President-elect Donald Trump has got to be feeling good right now. His running mate, JD Vance? Not so much.
In the weeks since Election Day, Trump has been busy announcing his picks for various Cabinet roles and basking in the glow of his second campaign win.
At his side has been First Buddy Elon Musk, the billionaire who once said he’d rather “stay out of politics” and then set that side to barnstorm Pennsylvania on Trump’s behalf has settled in nicely and become a central figure in the transition, making himself home at Mar-a-Lago and tweeting up a storm about his new advisory role.
While Trump put Musk in a driver’s seat, Vance has found himself standing outside the car.
Clearly the feeling is mutual. Whether letting Musk join a phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy or naming him to spearhead a made-up agency to curb government spending, Trump clearly thinks there’s a lot of value in his relationship with the fellow billionaire. But while he’s put Musk in a driver’s seat, Vance has found himself standing outside the car.
So what exactly is Musk’s new role in the incoming Trump administration? The Tesla founder will oversee a wholly made-up “Department of Government Efficiency” alongside Vivek Ramaswamy. How dumb is that? They are creating an agency to get rid of other agencies. And to layer on the bureaucracy of it all, two people with competing agendas will be in charge.
While this so-called “government efficiency” department already seems like an oxymoron, it should also be viewed as a classic quid pro quo. Trump has always been transactional. The richest man in the world leveraged his bank account and his social media platform to boost Trump’s campaign with a sea of misinformation. Now Musk is cashing in. The currency: power. If Musk is given carte blanche to eliminate government positions, what’s to stop him from firing the regulators who keep his businesses and his investments in check?
These types of relationships are the ones to watch out for over the next four years in Washington. America is witnessing what happens when a private citizen amasses power solely based on their proximity to the president of the United States.
As for Trump’s actual incoming vice president, he just can’t find himself a seat at the cool kids’ table. Last weekend, Trump shared a picture of his inner circle on his private plane enjoying McDonald’s. Trump was surrounded by Musk; his son Don Jr.; House Speaker Mike Johnson; and Robert F. Kennedy Jr. Not pictured: Vance.
Instead, Vance was given the thankless task of convincing Senate Republicans to confirm Trump’s menagerie of misfit MAGA sycophants to the Cabinet. While Musk is sitting in on phone calls with Trump, Vance wasted his time trying to convince his fellow Republican senators to back Matt Gaetz, just a day before Gaetz withdrew his nomination for attorney general. That must be the worst assignment for a vice president since President Joe Biden charged Vice President Kamala Harris with solving the root causes of global migration.
Vance also skipped out on his day job in order to help Trump fill a seat that is not vacant. In a since-deleted social media post, Vance defended missing votes in the U.S. Senate because he was too busy meeting with Trump to interview candidates to lead the FBI. (Vance returned to Capitol Hill Tuesday to vote against Biden’s judicial nominees.)
It appears Vance let this one slip, confirming Trump indeed intends to break another norm. A reminder: The term for current FBI Director Christopher Wray does not expire until 2027. Trump handpicked Wray in 2017 after Trump fired then-FBI Director James Comey. It appears Vance let this one slip, confirming Trump indeed intends to break another norm by replacing the head of America’s top law enforcement agency … again! It’s this kind of norm-breaking that Republicans in the Senate must decide to confront or let slide. Trump is testing them. He has already floated the idea of pushing through his largely unqualified Cabinet by using “recess appointments” to get around confirmation battles. Incoming Senate Majority Leader John Thune has two choices: capitulate to Trump or control the situation. To that end, as a sitting member of the Senate, what counsel is Vance offering that Thune would take? Over the next four years, Senate Republicans have the opportunity to prove the U.S. Congress is indeed a separate but equal branch of our government. But if they cede more power to the executive branch by bowing down to Trump, people like Elon Musk will ultimately benefit. Either way, it appears Vance is just along for the ride — if only he could get in the car. Lynox Norman contributed. For more thought-provoking insights from Michael Steele, Alicia Menendez and Symone Sanders-Townsend, watch “The Weekend” every Saturday and Sunday at 8 a.m. ET on MSNBC.
Michael Steele
Michael Steele is a co-host of "The Weeknight," which airs Monday through Friday at 7 p.m. ET on MSNBC. He is a former lieutenant governor of Maryland and a former chairman of the Republican National Committee. 
