Opinion | JD Vance: ‘I’m Not Fighting With the Pope’

How have you ended up, as a Catholic convert vice president, fighting with the pope about the Iran war? Because I’m not fighting with the pope, Ross. – OK. – And if you look at what I said, this is — you know, in public life, you say things, and sometimes you make bone-headed comments and sometimes you say things that are taken totally out of context. What I said about the pope is I actually like that he offers his opinions. I actually like that he’s speaking about the issues of the day and that he’s an advocate for peace. But that doesn’t mean that on prudential questions of how to balance these competing principles, you’re always going to have an elected administration that is going to agree. But here is what I think is the irony, which is that you were arguing, to some degree, in a very polite way, however you want to describe it, with the pope about what were his critiques of the Iran war, even if they were couched in general terms, but based on, one, the excellent reporting of The New York Times, and two, basically everything you’ve said and done in public life, we all know that you thought the Iran war was a bad idea. So you were out there, as the Catholic vice president, trying to end a war that you had opposed while also trying to defend the administration against a pope whose critique I think you agreed with. Is that a fair assessment of what was going on? No, I do not think it’s a fair assessment of what’s going on. Well, because No. 1, with all due respect to the fine reporting, excellent reporting of The New York Times —— – Some of the best. – Things that are anonymously sourced, are always missing important context. And my job as vice president of the United States — I have to do actually two things that are pretty simple and straightforward but are complicated in the application. No. 1 is I have to offer my opinions to the president of the United States. I’m the only person in cabinet who can’t be fired. So I have to tell the president of United States – what I think. – That is actually a really interesting constitutional point that I just wanted to take note of. I have to tell the president of the United States what I think about all matters. I have to provide him the best counsel. I have to make sure that he’s getting the best information. The president is surrounded all the time by a million different things. And part of my job is to make sure that he’s provided good counsel, both by me and others. The second part of it is to execute when the president makes a decision. And so when the president makes a decision that we are going to use this military campaign to get to a point where we can end the Iranian nuclear program, not just now, but for the long term, I believe my job is to go out there and support that and try to make that policy decision as successful as possible. I always find it interesting. It’s like, even if I granted for the sake of argument that I believed this or that thing, it’s like, what — what is it, like — do you think that it would be moral or appropriate to go out there and whine publicly about a decision the president of the United States had made? I’m not a commentator. I’m the vice president.