In a one-hour town hall hosted by CBS News, Vice President JD Vance argued that the Trump administration’s handling of the economy and Iran strategy will pay dividends in the future. He was also pressed on the Trump administration’s controversial immigration tactics, widespread discontent over the cost of living and his own political future during “Things That Matter: A Town Hall with Vice President JD Vance,” which aired Saturday night and was hosted by “CBS Evening News” anchor Tony Dokoupil. Vance fielded questions from voters in Michigan, a swing state that helped propel Vance and President Trump to victory in 2024, and is host to a tight Senate race that could help determine which party will win control of the upper chamber in next month’s midterm elections. Vance says he hasn’t decided whether he’ll run for president. If he decides to run for president in 2028, the vice president is widely seen as an early favorite in the Republican primaries and a possible heir to Trump’s political movement. Trump has called Vance his “most likely” Republican Party successor and has joked about a possible race between Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. Asked by Dokoupil if there’s any chance he won’t run, Vance said, “Of course there’s a chance.” Think about it.” He also noted that he and his wife, Usha Vance, have four young children, and that the second lady “has never loved politics,” although she “loves public service.” As for the economy, Vance says “we’re turning the ship around,” but it will take time. Several town hall attendees asked Vance about cost-of-living issues. The issue weighs heavily in the midterm elections and has proven to be a drag on Republicans according to CBS News polls. Voter dissatisfaction with inflation and the state of the economy under the Biden administration helped bring Trump and Vance to power, but polls indicate that most voters are still unhappy with the economy and blame the Trump administration. Sandy Johnson said the family entertainment center he owns is “barely making ends meet” and asked when he can expect changes “so that the average American has money to spend on small businesses.” to Joe Biden, it was the bipartisan, multigenerational failure of not investing enough in American workers, not investing enough in American manufacturing and sending all of our good jobs overseas,” Vance said. “If all the good jobs are overseas, then people here in Michigan can’t spend money in the family business.” He pointed to promises of new foreign investment in the United States and the growth plans of the Detroit area’s three major automakers, General Motors, Ford and Chrysler’s parent company, Stellantis “We are turning the tide on this,” Vance said, referring to the decline in American manufacturing “And I think there are all these things that I pointed out that show signs of progress. But Sandy, I’ll be the first person to tell you that just as this country didn’t break in one presidential term, it’s going to take more than 18 months to fix things and turn them around.” Since Trump returned to power last year, the unemployment rate has remained low, but inflation has remained stubbornly higher than the Federal Reserve’s 2% annual target, hurting Americans’ wages. The number of manufacturing jobs has also remained virtually stable. When Dokoupil Asked about Trump’s assessment of an “A+” economy, Vance said the president was referring to new investments, “but I would be the first person to tell him that you have to build the factories first before you can employ the workers who work in those factories.” Vance later said, “I think what we’re doing is turning the ship around. The biggest pressure point on Americans’ wallets is the Iran war, which has kept oil prices high even as the United States and Iran have refrained from actively fighting each other.” in recent weeks. Keshon Wheatley, a Detroit barber, told Vance that he voted for Trump in 2020 and 2024, largely because he credited the president with low gas prices during his first term. Now, gas prices are much higher, and he said he plans to vote for Michigan Democratic Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed, not Republican Mike Rogers. Vance pointed to Iran’s attacks on oil tankers. “This one, where we effectively have the largest state sponsor of terrorism that is trying to completely cut off the world’s energy supply,” the vice president said, arguing that “if we just… went away and let the Iranians control shipping out of the Strait of Hormuz, what would that mean you would pay a lot more for gas?” from the Middle East because of the US military’s efforts to allow ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz. In the competitive Michigan Senate race, he argued that El-Sayed – a frequent critic of the Iran war – has not offered a solution to the problem, and credited Rogers with calling for an end to the war. which has dragged on longer than Trump initially expected. Vance argued that “in some respects we have won decisively,” but “the enemy gets a vote here.” The vice president, who participated in negotiations with Iran over the summer, defended the president’s Iran strategy and said the Trump administration is seeking a “firm and final commitment from the Iranians that they are not going to rebuild their nuclear program.” including Staff Sgt. Nicole Amor. Her husband, Joey Amor, asked Vance about reports that the facilities in Kuwait were not adequately secured. “Even though the Iranian drone was the weapon that killed my wife, there were a lot of mistakes and a lot of fundamental failures that led to that,” Amor said, asking Vance “how is this administration going to start holding those leaders accountable?” “take every failure extremely seriously.” He also noted that cheap drones have changed warfare, and “we’ve changed a lot of our tactics to try to suppress drone fire, to try to protect our troops so that more people don’t have to pay the ultimate sacrifice.” Sister Nancy Sylvester, a member of the Sisters Servants of the Immaculate Heart of Mary, asked Vance about the Trump administration’s approach to immigration enforcement. Vance, a fellow Catholic, “how would you justify [U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement tactics] to people of faith” and “what policies would you advocate to try to promote a more compassionate and [respectful] behavior toward our immigrant brothers and sisters.” Vance responded, “We’re trying to strike a balance between: how we enforce the law, but how we also do it in a humane way, and how to not do so little enforcement that it really empowers some of the worst people in the world.” When asked if any major mistakes made by ICE come to mind, Vance responded that “there are a number of cases where we have investigated and provided additional training or sometimes even disciplinary situations within ICE.” “That’s it. a criticism of a company that brings in a person, that sometimes literally fires an American worker, brings in another person and meets that person, if they complain, if they get too arrogant at work, if they have a disagreement with their boss, they couldn’t just lose their job…they can be sent back to their home country,” Vance said. He said, “And I think that gives employers too much power.” He said, “My goal here is not to dehumanize any immigrant.” But he said he’s trying to “make it so that we can have a country with a foundation of social cohesion and a sense of community, because what happens when too many people come to the United States, even if they are very good people… [is] it changes the country in very profound ways.” “DC is a corrupt city,” but Vance says there is no evidence that Trump is participating in it. Dokoupil asked Vance about polls that indicate many voters are concerned about corruption and believe Mr. Trump is prioritizing his own personal business interests while in office. Vance said, “I’ve never seen anything like that from the president.” “Yes, DC is a corrupt city,” Vance said, but “I haven’t seen a single shred of evidence that participate in or sanction that corruption.” Dokoupil also asked about a number of recent reports, including Trump’s cryptocurrency earnings and the dismissal of the US ambassador to Greece, Kimberly Guilfoyle, over allegations that she asked a person seeking help from the Trump administration to wire her $100,000. Guilfoyle has denied any wrongdoing. Trump has denied any conflict of interest. Vance responded: “If someone is selling access to the White House, that is disgusting and despicable and should suffer consequences.” The vice president also said he will “follow the law” if a Democratic Congress launches investigations and subpoenas the Trump administration. Data centers must be “good community citizens.” A major point of tension in many communities across the country is the explosion in data center development, as the rise of artificial intelligence leads to an insatiable demand for computing power. Trump has enthusiastically endorsed the artificial intelligence industry, calling it an engine of economic growth and a key area of competition with China. bring jobs and investments in crucial technology, but many voters have expressed concerns about noise, disruptions and pressure on the power grid, leading to calls for development to slow. Vance responded to a question from a Michigan resident who lives across from a data center, saying the constant hum has made “opening our windows to let in the breeze… a luxury we can no longer enjoy.” “cause real problems.” Tax revenues to local governments should also not lead to higher residential utility bills, Vance said. “Some of the economic benefits they are generating can’t just go to a few tech billionaires,” he said. “They have to go deeper into the community with The Free Press in:
