Matthew Dallek

“When you’re vice-president, you can only get so much distance from the president, and if you try to distance yourself, you’re going to antagonize the people who supported the president, and create the impression that you’re not just disloyal, but two-faced.”

Matthew Dallek · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-24

Dallek explained the limits and risks of a vice-president trying to distance himself from the president.

“The Gore example is useful because it’s someone who tried to distance himself, didn’t do so very successfully – and he was doing so from a pretty popular president,”

Matthew Dallek · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-24

Dallek said the Gore example shows the difficulty of distancing oneself from a popular president.

“One of the previews that we’ve had is that he is going to define the Democratic party as this radical leftwing communistic anti-American threat to the future of the country,”

Matthew Dallek · said date not stated · reported 2026-10-24

Dallek said Vance's midterms attacks preview a strategy of defining the Democratic Party as a radical threat.