Elon Musk is disengaging from Washington to return to his somewhat-troubled businesses, opening a lane for the Vice President
The latest fund-raising e-mail from President Donald Trump landed in supporters’ inboxes on Monday with a surprise.
For once, the e-mail blast was not all about the President himself, but offered a chance to win a face-to-face meeting with his deputy, Vice President JD Vance.
“You read that right!”, the e-mail intoned, as it dangled a “PHOTO WITH THE VICE PRESIDENT” alongside free flights and lodging. The e-mail, signed by Vance, urged donors to “chip in any amount” they could afford.
JD Vance on a high-profile trip to the Vatican to meet Pope Leo XIV (Photo: Vatican Media/Vatican Pool – Corbis/Getty Images)
It is not coincidental to see Vance centre-stage at the very moment Elon Musk has disengaged from Washington to helm his somewhat-troubled businesses.
After 5 months in which the world’s richest man appeared to act as Trump’s de facto prime minister, Vance could have been excused for questioning his own role in the President’s inner circle.
His infamous efforts to stoke the argument with President Volodymyr Zelensky in the Oval Office in February were seen by many Washington observers as an effort to remind Trump that he was still there.
His controversial speech earlier that month to the Munich Security Conference, enraged European leaders by accusing them of backsliding on the issues of free speech and democracy, and was similarly viewed in Washington as a cry for attention by a Vice President who just wanted his boss to notice him.
Elon Musk at a meeting of Donald Trump’s cabinet in March 2025, wearing a variant of the classic Maga hat that says “Trump was right about everything” (Photo: Brendan Smialowski / AFP)
Now, with Musk out of the way and his Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) slowing down, the path is clearer for Vance to shine.
He has blazed a trail for Trump at the Vatican, where the White House is eager to establish a positive relationship with Pope Leo XIV and possibly to secure papal involvement in Ukraine ceasefire negotiations.
He has travelled to India with his wife (who has Indian heritage) and their three young children, and in meetings with Prime Minister Narendra Modi advanced talks on the unfinished trade deal between Washington and New Delhi.
Most importantly of all, Vance has been the runaway winner in early polls to determine the electoral viability of various Republicans in the 2028 presidential election.
46% of Republican voters say they would support Vance to succeed Trump, leaving the second-placed candidate, Florida Governor Ron DeSantis, trailing in the dust with 8% support.
Musk’s official departure from the White House came on 30 April, and last week he told Bloomberg News that he would engage “a lot less” in political spending in the future, after outstripping all other donors in the 2024 cycle.
“I think I’ve done enough”, he said, “but if I see a reason to do political spending in the future, I will do it. I just don’t currently see a reason”.
That message may have meant for his shareholders, who piled pressure on him to return to his day job and try to revive the fortunes of Tesla.
Demand for its electric cars has collapsed, and several of its dealerships have been violently attacked as a result of Musk’s controversial cost-cutting at DOGE.
A protest in Seattle in March 2025. Many critics mockingly spoke of “President Musk” in an attmept to needle Trump about his powerful ally (Photo: AP Photo/Lindsey Wasson)
Vance may well see major opportunity in Musk’s decision to beat a retreat from the Oval Office (though it was striking to see Musk, who immigrated from South Africa, hovering behind Trump’s heated discussions with President Cyril Ramaphosa last week).
Having struggled in the early phases of Trump’s second term to carve out a niche, Vance may now see a path to advance his ambitions.
But complexities lie ahead, including questions about whether he has the influence necessary on Capitol Hill to persuade recalcitrant Republicans to support Trump’s “Big, Beautiful Bill” on spending that many of the party’s lawmakers oppose as profligate.
Vance also faces ongoing questions about his true commitment to Trump’s “Make America Great Again” agenda.
He is a relatively recent adherent to Trump’s orthodoxy who as recently as 2016 compared the President to Hitler.
His somewhat fluid political views will now come under the microscope as never before, as he cruises into a higher gear in a largely Musk-free Washington.