie-breaking vote for the Big Ugly Bill, which kicks 14.2 million Americans off their health insurance and rips away food assistance from millions of kids and families, all while giving billionaires a massive tax handout. 

Longest government shutdown in history
Vance was the poster child for shutting down the government and raising health care premiums for over 20 million Americans. Vance consistently shot down Democrats’ common-sense plans that would have lowered health care costs and prevented the disastrous Medicaid cuts from Trump’s billionaire-first budget bill.