Vance Comments On Potential Ocasio-Cortez Presidency: ‘Stuff of Nightmares’
Vice President JD Vance feigned surprise and shock at a question posed to him by Fox News anchor Bret Baier during an interview that aired on Friday.
Specifically, Vance responded to a potential future scenario where left-wing Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) was elected president.
Here’s a partial transcript of the conversation:
BRET BAIER, FOX NEWS ANCHOR: You talk a lot about policy, but just the politics. And I know it’s very Washington to talk about politics. But when the president says 2028 and he has the Trump 2028 hat, what do you think? I mean, what — are you thinking, is this real? Are you thinking about that? What’s your reaction to that?
J.D. VANCE, VICE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES: So, I was in the Oval Office a couple of days ago, and there were some Trump 2028 hats floating around. And I put one on, and I said: “Mr. President, if you took a photo of this, this would go super viral.”
VANCE: And we joked about it and laughed. Look, what I have said, Bret, is, I think the president and I are going to be working together for years to come. I think that we have a rare opportunity over these next three years to actually undo a lot of damage that was caused by not just the Biden administration, by 40 years of failed policy, but I think build a true American renaissance. That’s what we’re excited about. That’s what I’m going to try to do. And if we succeed, then the politics will take care of themselves. And if we don’t succeed, the politics will take care of themselves that way.
BAIER: But you don’t really think he’s running in 2028, do you?
(LAUGHTER)
VANCE: I will let the president speak to his political future.
BAIER: Intentions.
VANCE: I think the president — one thing I will say about the president of the United States is, he loves to have a good time with the American media. And I really do think that, if we take care of business over the next three years, we’re going to be in a great position politically, whoever ultimately runs as the president of the United States in 2028.
Then the conversation turned to Ocasio-Cortez:
BAIER: On the Democratic side, do you think Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, AOC, is the new leader?
VANCE: Oh, man, I don’t know..
BAIER: Could it be Vance-AOC in 2028?
(LAUGHTER)
VANCE: President AOC, the stuff of nightmares, Bret. Thank you. You have ruined my sleep for this evening!
BAIER: Who is the leader of the Democratic Party?
VANCE: I don’t know. Honestly, I think…
BAIER: Do you think about it?
VANCE: I think, to the extent that Democrats have a leader, Donald J. Trump is the leader of the Democratic Party.
BAIER: Because they’re against him.
(CROSSTALK)
VANCE: Because they’re just against everything that he does.
BRET BAIER: “Could it be Vance-AOC in 2028?”
— TV News Now (@TVNewsNow) May 3, 2025
JD VANCE: “President AOC, the stuff of nightmares, Bret. Thank you, you’ve ruined my sleep for this evening.”
BRET: “Who is the leader of the Democratic Party?”
JD: “Donald J. Trump is the leader of the Democratic Party… Because… pic.twitter.com/WHApZHceo8
Over the weekend, Vance was forced to respond after President Trump posted an AI-generated photo of him as the next pope went viral and was roundly criticized by many of the usual Never-Trump suspects.
“Hey, @JDVance, you fine with this disrespect and mocking of the Holy Father?” Bill Kristol, a so-called conservative and publisher of the now-defunct Weekly Standard magazine, wrote on X.
“As a general rule, I’m fine with people telling jokes and not fine with people starting stupid wars that kill thousands of my countrymen,” Vance, who converted to Catholicism in 2019, noted in response to Kristol, who was a staunch advocate for the 2003 Iraq invasion as then-chief of staff to Vice President Dick Cheney.
