American honor must come before personal considerations.
One of the saddest stories in the Prophets revolves around the first king of Israel, King Saul. He had enormous potential, was a great warrior, and had most of the requisite qualities of a great leader. But he did not do what God told him, and God said that He would give his throne to someone else. From that point forward, Saul became consumed with killing David before the latter could become king. Saul and his son were killed in battle, and after some time, David became King David, who ruled 40 years over Israel.
At one point, the prophet Samuel tells Saul that he may be small in his own estimation, but he was the king of all the tribes of Israel — and should behave accordingly. We have all seen great statesmen or leaders in sports and industry. While they were just regular Joes in their previous lives, they rose to the occasion to show the qualities of leadership required at the time. Dwight Eisenhower was never a battlefield commander, but he was chosen to be the Supreme Commander of Allied forces in Europe. He is most associated with the successful Normandy landings, which were ultimately his responsibility.
On the other side of the ledger, there are those who never reached the level of performance or leadership that their positions demanded of them. President Obama landed in China, and the petulant Chinese did not bother to send stairs for his descent from Air Force One. If the then-president had given me a call, I would have suggested he ask his pilots whether they had enough fuel to make it to Japan. If the answer was positive, then the president and his iconic plane should have left China until the Chinese apologized and rolled out a red carpet for his return. The Chinese did just that for President Trump’s recent visit, as they respect a strong president, even if he can be adversarial with them. Act like a leader; be treated like a leader.
I had a similar beef with one of the many Harvard presidents of late. The first picture I saw of Larry Bacow had him wearing a sweatshirt suggesting he could help freshmen move into their Harvard Yard dorms. I thought this odd. A president, or any person, can be self-deprecating, but only after he has established his ability to rule. President Eliot of Harvard famously said that his job as president was to instill fear in the faculty. During an exchange of emails, I told Professor Bacow (who signed his emails “Larry”) that the students have plenty of friends. They don’t need him to be one more. What they do need is a president whom they respect and whom they will follow when required. He didn’t listen and continued with his “call me Larry” shtick. One day, a student entered a closed Harvard faculty meeting. Bacow told him to stop recording and leave. He did not, and Bacow simply continued the meeting with the student present. A real leader would have expelled the student on the spot. The same for the current president, who never had the spine to boot students who organized the “intifada revolution” activities on campus.
With the above in mind, we now arrive at the sitting vice president, JD Vance. Vance seems like a very smart and personable fellow. If I sat next to him at a bar to watch some World Cup action, I have no doubt I would enjoy and be edified by his company. But as many vice presidents have noted, the position has no real job description. Presidents of late have been giving their junior partners “portfolios.” Bill Clinton gave Al Gore multiple tasks relating to “reinventing government,” technology and the internet, the environment and climate, etc. Joe Biden or someone within six feet of him gave Kamala Harris the border, over which she accomplished nothing. Donald Trump gave JD Vance the file for dealing with rampant fraud in the federal budget, and the young former Marine seems very active in trying to root out tens or even hundreds of billions in waste of federal money. Vance was also given the job of negotiating via Qatar and Pakistan with Iran.
I watched the opening meeting in Switzerland with the Qatari prime minister greeting his Pakistani counterpart and quite intentionally ignoring JD Vance. If he had only ignored JD Vance, private citizen, it would have been no biggie. He wouldn’t give me that time of day if we happened to bump into each other at the Dubai International Airport. But JD Vance is the vice president of the United States of America, and the Qatari’s action was an affront to President Donald Trump as well as 330 million American citizens. In my humble opinion, JD Vance should have pulled a Bauer and gotten on Air Force Two and flown to some other European country until the Qatari PM came on his hands and knees and begged forgiveness.
The entire kerfuffle running between Donald Trump and Italian Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni is exactly about this point. Trump claimed that Meloni begged him for a picture at the G7 meeting, ostensibly to help her popularity at home. Meloni claims that no such conversation took place and has attacked Trump for his comments. Donald Trump is not speaking as private citizen, owner of Trump Tower. He is talking as the sitting president of the United States. Since Italy stiffed the U.S. in the Iran War, Trump was not going to let that point be forgotten. He wrote what he did in order to remind Meloni that the U.S. pumps a ton of money into NATO and expects its partners to participate as required. When Italy gave nothing, Trump let her have it in a way that only he knows how to express.
JD Vance badmouthing Bibi Netanyahu and his cabinet and claiming that Israel wants to “kill its way out” of the Iran issue is reflective of JD Vance as private citizen. If he would behave as a vice president, he would realize a couple of things. Israel is the only democracy in the entire Middle East. It has values nearly identical to those of the United States. U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee recently said that without the “Jewish foundation,” there would be no United States. The U.S. gives Israel billions in aid, but the U.S. also benefits from Israeli technology and real-world combat experience on American platforms. My wife and I recently had an opportunity to go to the coast, and if one drives up to Herzliyah, one can see outposts of dozens of American Fortune 100 companies. I don’t think that they have similar offices in Qatar, Pakistan, Jordan, or Egypt. So JD Vance, private citizen, can loathe Bibi Netanyahu and Israel. But JD Vance, vice president, should think if his going from The View to Megyn Kelly and beyond and speaking badly about Israel’s view of the war and MOU is good for the United States. If he thinks so, then he should go ahead. But if he doesn’t budge when the tinpot Qatari leader snubs him, then JD doesn’t realize that he represents the United States. Rick Monday picked up an American flag that some guys tried to burn in the left field of Dodger Stadium. JD Vance would have looked the other way.
There are zillions of CEOs, college presidents, generals, and admirals, but there are very few leaders. Leadership requires one to partially subdue his persona and realize that he now is an official representative of the organization that he or she leads. President Bacow wanted to be a buddy when Harvard students needed a leader. The U.S. needs somebody in Switzerland who is ruthlessly on America’s side. JD and his team aren’t it.
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