Vice President JD Vance is known for tweeting a lot, often several times a day, to defend President Donald Trump’s policies and attack critics. But in the last few days, he’s been unusually quiet. While he’s shared a few posts from his MAGA allies, he hasn’t posted anything of his own.
The silence follows a press conference by Trump on April 2, where he called it “Liberation Day” and announced major new tariffs. These included a 10% tax on almost all imported goods, a 25% tax on foreign cars, and “reciprocal tariffs” on many countries. The market reacted badly, with U.S. stock futures dropping sharply and continuing to fall over the next few days. Even some Republicans spoke out against the tariffs, saying they could hurt the economy.
A CNN article last Friday reminded people that Vance had previously criticized tariffs, calling them a failed attempt by “hyper-protectionists” to bring back U.S. manufacturing jobs that “aren’t coming back.” Despite this, Vance has been silent on his past criticism, now supporting Trump’s tariffs, though he’s been much quieter than usual about it.
Vance often tweets with a combative tone. His pinned tweet is a 2024 comment about Kamala Harris from Donald Trump Jr.’s account. But since April 2, Vance’s Twitter activity has been limited. The last time he posted was on the day of Trump’s tariff announcement, when he tweeted twice. One tweet was about the GOP’s struggle to get its base to vote in off-cycle elections, while the other shared a video of Trump discussing trade deficits.
Since then, Vance has only retweeted a few posts from pro-MAGA accounts, defending Trump’s tariff policy.
