Please refrain from criticising me, sir. Childishness in power with J. D. Vance

Marc Thiessen used to write speeches for George W. Bush; he now writes a column for the Washington Post and is a conservative who supports the Trump administration’s case for war against the Iranian regime. Last week, Thiessen criticised the memorandum of understanding with Tehran negotiated by J. D. Vance, saying that the vice-president “publicly disparages President” Donald Trump, who should “listen to the advice of those who have achieved results in Iran, rather than those who, like Vance, have failed”. A few days later, Thiessen responded to a university student who was complaining that Mexican food was too expensive, telling him that burritos are included on discounted menus at university cafés.

Shortly afterwards, a comment arrived from the vice-president – who is a millennial but behaves worse on social media than the ‘superboomer’ he works for – saying: “I’m surprised by Marc’s statement. If you’ve met him in person, it will be clear to you that he’s never missed out on a burrito.” In other words, the Vice-President of the United States, offended by a commentator who criticised him for making a mess of things in Iran, responded by calling him a fatso. When a journalist asked him about ‘burritogate’ – yes, it’s all tragicomic – Vance said: ‘He was nasty to me and I hit back; I did the right thing.’ The New York Times took the matter seriously, summarising the childish insults Vance has hurled at his critics: “It’s not enough that someone might be wrong about a political decision,” writes Peter Baker, “they must also necessarily be a fool, a liar, a coward or, indeed, fat.” This mix of vulgarity and childishness is the Trumpians’ new way of wielding power: they call it authenticity and candour, but, not being particularly clever, they end up shooting themselves in the foot. In defence of Vance, one of his aides said: ‘It’s not appropriate for a conservative to make unconstructive criticisms, and the vice-president is right – Thiessen is obese; he should stop eating burritos.’