Vice President JD Vance visited the Richard Nixon Presidential Library for a speech and a candid conversation on the issues shaping America’s future. In his address on Thursday, Vance said Watergate is a story of “how the deep state took down” the 37th president. “If Watergate happened tomorrow, it would be like a 12-hour news story,” Vance. “The idea that it would have taken down a presidency is crazy, and by the way, if you look at the story of how the deep state took down Richard Nixon, it’s not all that different from what the same groups of people, the same institutions tried to do to Donald Trump in the first Trump administration. There is a parallel.” <\/p>\n
MODERATOR: So we’re here at the Nixon Library, and President Nixon was the consummate statesman, and just a few days ago, you completed a major peace negotiation, and just a few minutes ago, you paid respects at President Nixon’s memorial site, where the epitaph on his marker reads, the greatest honor history can bestow is the title of peacemaker. Was that the mentality that you embraced? Were you thinking of that sentiment as you were representing our country in Switzerland? VICE PRESIDENT JD VANCE: Well, first of all, just because you brought up Nixon, I gotta say thank you to you and to Robert and to the entire Nixon Library folks. This is an amazing thing, and I’m very proud to be here. So thank you. Not just for welcoming me, but for everything you do. So we were talking about this a little bit backstage, but I’m actually fascinated by Nixon as a character in history. I think that his historical legacy is enjoying a bit of a renaissance, but I think deservedly so. As I joked with Robert backstage, if Watergate happened tomorrow, it would be like a 12-hour news story. The idea that it would have taken down a presidency is crazy, and by the way, if you look at the story of how the deep state took down Richard Nixon, it’s not all that different from what the same groups of people, the same institutions tried to do to Donald Trump in the first Trump administration. There is a parallel. I also just, at a personal level, okay, young senator, vice president, writes some bestselling books, is hated by the media. It kind of sounds like J.D. Vance. So I’m a little, you know, I’ve always liked Richard Nixon. But, okay, one other thing about Richard Nixon that I think is fascinating is, okay, the two biggest historical electoral college landslides in American history are, of course, Ronald Reagan in 1984, Richard Nixon in 1972. Okay. What you may not know, and, you know, some of my political data guys who are very into this have drilled into me, is that Nixon’s coalition in 72, though if you look at the top line numbers, you would say, well, that’s exactly what happened in 1984, it’s much different. Nixon’s coalition in 72 is actually durable and much more closely resembles the Trump coalition of 2024 than the Reagan coalition of 84. So what Reagan did in 84 is he ran up margins basically with white Americans and, of course, you know, he won a historic landslide, but the country is much less white today than it was in 1984. Nixon’s coalition was unbelievably durable to the demographic change that we’ve seen in the United States of America. So this is a guy who could, you know, Reagan could not have won his landslide in 2024. Richard Nixon maybe could have won his landslide in 2024. And I think that there’s a very important political lesson in that for all of us in the Republican Party, he was actually like a political genius. And I’m just fascinated by the guy’s historical figure. So anyway, so very, very happy to be here. But okay. So it says that the greatest, what is it, the greatest honor history can bestow is to call someone a peacemaker. And I think, thank you. And, you know, was I thinking about that quote when we were in Switzerland? No. Was I thinking about that sentiment? Absolutely. Because, you know, one of the other lessons of Richard Nixon is it’s not just that he got out of Vietnam, but that he got out of Vietnam from a position of strength. Okay. It’s one thing to tuck tail and run. It’s another thing to clearly define an objective, to accomplish that objective, and then to ensure that you don’t allow mission creep to transform a victory into a defeat. And one of the things I’ve seen with the President of the United States in the last few weeks, and frankly some of the criticism that we’ve gotten even from our friends, is they’re constantly trying to change the mission that Donald Trump set us up to achieve. And what did he say? He said at the outset, I want to destroy their conventional military, I want to eliminate their ability to project power, and I want to ensure that they never have a nuclear weapon ever, ever. Okay. And what I’ve seen is some people try to say, you know, that’s great, but you should have a different objective. And I think the reason why the President has been so successful is because he refuses to give in to that impulse. He says, we came what we set out to do, we created incredible diplomatic, economic, and military leverage, let’s use that leverage to go and accomplish an even bigger win for the American people. That’s what he’s asked us to do. It’s not over yet, but so far so good. <\/p><\/blockquote>\n