Sometimes, President Donald Trump makes blunt, offensive comments that he plays off as jokes, but people aren’t convinced he’s actually joking. So, on June 17, when he joked that he would blame Vice President JD Vance if his Iran peace deal fell through, many people assumed that he meant it.
After all, in the eyes of many Trump critics, blaming other people and avoiding accountability kind of seems like Trump’s thing. This makes the idea that he would blame Vance for things not working out feel entirely plausible to them.
But apparently, Vance isn’t worried about it.
At the G7 summit in France, Trump said he’ll take credit if things do work out.
Trump on Iran negotiations: If it works out, I'll take the credit. If it doesn't, I'm blaming JD. pic.twitter.com/9LVpBKH0Ra
— Headquarters (@HQNewsNow) June 17, 2026
But if the Iran deal falls apart, he’ll blame his VP. Fox News reporter Peter Doocy said, “There’s some element to this where you send the vice president, if it works out great, you look like a genius for sending him. And if it doesn’t work out, it’s the vice president’s fault?”
Trump reacted to this as if the reporter was giving him a helpful suggestion. “I like that idea, sure,” he responded. “This way, if it works out, I’m going to take the credit. If it doesn’t work out, I’m blaming JD.”
He added, “You better be careful, JD. He’s gonna turn his plane around and get the hell out of here. Yeah, I like that idea. I think it’s a good idea.”
Some people (including Vance himself) tried to say the president was clearly joking.
Given the fact that Trump repeatedly said he “liked that idea,” a lot of people assumed that he really would blame Vance if things didn’t work out. However, some people on social media defended him, with one person writing, “It was a joke…why don’t liberals have a sense of humor???”
Interestingly, Vance also seemed to dismiss Trump’s comment as a joke. The next day, a reporter asked Vance about whether he’s worried about Trump making him the fall guy. Vance laughed in response to the question and said, “No, not at all. I mean, I think the president was joking, as he often does.”
Many others seemed much less convinced that he was really joking.
spoiler alert: this is not a joke https://t.co/CDe2n2C6KI
— Chili Dog (@RobertJMolnar) June 17, 2026
On social media, some Trump critics described Trump’s comments as “a rare nugget of truth” and said he was saying the quiet part out loud.
“And of course he is serious,” one critic wrote on X. “People have no excuse for supporting this pos who takes no responsibility for anything.”
Several others argued that although Trump tried to play it off as a joke, blaming Vance if things don’t work out would be in line with how he normally acts. Someone said Trump is “incapable of accepting responsibility for anything in his life,” while another person suggested that his comments weren’t even shocking at this point. “Is anyone surprised?” they wrote. “This has always been his method.”
A few people mentioned how he tries to blame Former President Joe Biden for things on a regular basis. “That’s right, blaming other people is in fact one of the things he does best,” a commenter noted. “Hell, if it doesn’t ‘work out’, he’ll probably blame Biden.”
“They can all laugh, but he’s not kidding,” someone else added.
READ NEXT: Trump Struggles To Stay Focused During G7 Summit Because He’s Distracted By ‘Handsome’ Man
