Vice President JD Vance dismissed media attempts to spin narratives toward the 2028 presidential race, noting President Donald Trump is in office and forging peace around the globe.
Looking too far ahead is counterproductive as Vladimr Putin is trying to kick the "energetic diplomacy" can down the road, Vance said.
"I see myself as a vice president who's trying to do a good job for the American people," Vance told NBC News' "Meet the Press" on Sunday. "And if I do a good job, and if the president continues to be successful, as I know that he will be, the politics will take care of itself. We can cross that bridge when we come to it."
Vance reminded host Kristen Welker that the next election is 2026, not 2028.
"We just had an election seven months ago," Vance added. "I think I'm probably like most Americans, and I'm already sick of talking about politics after a big general election.
"The next election that matters is not the election of 2028. It's 2026. So before we talk about anything 3½ years down the road, let's take a break from politics, focus on governing the country.
"And when we return to politics, it's going to be to focus on those midterm elections."
Vance also pushed back on media attempts to draw Trump back to relitigating Putin's war in Ukraine, as opposed to producing peace first.
"What I admire about the president in this moment is he's not asking 3½ years ago, he's not trying to focus on every nitpicky detail of how this thing started 3½ years ago; he's trying to focus on the nitpicky details of now — of what do the parties disagree on, what do they agree on, and how do you build a foundation of one side of that ledger to the other so you can stop the killing," Vance said.
The vice president stressed that his job is to govern, not engage in a nonstop political campaign.
"As you know, the president talks about everything, and if it's in the news, the president and I have certainly discussed it," Vance said of carrying the MAGA torch and the voice for world peace when Trump's term finally ends in January 2029. "But I think the president is just focused on doing a good job for the American people.
"He wants me to be focused on doing a good job for the American people. That's what I'll keep on doing.
"And again, if we take care of business, if America is safer, if it's more prosperous, if young people could afford to buy a home, if we actually bring peace to all these regions of the world, which we've made great progress in doing, the politics will take care of itself."
Eric Mack ✉
Eric Mack has been a writer and editor at Newsmax since 2016. He is a 1998 Syracuse University journalism graduate and a New York Press Association award-winning writer.
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