J.D. Vance delivered a masterclass throughout the 2024 election cycle on how to handle adversarial media, and that expertise was on display once again in his first formal interview as vice president.
Vance appeared on CBS News’ Face the Nation on Sunday in a sit-down with host Margaret Brennan that resulted in a series of viral moments not unlike the ill-fated vice presidential debate she co-moderated in October.
On Monday’s show, Megyn was joined by Steve Bannon, host of Bannon’s War Room, to discuss the interview and what it says about the state of the corporate media today.
The Interview
The interview was wide-ranging and no less confrontational than the pair’s meeting on the debate stage when Brennan erroneously fact-checked Vance throughout. This time, however, she lacked the power to cut his mic, which gave Vance the ability to set the record straight.
Bannon noted the sit-down was not an interview but rather a debate that Vance handled “like a gentleman.” He said Brennan’s problem was that she was unprepared. “I think [the media has] controlled the apparatus for so long… they’ve gotten lazy. That’s one of the reasons they were caught by surprise on 5 November,” he said. “Their problem is credibility. Half that audience is never coming back because they felt they were lied to all the way up until Pennsylvania was called.”
One could argue said intellectual laziness was on display throughout the interview. There was this conversation about Trump’s desire to end birthright citizenship:
VANCE: …Temporary residents – people who come in here, whether legally or illegally, and don’t plan to stay – their children shouldn’t become American citizens. I don’t know any country that does that, or why would we be different?
BRENNAN: Oh, well, this is a country founded by immigrants.
VANCE: Well, this is a country founded by–
BRENNAN: This is a unique country.
VANCE: Very unique country, and it was founded by some immigrants and some settlers. But just because we were founded by immigrants doesn’t mean that, 240 years later, that we have to have the dumbest immigration policy in the world…
And this one on the economy and inflation:
BRENNAN: You campaigned on lowering prices for consumers. We’ve seen all of these executive orders, which one lowers prices?
VANCE: We have done a lot, and there have been a number of executive orders that have caused, already, jobs to start coming back into our country, which is a core part of lowering prices. More capital investment, more job creation in our economy, is one of the things that’s going to drive down prices for all consumers, but also raise wages so that people can afford to buy the things that they need. If you look at our slate of executive orders–
BRENNAN: So, grocery prices aren’t going to come down?
VANCE: No, Margaret. Prices are going to come down, but it’s going to take a little bit of time, right? The president has been president for all of five days. I think that, in those five days, he’s accomplished more than Joe Biden did in four years.
But perhaps the most viral moment came during a back and forth on the vetting of foreign nationals:
VANCE: …There are cases of people who allegedly were properly vetted, and then were literally planning terrorist attacks in our country. That happened during the campaign, if you may remember. So clearly, not all of these foreign nationals have been properly vetted.
BRENNAN: But there are 30,000 people in the pipeline, Afghan refugees. Do you standby it–
VANCE: But my primary as the vice president, Margaret, is to look after the American people–
BRENNAN: So, no.
VANCE: And now that we know that we have vetting problems with a lot of these refugee programs, we absolutely cannot unleash thousands of unvetted people into our country. It’s not good.
BRENNAN: These people are vetted.
VANCE: Just like the guy [Afghan national Nasir Ahmad Tawhedi] who planned a terrorist attack in Oklahoma a few months ago? He was allegedly properly vetted and many people in the media and the Democratic Party said that he was properly vetted. Clearly, he wasn’t. I don’t want my children to share a neighborhood with people who are not properly vetted. And because I don’t want it for my kids, I’m not going to force any other American citizens’ kids to do that either.
BRENNAN: No, and that was a very particular case. It wasn’t clear if he was radicalized when he got here or while he was living here. But–
VANCE: I don’t really care, Margaret. I don’t want that person in my country. And I think most Americans agree with me.
The Reaction
While some were criticizing Vance’s decision to grant his first interview to a corporate media outlet, Megyn applauded the strategy and believes Vance’s “I don’t care line” will live on for years to come.
“J.D. is very smart to go on with Margaret Brennan, because… she is adversarial, she is going to try to punch him, and she is nowhere near his intellectual equal,” Megyn explained. “So, he knows he can just slice and dice her with ease… behaving as a gentleman… and leave everybody with the same impression, which is, she is no match for him.”
Megyn said Vance and fellow members of the Trump administration – like border czar Tom Homan, who similarly held his own on ABC News with Martha Raddatz – are rewriting the rules for how to deal with the press. “What is interesting about Homan… J.D. Vance, and the other people speaking for the administration is, to me, it seems like they are finally getting it,” she noted. “It is so joyful… to sit here and watch somebody who actually knows the facts and is not afraid to argue what is real give it right back to the Sunday anchors. And they don’t care if the news anchors like them.”
While Trump’s team may be handling themselves just fine, Megyn said it is impossible not to see how far the ‘mainstream’ media has fallen. “I have to be honest, I am shocked at the level of stupidity that is masquerading as some tough anchor on these network Sunday shows,” she concluded. “I’m embarrassed for her.”
You can check out Megyn’s full interview with Bannon by tuning in to episode 992 on YouTube, Apple Podcasts, or wherever you like to listen. And don’t forget that you can catch The Megyn Kelly Show live on SiriusXM’s Triumph (channel 111) weekdays from 12pm to 2pm ET.