JD Vance Needs to Stop Trying

When Donald Trump won his first presidential election on Nov. 8, 2016, there were Republicans — quite a few, in fact — who, after initially resisting his hold over the party, succumbed to the allure of their new leader. Some within the Trump team derided these latecomers as the Nov. 9 Club: those who signed on only when victory was secure and influence was sought. Trump prizes fealty above all, remember, so members of that club would need to work overtime to prove their devotion to the president, to MAGA, to what Trumpism would become.

The historic rejection of Trump’s second term in the midterm elections on Nov. 3, a decade later, does not equal the end of Trumpism — Stephen Miller’s elevation to White House chief of staff suggests the president is not backing down — but it does signal the beginning of its end. As Trumpism begins its inexorable decline in our political life, there will be Republicans who strive to separate themselves from what the president has meant for country and for party, who will attempt a long, improbable trek back to respectability.

Already we are hearing the anti-Trump recriminations from party strategists and politicians. “This is all about him.” “Trump did this.” “It is now time to make America good again.” Most notably, Vice President JD Vance has begun carving out some personal space, blaming the atrocious Republican showing on the Iran war and calling for an “honest conversation” about it. (Whenever politicians urge an honest conversation about something, it’s a sign that they were less than honest about it previously.)

Welcome to the Nov. 4 Club, made up of Republicans who insist that they’ve finally had enough or that all along they were privately concerned, personally appalled, secretly dismayed or whatever euphemism best elides the abdication of principle for expediency.

It’s too late for them to be Never Trump. But could they credibly claim to be Never Again Trump?

It’s a tricky move, to apologize for being an apologist. There is too much evidence, too much accumulated memory. “Unite the Right” and “Access Hollywood.” Ukraine and the “perfect” call. The 2020 party platform that pledged to “enthusiastically support the president’s ‘America first’ agenda.” The farce of election denial and the travesty of Jan. 6. Operations Midway Blitz and Metro Surge. Renee Good and Alex Pretti and Lorenzo Salgado. The war against Iran and the submission to Vladimir Putin. DOGE and the endless campaign of political revenge. The corruption of the presidency to amass enormous personal wealth.

How do you summon up shame for so many years of shamelessness? It’s a challenge for all countries emerging from the cynicism of illiberal rule, for all voters realizing they’ve been had, for all the politicians who wallowed in so much muck that they grew accustomed to the stench.

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