Quote · The MeidasTouch Podcast
Trump Surfaces and Crashes Out at Presser
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JD Vance's Awkward Military Speech
At 21:57 · chapter starts 21:35
Meiselas previews Vance's speech to troops, noting he'll do a full breakdown in a future video. The clips reveal two awkward moments: first, Vance jokes that it's 'pretty cool' to have the Commandant of the Marine Corps salute a member of the 'E-4 mafia' — calling it 'an ego thing' — which Meiselas says fell flat with the audience. Then Vance attempts a self-aware bit about the 'angel and devil on his shoulder' telling him to be nonpartisan, before proceeding to mock Biden for falling on the stairs and complaining the media would have destroyed him for doing the same. Vance also told troops they had a 'clear mission' in Iran, which Meiselas says prompted confused reactions given the ambiguous nature of the Iran strikes.
JD Vance told a military audience that one of the reasons he wanted to be VP was so the Commandant of the Marine Corps would have to salute him — a former E-4 corporal. Troops did not appear to find it funny.
Trump's ambassador to Israel, Mike Huckabee, regularly greets visiting members of Congress by calling Israel 'the 436th congressional district of the United States,' citing 700,000 American residents there. The remark raises obvious questions about dual sovereignty and American foreign policy.