A Terrible Vice
Okay History turns five, and we are ranking the #2s
About three weeks before Ronald Reagan would be sworn in as the 40th president of the United States, I turned five. “The Great Communicator” would become one of the most consequential presidents in our history. Evidence of that was his landing in the top ten of the inaugural Okay History Presidential Rankings.
There’s not much I remember about turning five. But according to scientists, turning five marks the time when your brain becomes attuned to learning, playing, and speaking. There’s no doubt that I was impressive as a five-year-old, having established that despite numerous talents, I would need all sorts of help to function later in life.
And the fruits of that village-like assistance came to bear in 2021, when the rankings of Reagan and the other US presidents launched Okay History on Presidents’ Day. A few weeks before this incredible moment in history that can never be repeated took place, former Vice President Joe Biden walked into the Oval Office and began his best effort to wipe away the stains of his predecessor, a president who tried in vain to overturn his defeat in 2020 election by encouraging his supporters to embrace violence and storm the Capitol, subverting certification and keep him in power.1
Here we are, after those humble beginnings, Okay History is now five years in – almost 400 masterfully argued essays published.2 Meanwhile, in an unexpected plot twist, after those successful Biden years3 America decided it needed to bring Donald Trump back as president. Despite a laundry list of offenses that makes the term laundry list woefully short, Americans ignored or looked past a man who was twice impeached, convicted of thirty-four felonies of business fraud, federally indicted for mishandling federal documents, and also indicted forty-one times by the state of Georgia for election fraud involving his reelection.4
However, just like any five-year-old, Donald Trump has many talents. If you believe him, he is a championship-level golfer, peacemaker, and stalwart on the economy. But at his best, President Trump has the astonishing skill to convince people that the reality we all live in is, in fact, not real. Take, for instance, the election process. Trump has consistently presented the idea that somehow the Democratic Party mishandled its ability to steal elections in 2016 and 2024, when they and the “Deep State” were in charge, bumbling each, therefore handing him his rightfully earned victories, won by prodigiously wide margins. In turn, Deep State Democrats were brilliantly covert in stealing the election in between, when presumably Trump and his Make America Great Again Anti-Woke Warriors would have been positioned to have already dismantled the unelected bureaucracy that has supposedly rotted the government for generations.5
And it’s this idea, this consistent and repeated manipulation of what is fiction and what is not, that leads us to our latest round of ranking stuff – ranking all the Vice Presidents of the United States.6
I’m sure you are asking, “Wait, what?”
I’m happy to explain.
At his core, Trump is a narcissist. A narcissist holds negative values. One example of this is that everyone other than the narcissist is fundamentally wretched. The only way a narcissist can gain power and hold it is by surrounding themselves with people who are brazenly committed to protecting the narcissist’s image, promoting their self-importance, and attacking the credibility and dignity of anyone who challenges them.
Basically, a narcissist needs their sycophants.
Sycophants are worse than the narcissists themselves7, because their drive to gain and maintain approval motivates them to create narratives that people with shorter attention spans than five-year-olds will not only understand but readily accept. The consequences of such relationships and engagement mean people in this country no longer have access to affordable things like eggs or to due process.
And unfortunately for America, we have one big lickspittle currently inhabiting Number One Observatory Circle.
I’m on record stating that the office of vice president is unessential. I think the current occupant and the lead-off for this edition of rankings is a perfect example of why this office doesn’t need to exist.
The Founders initially tended to agree with my position. About the only thing the Articles of Confederation got right was the exclusion of the office of the vice president. But when they crumpled up that form of government and started over, framers of this federal constitutional republic reversed their decision and inserted the vice presidency into the Constitution at the last minute. Even then, they still messed it up.
Despite creating the position along with the terrible Electoral College in Article II, Section I, our representatives needed to correct a damaging flaw in the way we elect both a president and a vice president. This resulted in an additional Constitutional Amendment to further define this useless position that one vice president,8 described as “the spare tire on the automobile of government.9
I’ll save more opinions about this non-practical position over the course of the year.10 But for now, we got 50 people to get through, so let’s dive in and discuss the current guy and why he is the worst.
NR: James David Vance
50th Vice President
Term – January 20, 2025 – Incumbent
Presidential Administration: Donald Trump, Second Term (Okay History 2021 Presidential Rank: 44)
The Good:
Let me be clear here. The “good” I’m going to describe means “good at lacking integrity.”11 Vance reminds me of a former boss. This person presents herself quite well. She runs good meetings and can moderate panels with relative ease12 and comes across as intelligent in client meetings. Working with her, however, is another thing. She is practically a different person. She lacks the experience to understand the nuances of the client’s job, is deficient in innovation or expertise, and, worst of all, throws people under the bus when it looks like the truth about her flaws is about to see the light of day.
