The One Man JD Vance Trusts Too Much

In this American Thinker article, Scott Pinsker warns that Vice President JD Vance has a dangerous blind spot when it comes to Tucker Carlson, defending and empowering a figure now actively undermining Trump administration foreign policy and flirting with fringe conspiracy narratives.

• Pinsker opens with a cynical prediction that after the 2026 midterms, Usha Vance will announce her conversion to Christianity to help her husband consolidate support among Christian nationalists and neutralize Groyper criticism over their interfaith marriage.
• Vance has repeatedly defended Carlson as a friend and valuable conservative voice, refusing to disavow him despite calls to ostracize Carlson following controversies at The Heritage Foundation.
• The Groypers, including Carlson and Nick Fuentes, push Christian nationalism, isolationism, white identity politics, and conspiracy theories often centered on Jews and the “Epstein class,” which mainstream MAGA and Trump have rejected.
• According to a New York Times excerpt from the book *Regime Change*, Vance suggested enlisting Carlson to interview Ghislaine Maxwell in prison as a PR move to clear Trump on Epstein-related controversies.
• Pinsker deems the Carlson-Maxwell idea disastrous, arguing it would legitimize a conspiratorial figure, grant him undue influence, and risk chaos by injecting Groyper-friendly narratives into White House strategy.
• Vance has shown strong judgment in leveraging media like Joe Rogan but exhibits poor discernment with Carlson, who has apologized for false accusations against foreign leaders and even implied Trump might be the Antichrist.
• The piece highlights Vance’s reliance on personal media relationships for third-party testimonials, a tactic riskier for Republicans lacking the ideological alignment Democrats enjoy with mainstream press.
• Voters should scrutinize Vance’s media alliances closely, as empowering figures like Carlson gives them power both to help and to harm the administration’s agenda.

Read the full story:
https://www.americanthinker.com/articles/2026/06/the_one_man_jd_vance_trusts_too_much.html