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JD Vance might be experiencing a career-threatening level of FOMO after not appearing with Donald Trump at multiple recent public outings. In what could be considered an increasingly clique-y circle, Vance seemingly didn't get an invite to a number of hangout sessions with Trump. First up was a UFC fight in New York City at Madison Square Garden where, according to the AP, "[Trump's] entourage included Elon Musk, House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., Donald Trump Jr. and, perhaps most surprisingly, Robert F. Kennedy Jr." Vance was notably absent. For someone who has done his best to mimic Trump, Vance surely must feel the sting of being left out of the party.
The next day, Trump's deputy communications chief, Margo Martin, posted a photo to X, formerly known as Twitter, of Trump alongside Musk, Johnson, Trump Jr., and RFK Jr., once again, as they all ate a first-class meal of McDonald's aboard a private jet. All of the brotherly love came after a week of Trump nominating important roles within his future cabinet — like Tulsi Gabbard as Director of National Intelligence and former presidential candidate Vivek Ramaswamy as Musk's co-lead for the Department of Government Efficiency — people who will only further crowd Trump's inner circle, exacerbating rumors that Vance has been hung out to dry.
Trump and Vance have always had a tenuous relationship
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The rumors about JD Vance getting iced out have some history, too, with no love initially lost when Vance compared Donald Trump to Adolf Hitler in 2016, only to flip sides and eventually endorse him years later. He also slipped up and exposed Melania Trump's unambitious political views. Even after winning the election, Trump noted his and Vance's rocky relationship in his victory speech at Mar-a-lago, saying, "[Vance] turned out to be a good choice. I took a little heat at the beginning, but I knew the brain was a good one — as good as it gets" (via Express U.S.).
Even if it is just a rumor, Vance has good reason to be worried given Trump's history of cutting ties with those he no longer deems useful to him. Vance could join a list of notable Trump supporters who have been cut out and subsequently turned their backs on the president-elect. The long list includes his former Attorney General Bill Burr, former Secretary of Defense James Mattis, and former Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, and perhaps most importantly, Trump's previous vice president, Mike Pence. So we will have to wait and see if history does, in fact, repeat itself.
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