Vice President JD Vance Says He’s Ready To Be President If “Terrible Tragedy” Happens To President Trump

Honestly, I thought this line of questioning from USA Today was unnecessary.

During a recent sit-down interview with USA Today, Vice President JD Vance was asked if he is ready to become President if something were to happen to President Trump.

Vance responded that he was ready to be the Commander-in-Chief if a terrible tragedy were to happen to Trump.

Watch here:

JUST IN—VP JD Vance said he is prepared to step in if “a terrible tragedy” were to befall Trump, while emphasizing that Trump is “in incredibly good health” and brimming with “incredible energy.”

Trump is sicker than we thought. pic.twitter.com/fX9uiauvtp

— ADAM (@AdameMedia) August 28, 2025

Notice how she put an emphasis on “heartbeat”?

If you didn’t catch it, listen to the first five seconds again.

In the last week, liberals on X have again and again, without evidence, claimed Trump has congestive heart failure:

Trump was having a bad day with his congestive heart failure and had to take off his tie. Being the totalitarian dictator that he is, everyone else had to take off their ties too. https://t.co/M64H48cIfv pic.twitter.com/1NJju1Xw2y

— Carlos Freytes- AGENTS OF FANDOM 🇵🇷 (@CarlosFreytesJr) August 23, 2025

How do we know that Donald Trump has congestive heart failure? The swollen ankles they’ve tried to dismiss continues. And there’s only one reason they’re putting patches and make up on his hand: it’s because he’s had to have IVs and he’s trying to hide the fact of bruising. pic.twitter.com/7KVdyTofSV

— Elucidated (@Elucidated2) August 23, 2025

I‘m clearly not a doctor but have seen a lot of videos speculating on President Trump‘s health and possible congestive heart failure and watching the live press conference from the oval office, he keeps his hand under the desk but was then talking and I saw the major bruise on… pic.twitter.com/rtx9Uk0m9b

— Mrs. SpaceX ™️ (@anuibi) August 25, 2025

USA Today reported more details on the interview:

The first time Vice President JD Vance walked into the Oval Office, he noticed the drapes (“dark and gloomy”) – but he insists he’s not measuring them for a future turn behind the Resolute Desk.

ADVERTISEMENT

“I’ve gotten a lot of good on-the-job training over the last 200 days,” Vance said in an exclusive interview with USA TODAY on Aug. 27, when asked if he was ready to assume the role of commander in chief.

His boss, after all, is the oldest person to have been sworn in as president of the United States. President Donald Trump was 78 when he began his second term in office.

“The president is an incredibly good health,” said Vance. “He’s got incredible energy.”

The wide-ranging interview covered topics including his televised spat with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the Taylor Swift-Travis Kelce engagement and the president’s controversial efforts to oust a Federal Reserve governor.

While the question of Trump’s age had been raised throughout his presidential campaign by Democrats and even his own primary opponent Nikki Haley (Haley’s campaign released a campaign ad titled “Grumpy Old Men” casting both former President Joe Biden and Trump as stumbling seniors), concerns around Trump’s health have resurfaced in recent months.

The White House announced in July that Trump had been diagnosed with chronic venous insufficiency, a common vein condition, after images taken of the president showed visible swelling in his lower legs.

The fake news media is spreading a hoax that @VP said he’s ready to be president because they’re trying to spread a narrative that Trump is not well.

They conveniently leave out the context where Vance was DIRECTLY ASKED if he’s ready to become president if he has to, to which… pic.twitter.com/8Gdd3sHlUh

— Libs of TikTok (@libsoftiktok) August 29, 2025

The Daily Mail reported more on Vance’s interview and Trump’s health:

Vice President JD Vance said he’s ready to be president should the worst happen to President Donald Trump, but reassured the public that the president was in good health.

‘Yes, terrible tragedies happen,’ Vance said in an interview with USA TODAY, when asked if he was ready to serve as president. ‘But I feel very confident the president of the United States is in good shape, is going to serve out the remainder of his term and do great things for the American people.

As a candidate in 2024, Trump faced an unprecedented two assassination attempts, but Secret Service has dramatically ramped up security since he took office in January.

As one of the youngest vice presidents in modern history, Vance turned 41 earlier this month.

But he said he felt had learned a lot about the presidency in his first seven months on the job.

‘If, God forbid, there’s a terrible tragedy, I can’t think of better on-the-job training than what I’ve gotten over the last 200 days,’ he added.

President Trump is 79-years-old and will be 82 in his last year as president.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt revealed in July that the president was suffering from ‘chronic venous insufficiency,’ that was causing ‘mild swelling’ in his lower legs.

The president’s physician revealed in an memo that his condition was ‘a benign and common condition’ in elderly people but that there was no evidence of any serious arterial disease.

Trump also has bruising on the back of his hand, his physician revealed, that was a result of ‘irritation from frequent handshaking and use of aspirin ‘as part of a standard cardiovascular prevention’ treatment.

Vance said that Trump demonstrated every day that the had ‘incredible good energy’ and ‘good health.’