Donald Trump Adds Fuel To JD Vance Rift Rumors (& We Smell Two Divorces)

Rumors about Donald Trump and JD Vance's rift hit a fever pitch after the president made jokes at his running mate's expense. Speaking at the White House breakfast on November 5, POTUS mentioned how well-behaved Chinese leader Xi Jinping's staff were. Trump said he was jealous of how deferential those staff members acted. "I want my cabinet to behave like that ... Never seen men so scared in their lives," the president told the crowd at the White House. He then elaborated and mentioned that Xi Jinping's vice president sat quietly and would only respond when he was allowed to. That is when Trump turned his attention to his own VP and joked about his behavior. "JD doesn't behave like that. JD butts into conversations," Trump told the crowd, who replied with laughter. "At least for a couple of days, we'll keep you long-term, but a couple of days of that would be nice," he added as one last jab at Vance.

Trump: "I want my cabinet to behave like [Xi Jinping's staff]. I'm demanding that....I've never seen men so scared in their lives...JD doesn't behave like that. JD butts into conversations." pic.twitter.com/CKoxloczg4

— The Bulwark (@BulwarkOnline) November 5, 2025

Clips of the speech were shared on X, where users quickly latched onto this as an example of the weird things in Trump and Vance's relationship. "Always interesting to see how much shame and embarrassment JD Vance is willing to take," one tweeted. "JD doesn't dare oppose Trump," another added. One person speculated that these types of moments are why JD has embarrassed Usha Vance multiple times. "When Trump humiliates JD, he copes by taking it out on his wife in public," they wrote. If rumors about his relationship with Usha are true, JD could eventually call it quits with both his wife and Trump. 

There was speculation among some that JD was simply enduring public mistreatment as he made moves to one day replace Trump as president.

Chatter that JD Vance and Donald Trump were on the outs circulated in July after the The Wall Street Journal published a report that included a birthday card allegedly written by the president to Jeffrey Epstein in 2003. The vice president was dragged into the matter because news broke around the same time that JD Vance had a secret meeting with Rupert Murdoch, which had everyone saying the same thing about the veep's relationship with Trump. This raised alarm bells and caused whispers of backroom dealings, as Murdoch owns the WSJ, so the theory was that Vance was working with the media mogul behind Trump's back.

Theories swirled, as many believed JD was tired of playing second fiddle to Trump and was aligning with Murdoch as part of a power play. "Murdoch wants Trump on a leash so that he can get the policies that he wants. Vance wants Trump in a noose so that he can take his job," a Redditor wrote in July. "[T]he math gets simpler when Murdoch and JD just remove 47 from the equation," another added.

Officially, JD had continued showing his loyalty towards Trump, but when gossip started spreading that POTUS was dealing with major health issues, the vice president had zero issues speaking about potentially taking over. "And if, God forbid, there's a terrible tragedy, I can't think of better on-the-job training than what I've gotten over the last 200 days," Vance told USA Today in August as he seemed to be campaigning for himself to potentially be the next president.