JD Vance had a pat explanation for the worried remarks of several former Trump administration officials: they're still mad about being fired.
In an interview with CNN's Jake Tapper, Vance said that the multiple rejections of the former president from high-ranking advisers in Trump's first term are the work of "disgruntled former employees."
Vance told Tapper on Saturday that the sour grapes between Trump and figures like former Joint Chiefs of Staff Chair Gen. Mark Milley come down to Donald Trump's supposed commitment to keeping out of foreign entanglements.
"It’s about policy, it’s not about personality,” Vance said. They’ll say, well, he’s a dictator when what they really mean is they won’t listen... when they wanted him to start ridiculous conflicts."
Both Milley and former White House Chief of Staff John Kelly have characterized Trump as a fascist in recent days. Kelly also shared a troubling story in which he says Trump wished for "the kind of generals Hitler had."
Tapper pressed Vance on the topic, wondering if the Ohio senator really believed Trump's Vice President Mike Pence declined to endorse his one-time ally because of an unwillingness to go to war.
"Absolutely, that’s my argument,” Vance said, adding that other grousing was just resentment for being fired by Trump.
It's worth nothing that Milley and Pence were not fired by Trump. Still, they've all worried openly about the prospect of a second term from a president who has threatened to turn the military on "enemies from within."
Vance balked at the idea that Trump meant his political opponents or citizens who disagree with him, in spite of his repeated use of the ominous phrase to refer directly to Democratic Party leaders like Adam Schiff and Nancy Pelosi.
"He said he was going to send the military after the American people? Show me that quote where he said that." Vance asked.
Watch the full interview below:
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