This bozo boss is the quintessential sycophant for the big boss, who is a standard narcissist and has definitely voted for Trump three times.13
Vice President Vance14 presents the intellectual weight behind MAGA. Vance has a tone in his interviews that effectively delivers messages to people who don’t like being spoken down to, even as they don’t realize an Ivy League grad elite is playing them. Whereas Trump throws a tantrum that would rival any five-year-old when berating anyone who stands up to or questions him, Vance’s calm approach can present his disagreement with the opposition in a way that sounds reasonable.
Another way of putting it - he’s very good at lacking honor.
The Bad:
At one point, Vance was an Anti-Trumper. At one point, he was also known as James Donald Bowman.15 Vance once described his boss as “America’s Hitler,” but that all changed when presented with power.
The vice president converted to Catholicism in 2019, and two years later, he converted to MAGAism when he ran for the Senate in his home state of Ohio.16 I feel for his former friends, who can’t believe or understand his turn in politics. I speak from experience. I used to like this former boss, but when she pushes you in front of the bus the narcissistic big boss is driving, you tend to change your mind.
All of that is to say, James Donald Bowman is never coming back. And I will never get these tire tracks off my back.
Did he become president?
This is the standard question for these rankings going forward, and while it doesn’t pertain to this situation, it’s important to note that Vance won’t necessarily ascend to the presidency.
Becoming president is a difficult challenge, regardless of your situation. As we saw in 2024, being the vice president means you are attached to all the bad your boss has done. It’s also worth noting that the MAGA cultists do not hold Vance in the same regard as their cult leader.
Should Trump not run in 2028 for whatever reason, it’s going to be an all-out bloodbath of a Republican primary if we are fortunate enough to hold one.17
Why did I rank him here?
Vance has been on the job for a little over a year.18 He’s terrible, which isn’t surprising. However, do not be fooled by a guy who changes his views, his name, and religion depending on the opportunities presented to him at any given time.
During his short time as a United States Senator, Vance partnered with Democratic Senators on numerous occasions to pass legislation that required critical thinking skills to pass. Now that he no longer has an actual job, other than lecturing to whomever the Bishop of Rome is, and giving interviews on shows he argues no one watches, Vance is a dangerously disingenuous person who wakes up every morning and says, “Yes, I like how my eyes look.”
Okay! So what do you think? Do we like this year’s ranking? Not a fan? Please comment below.
Important essay scheduling note as we move into year six: I will keep posting the Maundy Monday Newsletter19 But moving forward, I will send out an essay on Saturday morning rather than Friday. I need the extra day – it’s just too challenging right now with everything that I am working on20 to keep it within the work week. I hope you like this move. Please let me know.21
One last note about the weekend. Saturday was my Dad’s birthday. He would have been 83. He passed away in the summer of 2015, and here’s the essay I wrote about him on that anniversary.
I miss my Dad very much, but really, I wish he could pull some strings up in heaven to get the Cleveland Guardians a World Series. Or at least help with them and walk the guys who are really good hitters.
Have a great week. I’ll see you on Saturday with the next set of rankings. Appreciate you.
Okay,
Chris
A moment in history that I hope is never repeated
I’m still convinced Substack has deleted some posts. This number feels incredibly low
And they were quite successful
That’s just off the top of my head
The Trump regime always mentions Biden, but never anyone in the Deep State. Who are these people?
The Number Two – as it were
Remember this funny tidbit- there are ten letters in narcissist, while eleven for sycophants, because they need to be at least one more extra
Who will be ranked at some point
Thank you for this description, 32nd Vice President John Nance Garner
But not all the time
Which is important to the job expectation
The panels for these fundraisers are that they all share the same view – which is why they are on the panel in the first place.
Like Trump, the big boss liked to be awarded. He has created two team awards – One he gave himself and the other is named after him.
If that is his real name
I get the confusion. People get confused if I go by Chris or Christopher. I go by both. Last name is the same.
It’s my state as well
I give it a 50/50 shot
It’s OKH policy not to officially rank the current officer holder. He still stinks.
Around 7:00 – sorry it’s been all over the place recently
I’m writing a book – more on that another time.
I would love to increase feedback. Don’t be shy!