About a week after launching the war with Iran, Donald Trump was asked whether there was any daylight between him and JD Vance on the merits of the conflict. The president conceded that his vice president had been “philosophically a little different” from him on the overall mission. Referring to Vance, Trump added, “I think he was maybe less enthusiastic.”

In the days and weeks that followed, Vance, who famously boasted about Trump’s foreign policy restraint during his audition for the vice presidency, carefully toed the White House line, though he occasionally refused to give straight answers to questions about whether he was fully “on board” with the war.

There were also published reports from unnamed sources close to the vice president, emphasizing his behind-the-scenes “skepticism” of the military offensive, suggesting Vance and his team, by leaking to reporters, hoped to maintain some distance from the war in the event it proved disastrous.

Trump, however, had a very different perspective about his vice president and his culpability.

On April 1, for example, more than a full month into the war, the White House hosted an Easter luncheon, where the president sought an update on Iran peace negotiations.

“How’s that moving?” Trump asked.

“It’s going good, sir,” Vance replied.

Pressing further, the president asked, “Do you see it happening?”

The vice president responded, “Uh, we’re going to brief it to you.”

Then it was time for the punchline.

“So if it doesn’t happen, I’m blaming JD Vance,” Trump told attendees. “If it does happen, I’m taking full credit.”

As the G7 summit in France came to an end, the Republican told the same joke, nearly word for word. MS NOW reported as part of the network’s liveblog coverage:

Trump used his final moments on the world stage to joke about throwing Vance under the bus if the formal signing of the MOU does not go well.

“Why not stick around for the signing ceremony with this Iran peace deal?” a reporter asked Trump, who is already in France attending the G7 summit.

“It’s very important, but it might not be the kind of a document that I should be signing,” Trump answered. “This way, if it works out, I’m going to take the credit. If it doesn’t work out, I’m blaming JD. You better be careful, JD,” he added.

The tone may have been lighthearted, but the underlying message packed a punch.

The broader context is everything. For all of Vance’s alleged skepticism, he’s the one Trump tasked with overseeing negotiations with Iran; he’s the one who’s currently on a media tour where he’s being forced to defend a framework that looks an awful lot like an embarrassing surrender; and he’s the one who appears to have become a political target for prominent members of his own party.

Indeed, The Bulwark’s Joe Perticone had a worthwhile piece this week noting that, as a variety of congressional Republicans hold him (and not Trump) directly responsible for the emerging “deal,” there’s ample evidence to suggest Vance “is being set up as the Iran deal fall guy.”

It’s precisely why the president’s latest “joke” probably didn’t generate a lot in the way of laughs at the Naval Observatory.

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