ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
Vice President JD Vance traveled to the southern U.S. border yesterday, underscoring President Trump's work to crack down on illegal immigration. It's the kind of trip a vice president typically makes after a State of the Union kind of address, and it did not make a lot of headlines, unlike some of Vance's other recent moves. NPR's Franco Ordoñez has more on Vance's unusual role as White House provocateur.
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UNIDENTIFIED CROWD: (Chanting) USA, USA.
FRANCO ORDOÑEZ, BYLINE: When Donald Trump took the stage at his victory party on Election Night, he acknowledged some early criticism about picking Vance as his running mate.
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PRESIDENT DONALD TRUMP: I took a little heat at the beginning.
ORDOÑEZ: Vance had a rough start on the campaign trail as past comments about, quote, "childless cat ladies" and other culture war issues came to light. But Trump said he liked Vance's style.
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TRUMP: And he is a feisty guy, isn't he?
ORDOÑEZ: Vance took Trump's case to cable news, trolled critics over social media and attacked Harris and Biden relentlessly.
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TRUMP: He's still, like, the only guy I've ever seen who really looks forward to it and then he just goes and absolutely obliterates them.
ORDOÑEZ: Vance doubled down once Trump took office, especially on foreign policy.
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VICE PRESIDENT JD VANCE: In Britain and across Europe, free speech, I fear, is in retreat.
ORDOÑEZ: At the Munich Security Conference in February, U.S. leaders usually pay tribute to allies, but not Vance. He scolded European leaders.
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VANCE: The threat that I worry the most about vis-a-vis Europe is not Russia. It's not China. It's not any other external actor. And what I worry about is the threat from within.
ORDOÑEZ: It turns out this isn't the first time a vice president has played the role of attack dog in an administration.
JOEL GOLDSTEIN: It would often be designed to allow the president to stay above the fray.
ORDOÑEZ: Joel Goldstein is a vice presidential scholar at St. Louis University. He says Richard Nixon did this, too, when he was vice president, so that Dwight Eisenhower could act more presidential. And then Spiro Agnew later did it for Nixon. But this time, there's something different.
GOLDSTEIN: In this case, that's not what's going on because Vance isn't playing a role which is designed to allow President Trump to refrain from that sort of rhetoric. Vance is really reinforcing and doubling down on the sort of rhetoric that President Trump uses and models.
ORDOÑEZ: In an administration where everyone is on the offensive, it makes it hard for allies, says Kori Schake, who worked in the George W. Bush White House.
KORI SCHAKE: The problem with that is that there is nobody playing the good cop in the Trump administration. There's nobody friends and allies feel like they can talk to to get a fair hearing.
ORDOÑEZ: And it's different from Trump's first term, says Schake, now at the American Enterprise Institute. She says former Vice President Mike Pence always backed Trump's policies, but Pence made the case for those policies in friendlier ways.
SCHAKE: Whereas Vice President Vance makes arguments that are less reasonable and more antagonistic than those the president makes.
ORDOÑEZ: Aides to Vance and Trump say they have a unified strategy. Steven Cheung, the White House communications director, said Vance and Trump are in lockstep, working together on these issues. He says critics are, quote, "simply uneducated to this powerful form of leadership and governance."
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TRUMP: Well, thank you very much. It's an honor to have President Zelenskyy of Ukraine.
ORDOÑEZ: Trump showed he had his vice president's back last week. With cameras rolling, Vance accused Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy of disrespecting the president in the Oval Office.
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TRUMP: They should have.
VANCE: Have you said thank you once this entire meeting?
PRESIDENT VOLODYMYR ZELENSKYY: A lot of times.
VANCE: No. In this entire meeting...
ZELENSKYY: Even today.
VANCE: ...Have you said thank you?
ZELENSKYY: Even today.
VANCE: You went to Pennsylvania and campaigned for the opposition in October. Offer some words of appreciation for the United States of America...
ZELENSKYY: What you're speaking about...
VANCE: ...And the president who's trying to save your country.
ZELENSKYY: Please, you think that if you will speak very loudly about the war, you can...
TRUMP: He's not speaking loudly. He's not speaking loudly. Your country is in big trouble. Wait a minute.
ZELENSKYY: Can I answer?
TRUMP: No, no.
ZELENSKYY: Can I answer?
TRUMP: You've done a lot of talking. Your country is in big trouble.
ZELENSKYY: I know.
ORDOÑEZ: In recent times, vice presidents have tended to be seen but not heard in these Oval Office events, but Vance is showing he doesn't plan to stick to that tradition. Franco Ordoñez, NPR News, the White House. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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