Shortly before US President Donald Trump on Tuesday spurred fresh fears that he'll use nuclear weapons in his illegal war on Iran, Vice President JD Vance told a Christian podcaster that he's fine with the administration's work leading to the end times. "Do I think that we're in the end times? I don't know," Vance told 22-year-old…
Page A6From§Eachthe midnight edition — 2 September 2026
Vance courts Jewish Republicans, courts Tucker Carlson, says the End Times would be fine.
As it ran on the front
JD Vance is doing exactly what any serious coalition-builder would do: reassuring Jewish Republican donors that he's their guy, while Tucker Carlson — who, again, is not an official in this administration, just a broadcaster the Vice President happens to keep close — continues to loom over the whole operation like a guy nobody invited to the wedding but everyone keeps setting a place for anyway.
Nikki Haley told Vance to choose a side, Israel or Tucker Carlson, and look, that's a false choice, obviously, you can court both, that's just coalition math, that's not — okay, it is a little bit a binary choice, fine, but the Vice President is a big enough tent to hold binary choices simultaneously, that's not a contradiction, that's political talent.…
…(cont) And when asked whether his work with the administration might contribute to something like the End Times, Vance said if it leads there, that's okay. Which — I want to be careful here — is a statement of faith, not policy. It is not a statement that the Vice President is comfortable with apocalyptic outcomes as an acceptable cost of doing business. It's — actually, rereading the quote, it kind of is that. But in a spiritual sense. Which is different. I think.
The point his team would make, and I'm making it for them, is that courting Jewish Republicans is just retail politics, the same retail politics every VP does, and keeping Tucker Carlson in the tent is just retail politics too, and being at peace with the End Times is — look, plenty of people of faith hold that view privately, the issue is only that the Vice President said it publicly, in a podcast, on the record, next to the other two things.
None of these three positions individually disqualifies anyone from anything. Held together, in the same week, by the same office, they start to look less like a coalition and more like a man juggling three separate phone calls he's hoping nobody compares notes on. That's not spin. That's Tuesday.
“Wooing Jewish donors, keeping Tucker Carlson in the tent, and saying the End Times would be fine if the work leads there — that's not a coalition, that's a man hedging every bet he's got including the apocalyptic one. When the guy a heartbeat from the presidency is at peace with the world ending, that's not a gaffe, that's a stated position.”
“The Vice President contains multitudes — you can respect Israel, respect independent media voices, and hold a personal eschatology all at the same time, that's just what a big tent looks like. It's not a contradiction so much as — okay, it's a little bit a contradiction.”
The receipts
Former South Carolina Gov. Nikki Haley accused Vice President Vance Tuesday of not taking a clear stance on Israel — slamming him for trying to “be both.” “Right is right.
Vice President JD Vance’s answer to a question about conservative pundit Tucker Carlson left some in the audience disappointed.
This page is a back-issue: the story as it ran, receipts as they were. The current edition is at the front.