“Good morning, Vice Adm. Davids, and you too, Rear Adm. Davids. Wow, what a Navy power couple. It’s a great privilege to be at the Naval Academy this morning to address the Class of 2025.
“To the families, friends, faculty, and officers gathered here today: thank you for being part of this sacred moment in the life of our nation.
“And to the Class of 2025 — our newest ensigns and second lieutenants —congratulations.
“You’ve earned it.”
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When Vice President JD Vance stands before the Class of 2025 in Annapolis on Friday, he will say something like that. Every VP for the last 50 years has followed, mostly, the same script.
Greetings to the superintendent and dignitaries. Pride in the achievement. Call out a few individuals. Make common cause with the graduates.
As a Marine veteran, Vance is likely to emphasize duty, honor and commitment to the nation. He’ll talk about the geopolitical situation facing the Navy and Marine Corps.
He might even take a page from Al Gore and make a joke at his own expense.
“I don’t look stiff in this crowd,” Gore said in 1997.
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Vance will certainly name-check his boss, President Donald Trump. If Trump‘s original VP was any indicator, he’ll do that at greater length than most vice presidents.
“And as you prepare to assume your duties, I want to say to the new officers and to your families, President Donald Trump is the best friend the Armed Forces of the United States will ever have,” Mike Pence said in 2017.
Vice-presidential words get far less attention than presidential speak. They rotate through academy commissioning ceremonies, and Trump’s speech Saturday at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point will quickly overshadow anything Vance says.
The Biden effect, however, makes it a mistake to ignore him.
I’m still smarting from my naive trust that President Joe Biden and those around him would be honest about his infirmities. Advance reporting on the new book, “Original Sin: President Biden’s Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again,” should give everyone worry about the health of America’s geriatric leaders.
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Beyond Trump’s Constitution-busting executive orders and bizarre behavior — a $45 million birthday parade, ordering Alcatraz reopened, repeated confusion about events — make it hard to tell whether America’s greatest salesman is pulling another con or suffering a very public cognitive decline.
“I don’t know,” Trump said three times this month.
Either way, it’s not hard to imagine a President Vance.
The former senator from Ohio hates all the people Trump wants him to, on command. He is a foil for the boundary-shattering instability the president has brought to his second White House term.
He was at Trump’s heel during the Oval Office ambush of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.
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“And do you think that it’s respectful to come to the Oval Office of the United States of America and attack the administration that is trying to prevent the destruction of your country?” he said, feigning outrage.
He didn’t kill Pope Francis, but he forced a meeting the day before the frail pontiff died. He runs point on supporting far-right extremism among allies.
“The threat that I worry the most about vis-à-vis Europe is not Russia. It’s not China, it’s not any other external actor. And what I worry about is the threat from within,” Vance said in February during a European security conference. “The retreat of Europe from some of its most fundamental values, values shared with the United States of America.”
Then there’s the cringe — cat ladies and saying his wife is trapped in his reality while she was standing next to him.
“And here’s the thing, ‘cause the cameras are all on, anything that I say, no matter how crazy, Usha has to smile and laugh and celebrate,” he said.
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You’re a riot, JD.
He can, on smaller stages, sound less like a puppet or a tool.
“It’s not Europe bad, America good,” he said a few weeks after his bombshell in Munich. “It’s that I think that both Europe and the United States we got a little bit off track and I’d encourage us all to get back on track.”
Through all of it, you can hear how he thinks of himself — as Trump’s successor.
“One journalist suggested the speech highlighted the tension between the, quote, ‘techno-optimists’ and the ‘populist right’ of President Trump’s coalition,” he told a tech-bro conference in March. “And today, I’d like to speak to these tensions as a proud member of both tribes.”
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A few vice presidents go beyond platitudes in Annapolis.
“You must demand that every one of your fellow sailors and Marines is afforded the dignity and respect that they deserve, no matter race, gender, faith, or sexual orientation,” Biden said in 2015, five years before winning the presidency.
“As leaders in the United States Navy, we count on you to refuse to tolerate sexual harassment or sexual assault in any form, under any circumstances. It’s a matter of honor that you prevent that.”
Vance should try to explain the purge of diversity, equity and inclusion ideas from the curriculum and the ban on race and gender as a consideration in admissions. He owes all the mids an explanation about ending affinity groups, removing 381 books from the library shelves and the future of civilian faculty.
Given the fabulism that surrounds Trump, he should be fact-checked as Pence was.
“Follow the chain of command without exception,” Pence told the mids. “Submit yourselves, as the saying goes, to the authorities that have been placed above you.”
He left out the crucial exception — unlawful orders.
Vance will get an enthusiastic reception inside Navy-Marine Corps Memorial Stadium. Few will hear the protesters outside.
If commencement speakers are forgotten, there can be exceptions.
Vice President Dan Quayle said all the right words in 1990 when it was his turn in Annapolis.
Duty. Honor. Service.
The only words anyone remembers, though, were those on all 1,003 diplomas — “Navel Academy.”
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