This episode of The Parnas Perspective examines a growing rift between President Trump and Vice President JD Vance as the 2028 Republican succession race takes shape. Host Aaron Parnas plays clips in which Trump comments on Vance's criticism of the Iran war, and Senator Ted Cruz is heard shifting his position on the conflict.
The episode also looks at Trump's claims about the 2026 midterm elections and the pushback the host says he is seeing from fellow Republicans. Listeners will hear how the host frames these moments as signs of a party in turmoil, while the people quoted state their own views on the war, the election and the party's direction.
In this episode Aaron Parnas
This episode's transcript was made with HappyScribe's AI note taker, covering the Trump and Vance rift over the 2028 Republican race.
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There is big trouble in paradise right now for someone by the name of J.D. Vance. Vice President Vance had long sought to be the Republican heir apparent to Donald Trump heading into the 2028 election. We are now in the 2028 election, and that heir apparency is not very apparent. In fact, the President of the United States himself is willing to break from J.D. Vance publicly, undermine him in certain respects, and now more and more challengers are rising up to Vance. It's not even clear if Donald Trump's going to get involved anymore, but if he did, based on what we've seen right now, it looks like J.D.
Vance is not the number-one pick. Marco Rubio might be, some others might be, and it all is coming as Trump is losing a grip on even his own party. Today he decided to come out and say that the 2026 midterm elections were rigged, that the voting machines were rigged, blah, blah, blah, the same thing that we've seen repeatedly from the President. Even his own party saying, "Donald, just stop. Just stop already." It really seems as though the President, who is defeated, who had his kind of a major gut punch taken earlier this week, or rather now last week, is just no longer favored by those who once did.
If you can, subscribe, we're on the road to a million subscribers, like, comment, share, and let's talk about Trump's problems with J.D. Vance first. Because J.D. Vance, privately, is not listening to the White House anymore. He wants to essentially chart his own course as he's trying to run for President of the United States. And part of that began with the day after the election, deciding to put out a tweet saying that Donald Trump's war with Iran is the reason why Republicans lost. Trump was asked about this. Take a listen to what he has said.
J.D. Vance's comments about Iran, questioning some of those decisions, has that impacted your relationship at all?
No, not at all. But a lot of people didn't like his comments, but not me. He was right, other than one thing. He should have made one other statement, one statement that I think is very important. If you had it to do again, would you do it again? The answer is yes. I can tell you, if I had it to do again, this historically, for history, will go down as one of the best things we ever did. Because if they ever had a nuclear weapon, they would blow up the world. You know why? Because they're crazy. Thank you very much, everybody.
So that's a very interesting statement from the President, who on one hand says, you know, my relationship with J.D. is still fine, we're still good, him coming out and undermining me doesn't necessarily hurt our relationship. But then he throws in the jab, "Many people were upset with J.D. Vance." Who was upset with J.D. Vance? To me, Donald Trump says many people, X, Y, Z. He says that to mean that he himself, like, he's projecting his own feelings without saying it's him who's the one that's upset. And so it is clear that Donald Trump himself is not super proud of J.D.
Vance in this moment, and it's why he's potentially looking elsewhere, like to Marco Rubio.
Well, you know, I don't like public speaking, but I appreciate the chance. I want to echo a lot of what Stephen just said, and the honor, you know, in the job that I have, in the jobs that I have as National Security Advisor to the President and also Secretary of State. I see firsthand every single day that this is a man who wakes up every morning with one thing as a priority: you, our country, and its future. The most important thing a President can do for a country is to keep it safe. And there are people around the world that want to destroy it. They want to destroy our country, they want to destroy our way of life. He was elected to do the hard things, the hard things.
It would have been very easy to do what multiple Presidents before him have done, was just ignore the Iran thing, leave it for the next guy, put it aside, and don't worry about it. That would have been the easiest thing to do, honestly, to just basically say, leave it alone, who cares? That's going to be someone's problem in the future. But this President didn't do that. He confronted it because what Iran wants to do is not just destroy our country, it's destroy our way of life and threaten our children. We cannot live in a world in which the most radical terroristic regime on the planet possesses a weapon of mass destruction. And we've had President after President ignore it and allow it to linger, but this President wasn't allowed, wasn't elected to ignore it, and he wasn't elected to allow threats to linger.
And he did it for you. Not for him, not for anybody else, he did it for you and for our country and for that we, our children, and children not yet born, all have a sense and a deep sense of gratitude, and I know he'll continue to do it, and that's why I'm so honored to be his Secretary of State, and that's why I know he's so honored that all of you are here today. Thank you.
Now Trump is saying, well, you know, I shouldn't even get involved in 2028 anymore. My own Vice President is probably running, but I'm not going to even touch it with the 10-foot pole. Other folks are trying to swoop in right now, and I'll have that for you right after a quick word from our sponsor. Okay, so if anyone knows anything about me, sleep is the number-one thing for me. If I don't sleep, I don't do well. Now, do I sleep a lot? No. But when I do sleep, I sleep on Miracle-Made sheets, and I love Miracle-Made sheets. I wouldn't be telling you about Miracle-Made unless I really do love them.
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One of the people trying to swoop in is Senator Ted Cruz, who now sees a blue Texas. He's the only Republican elected statewide in Texas remaining, after James Tallarico won, Gina Inohosa won, and Democrats won up and down the ballot, the AG everywhere. It's a completely blue state, except for Ted Cruz. Now, Ted Cruz, we have the receipt, because he went on television last night and decided to claim that the war in Iran should end. That's not really what he was saying just a couple months ago. Take a listen to this flip-flop.
I think that's exactly right. We are at an extraordinary moment in history. It is entirely possible, Sean, that in the next six months we will see the regimes fall in Iran, in Venezuela, and in Cuba. And we could also see governments replace them that want to be friends with the United States of America. Now, let me be clear, I'm not being Pollyannish about this. There are a thousand things that can go wrong. But if that happens, this would be the most consequential geopolitical shift since the fall of the Berlin Wall, since America won the Cold War without firing a shot.
I spoke with President Trump the day before yesterday, and we talked in particular about Iran. And I said, this moment, the regime is teetering, the Ayatollah is in his last days, and I said, do not let this opportunity pass. I don't, and I think we are in the midst of a debate about who we are as a party. I believe we should be a small government, free market, individual liberty party, and I believe we should be a party that supports American leadership in the world.
Isolationism is a failed approach. Now, that doesn't mean that we engage in forever wars. There's no doubt this Iran war, when it began nine months ago, I don't think the President believed it would last as long as it did, and it has dragged on and on and on, and there is a weariness with it that I think has been a real problem. It has driven up gas prices. There are a lot of things driving up gas prices, but that's one of them. I think you're going to see the President bring the Iran war to a conclusion.
I think he's going to bring it to a conclusion pretty quickly. And what I have been urging.
Do you see how quickly the changeup happens? Now that Ted Cruz wants to run for President, he's changing up. Now, Donald Trump today decided to undermine the results of the 2026 election because this is what he does. But Republicans aren't even buying it. This is Megyn Kelly telling him, "Mr. President, just stop. Just stop already." They don't want this anymore. They realize he is just a distraction. He's a lame duck. So that's the latest right now. Make sure to hit that subscribe button, like, comment, share. See you soon. Surging right now, and thanks to you. Thank you for watching this video.
Thank you for sharing our content. Make sure to hit that subscribe button. We're on the road to a million subscribers. Like, comment, share, get the word out. Thank you so much again.
Aaron Parnas reports on breaking news of Trump breaking from JD Vance as the Republican Party implodes, including a look at what the President is saying about the 2028 election, how Republicans in the party are responding, and much more!
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