First posted on Instagram · @profilopolitics
JD Vance to Tucker Carlson: you call Michigan Democrat Abdul El-Sayed the America First candidate because you both oppose the Iran war — and I understand that. But El-Sayed's reason is that the conflict violates international law. How is that America First?
That was the vice president's pushback on The Sean Spicer Show, in an interview recorded at the White House and aired Friday. Carlson had told his audience he would not vote for Republican Mike Rogers "at gunpoint" and called El-Sayed "literally Trumpian." Tucker's position: El-Sayed's skepticism of the Iran war and foreign entanglements makes him the America First option in Michigan's Senate race.
"Here's a guy saying the Iran conflict is a problem because it violates international law. How can this be America first?"
Vance's response: shared opposition to the war is not enough. Framing it as an international-law violation does not put American interests first — it puts a rulebook written by foreign institutions first. Asked whether he calls out even his friends when they get it wrong, Vance did not flinch: "I think you have to do it all the time, and I've done it to Tucker."
At the same time, Vance refused to join the pile-on demanding he disown Carlson altogether. The context makes the line harder to walk: after a Hezbollah-inspired attack on a Jewish kindergarten in suburban Detroit in March, El-Sayed responded that "hurting people is hurting people" — a comment that has hung over his campaign ever since, and one reason conservatives say he cannot be the America First choice in any serious sense.
The stakes are bigger than one Senate race. Michigan is a must-win for Republicans, and a public split between the vice president and the most influential voice in conservative media over who counts as America First is exactly the fight Democrats want on television. Vance closed the way he started — loyal to his friend, immovable on the principle: "I think it's disloyal and I don't think anyone who does that to gain political advantage deserves to be vice president."
Never miss a story.
Join our Telegram channel and get every article link the second it’s published.
Join Telegram Channel