JD Vance appears to have a new rule of thumb. He said if something is being called a conspiracy today, check back in six months, and it might be official policy by then!
This week, the vice president was responding to comments by White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, who had described him as “a conspiracy theorist for a decade” and questioned his political evolution. The VP was speaking at an event in Pennsylvania, and that’s when he said he hadn’t read the Vanity Fair piece but had heard enough to offer a punchline.
He actually acknowledged that he sometimes fits the label. Vance added that the catch is he only believes the conspiracy theories that turn out to be true. Vance says the term has become a placeholder for ideas the media hasn’t yet warmed up to.
JUST IN: JD Vance fires back at reporter who asked him about Susie Wiles’ alleged comment that he is a conspiracy theorist, starts listing off every conspiracy theory he believes in.
“I only believe in the conspiracy theories that are true.”
“I believed in the crazy conspiracy… pic.twitter.com/NOhD9SJgg9
— Collin Rugg (@CollinRugg) December 16, 2025
To make his case, Vance ticked through a familiar set of grievances. What did he mention? His opposition to masking very young children during the pandemic apparently gained traction later. He then pointed to concerns about President Joe Biden’s capacity to do the job, which he suggested were minimized by the end. And he accused the former administration of trying to sideline opponents through prosecutions.
JD Vance basically said that what gets dismissed as a conspiracy is often just ahead of its time.
The exchange might have ended there, but Vance suddenly started praising Wiles. He said she’s unusually consistent in Washington, which is famous for flattery and then privately sabotaging peers. He also says she is the same person in the president’s presence as she is when he’s not in the room.
After that, JD Vance shared an anecdote from the Oval Office when President Donald Trump paused a policy discussion to take a look at footwear. Turns out, after that, he ordered multiple pairs of shoes for Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio. The story supports Vance’s claim that Trump, too, is exactly who he appears to be.
The contrast in body language between Vance and Rubio here pic.twitter.com/V9Ei6hRVKG
— Kathryn Watson (@kathrynw5) February 28, 2025
But obviously, not everyone is buying the rebrand. HuffPost argues that Vance’s formula is a classic conspiracy theorist’s move as he insists that only the “true” conspiracies count. They’ve noted his past insistence that Trump won the 2020 election to rumors about Haitian immigrants in Ohio. Is Vance conveniently dodging accountability, then?
That tension is the real story here. By reframing “conspiracy theorist” as “early adopter of truths,” JD Vance is openly inviting his supporters (who are already prone to believing what they hear) to see media skepticism as proof that they are actually right.
Do you think conspiracy and consensus are different just because of their timing?
