Adding to the notion that Vice President JD Vance’s influence is waning, the VP was left off Time magazine’s annual list of the most influential people. At the same time, several other top administration officials made the list.
According to the Daily Beast, in the list’s “Leaders” category, among those names were the president, Secretary of State Marco Rubio, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles, Middle East envoy Steve Witkoff, and Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Dan Caine. But Vance was snubbed. The vice president made the 2025 version of the list, but not this year’s.
“From a broken home, he came up through the U.S. Marines, Yale Law School, and the tech-bro world of Silicon Valley. Now, as Trump’s No. 2, he’s turned what was a political death sentence for his predecessor, Mike Pence, into a position of power, and potential,” the bio for Vance in the 2025 list said.
And adding insult to injury, Trump is known for his affinity for Time magazine, including his penchant for placing fake Time covers in his properties; he has also been on the magazine’s real cover numerous times.
Trump and his closest comrades landed on Time magazine’s most influential people list of 2026, with the noticeable exception of his second-in-command.https://t.co/45Coa9G0Dw
— The Daily Beast (@thedailybeast) April 16, 2026
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“While the vice president was absent, Rubio—who has repeatedly been pitted against Vance as a 2028 contender—was lauded as being ‘at the center of some of the biggest moves of Trump’s second term,’ and even positioned as set to ‘possibly inherit the Trumpist movement in 2028,'” The Daily Beast said of the snub.
Things have clearly changed since last year.
“Now, in contrast, he has been fielding criticism for failing to broker a peace deal with Iran, for dooming the re-election campaign of Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orbán, and for being heckled during a free Turning Point USA event that reportedly drew thousands of empty seats. The Daily Beast has reached out to Vance’s representatives for comment,” the Beast said. “It’s been a rough few weeks for the isolationist vice president, who has reportedly been at odds with his boss over the bombardment of Iran, which Trump launched in coordination with Israel—without congressional approval—on Feb. 28.”
Photo courtesy of the Political Tribune media library.
