Calm down: Trumpworld isn't fracturing the way the press insists.

President Donald Trump, his relentless critics in media assure us, is finally on the ropes. His career in politics is over, they report breathlessly for what seems like the millionth time. 

His supporters are wondering if he is even fit for office, Trump’s media critics assert. “But his social media posts!” they clamor yet again.

“Trump forgot someone’s name!” points out one anti-Trump voice among many. After former President Joe Biden’s disastrous debate against Donald Trump in June 2024, the anti-Trump brigade echoed this sentiment:

“He has been the best president of my adult life. He has stood watch for our democracy, and I am so grateful. Still, after that scary debate last Thursday, I thought it might be time to say, ‘You stand relieved. We have the watch.’ But is that right? On the one hand, I don’t think that was just ‘one bad night.’ C’mon, no. Nor does the argument that Biden on his worst day is better than Trump on his best move me. I mean, sure, but that’s also true of my handsome and valiant grandpup Joey, and I’m not pushing his candidacy. Here’s what does matter: Biden is a force for good, and Trump for malevolence.” — Melinda Henneberger, Kansas City Star. June 2024.

What a spirited defense of Joe Biden. It’s a different story, of course, with Donald Trump now at the helm.

The anti-Trump crowd is still buzzing over a recent Vanity Fair article featuring interviews with White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles. They are anxious to declare the article The End of Donald Trump.

Not so fast.

MAGA-world isn’t fracturing as much as the press may like to think. And it definitely isn’t fracturing as much as media outlets want progressive audiences to believe.

Asked to respond to the Vanity Fair article, Vice President J.D. Vance was unwavering in his support of his boss — and of Susie Wiles. He also didn’t take umbrage at the suggestion that Wiles referred to Vance as a “conspiracy theorist.”

“I haven’t looked at the article,” VP Vance told Jacob Bogage of the Washington Post. “I, of course, have heard about it.”

“But conspiracy theorists, sometimes I am a conspiracy theorist, but I only believe in the conspiracy theories that are true,” Vance joked easily. “And by the way, Susie and I have joked in private and in public about that for a long time. For example, I believed in the crazy conspiracy theory back in 2020 that it was stupid to mask three-year-olds at the height of the COVID pandemic, that we should actually let them develop some language skills.”

“I believed in this crazy conspiracy theory that the media and the government were covering up the fact that Joe Biden was clearly unable to do the job,” Mr. Vance went on. “And I believed in the conspiracy theory that Joe Biden was trying to throw his political opponents in jail rather than win an argument against his political opponents. So, at least on some of these conspiracy theories, it turns out that a conspiracy theory is just something that was true six months before the media admitted it. And that’s that’s my understanding.”

“Now, look, I do want to say something about Susie, though, because, again, having not read this article, Susie is a person I’ve come to know very, very well,” Vance went on. “And, you know, a lot of you probably ask yourself, what is it like behind the scenes? What’s going on actually behind the scenes of the Trump administration? And I’ll tell you, the president is exactly in private who he is in public.”

“That’s not true of most people in Washington, D.C. It’s not,” Vance said. “And I’ve seen so many people who will say one thing to the president’s face, Democrats and Republicans, and then will do the exact opposite behind the scenes. You know why I really, you know what they are. And you know why I really love Susie Wiles, because Susie is who she is in the president’s presence. She’s the same exact person when the president isn’t around. I’ve never seen Susie Wiles say something to the president and then go and counteract him or subvert his will behind the scenes.”

“And Susie Wiles, we have our disagreements,” Vance admitted sagely. “We agree on much more than we disagree. But I’ve never seen her be disloyal to the president of the United States, and that makes her the best White House chief of staff that I think the president could ask for.”

Vice President Vance wasn’t the only one defending Donald Trump in Washington this week. Trump got some unexpected support from Sen. John Fetterman (D-PA) on the subject of boat strikes against narcoterrorists.

“And this idea — some things out in the media — it’s kind of putting out that the military’s just picking off, you know, anybody that comes across,” Sen. Fetterman told news host Chris Cuomo. “That’s just not true. I mean, there’s extensive intelligence, and they know exactly who’s on that boat, and they know what’s actually on that boat right now. And quite frequently, they decline to take it in, to move on those things.”

“When they move on these kinetic kinds of strikes, you know, they have absolute confidence in who’s on it and what’s on it,” Fetterman added. “And that’s exactly what it’s about. They’re not just going around randomly shooting boats. That’s just not the fact.”

“I think that, to me, it’s not unreasonable to compare that to what President Obama was doing during his presidency,” Fetterman said. “He was using drone hits, and he took out thousands of people in terrorism. Of course, if I was in the Senate that time, I would have supported those as well, too. You know, that’s the president, and you have some kind of discretion in the kinds of things.”

“Now, I don’t think anyone in the Senate would support, like, a full-on land invasion or putting American boots on in Venezuela,” Fetterman clarified. “But currently, right now, that’s not what’s happening. And there is extensive cooperation with nations in the region. And these are not just random strikes. They know exactly what’s on it, and that’s not — and again, it’s been very clear that they decline on often kinds of boats when they can’t be absolutely sure exactly what’s on it and who’s on it, including no women and children or anything.”

(Contributing writer, Brooke Bell)