PR experts love to advise clients to write books. And they don’t even have to be good books! In fact, it doesn’t matter if anyone actually reads ‘em.
Heck, self-publish ‘em if you’ve gotta!
Because when you write a book, two important things happen:
- We have a good excuse to make the media rounds. (It’s ammo for your PR campaign.)
- You’re now considered an expert in WHATEVER your book was about.
If you wrote a book about kids and smartphones, congratulations: You’re now an expert on kids and smartphones. Whenever there’s a news story about kids and smartphones, I can pitch you as an expert.
It’s now part of your brand.
Which is also why, for PR purposes, the content of your book is secondary to the title and subject matter: Exponentially more people will hear about the book than read it. What the book stands for is far more important than what it says.
So when a celebrity author (and/or a politician) chooses a book topic, it’s actually quite revelatory: He’s communicating to his target audience how he wants to be branded.
This brings us to Vice President JD Vance and his brand-spanking-new book, Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith. He’s been everywhere and anywhere making the media rounds, discussing his book, his journey, his religion — and, of course, the Trump administration’s memorandum of understanding (MOU) with Iran.
When Vance wrote Communion, he had no way of knowing that the Iranian MOU would coincide with its publishing. So don’t focus on the timing; that’s purely coincidental.
Focus instead on what Vance’s book is about — and what the title communicates.
The vice president wants you to know that he’s a man of faith, and his faith is Christianity. (Catholicism, to be specific.) He once was lost; now he is found. It wasn’t easy, but if he could do it, so could you and I.
Before we analyze this any further, let’s cede the obvious: It could very well be that Vance is exactly what he says he is — a man of faith — and he wrote this book because it’s close to his heart. There’s no other motive; no other reason.
(Just because I’m a cynical, heartless monster doesn’t mean that he is.)
But on the other hand, when a sitting vice president writes a book, the political implications are obvious. (Especially when the president he serves under is term-limited from running again.) Even if we gave Vance every bit of the benefit of the doubt, he’s still representing the Trump administration, he’s still the presumptive frontrunner for the GOP’s 2028 presidential nomination, and today, he’s still the public face of the MOU sales pitch.
Whether or not his book was intended to be political, it was always destined to be politicized.
Vance’s book also carries a PR concern that most authors don’t face: He wrote it while in office, where he already has a job.
Writing a book isn’t easy. It requires hundreds — if not thousands — of dedicated manhours. When the public hears that the sitting vice president has just written a new book, they subconsciously wonder, “Where did he find the time?” which is a stone’s throw away from, “Doesn’t he have more important work to do?”
Like visiting injured soldiers at Walter Reed. Or consoling Gold Star families. Or coming up with new ways to improve the government. (Y’know, the stuff we pay him to do.)
It’s not fair, but that’s our subconscious inference: If you have enough free time to write a book, you’re probably not working hard enough at your REAL job!
Nonetheless, Vance has met with an astonishing array of media outlets this week, including Fox News, The View, Good Morning America, The Lead With Jake Tapper, Hannity, Gutfeld!, Fox and Friends, CBS Mornings, The Five, Megyn Kelly’s podcast, CNBC’s Squawk Box, NBC News, The Big Weekend Show, The Glenn Beck Program, and more. He’s taken on all comers.
Well, almost all comers. He snubbed Mark Levin, Ben Shapiro, The Daily Wire, Tucker Carlson, and Candace Owens — all of whom have very large audiences, too. (Most logical reason for these snubs: A big part of Vance’s mission is to keep the GOP’s neocons and isolationists united, and the administration worried that appearing on those outlets would do more to divide the MAGA movement than bring it together. Sitting down for an interview with Carlson and Owens would come across as a dog whistle, signaling something nefarious to Shapiro and Levin’s audience — and vice versa. That’s my best guess, at least.)
So how well has Vance done?
I’d give him a solid B. He’s not knocking it out of the park with viral moments and memorable zingers, but his intelligence leaps off the screen. He’s poised, respectful, and (usually) manages to disagree without being disagreeable. That’s no easy task for a Republican politician in hostile media territory.
Did he change the hearts and minds of Democrats, liberals, and Never Trumpers?
Nope. Not even close! They’ve already decided that Iran won the war, Trump is an idiot (and part of the “Epstein class”), and all hope is lost. But that’s okay: Those voters weren’t up for grabs anyway.
Did Vance change the hearts and minds of GOP-leaning isolationists?
Probably on the margins. President Trump might’ve blasted Carlson, Owens, Megyn Kelly, and the other isolationists, but Vice President Vance kept his powder dry. Instead of attacking them, he looked the other way. This raised hope amongst the isolationists that Vance secretly agreed with their position — that he was “one of them.”
As such, they have a vested interest in his success. If Vance says everything is okay and this will all work out, they desperately want to believe him.
For this audience, Vance was the best messenger possible.
Did Vance change the hearts and minds of GOP-leaning hawks?
He bought the administration some extra time. By highlighting the degradation of Iran’s military, nuclear program, and economy, he reminded GOP hawks of President Trump’s credibility as someone who won’t tolerate the mullahs’ monkey business. The hawks still don’t understand how lifting the blockade and lessening leverage will enhance the probability of future Iranian concessions, but Vance’s request — “For goodness sake, wait ‘til you read the MOU before you make up your mind!” — was reasonable and fair.
Did Vance change the hearts and minds of the rest of the MAGAverse?
Well, most of the MAGAverse never left Team Trump: MAGA approval of the Iran War has continually hovered between 75% and 81%. But if someone was getting antsy and heading for the exits, Vance reminded him that if anyone had earned his trust, it was President Trump. He’s been a fighter all his life — so he’s not gonna suddenly “go wobbly” and become Iran’s patsy. That’s preposterous!
The president knows how to negotiate. So calm down, Liberal Media!
Vance says they’ve got this. Trump says they’ve got this!
And the MAGAverse believes them a helluva lot more than CNN or the mullahs.
The ultimate danger, however, for Vance is twofold: First, when the MOU is finally revealed, there’s a risk of backlash. Because Vance was the one on TV selling it, if there’s a backlash, it’ll haunt him personally.
When 2028 rolls around, his opponents will 100% attack him for it.
The second danger was from the PR mission itself: Since Vance wasn’t here to win over the Democrats, liberals, and Never Trumpers, his primary purpose was to keep the Republican Party — and the MAGA movement — unified.
This means that if these divisions get worse, Vance will have failed in his mission, and his reputation will suffer.
That in and of itself is bad, but the biggest danger of all is if someone else makes the media rounds after Vance — and this person succeeds where the vice president failed.
Someone like Secretary of State Marco Rubio.
When the MOU is unveiled, the Trump administration will be running the media gauntlet yet again. It’ll have to, because the Democrats will try to blanket the airwaves with complaints, attacks, and criticisms.
Without forceful GOP pushback, we’ll lose the PR war — and thus, the midterms — over the peace. (And in a bloodbath, too.) This means that the next great PR battle is looming; it’ll be here before you know it.
Well, what happens if Rubio does a better job of unifying the Republican Party than Vance?
It’ll mean we have a new Republican frontrunner for president in 2028. And JD Vance will have much more free time to write his next book… whatever it’s about.
One Last Thing: 2026 is a critical year for America First. It began with Mayor Mamdani declaring war on “rugged individualism” and will reach a crescendo with the midterm elections. Nothing less than the fate of the America First movement teeters in the balance.
Never before have the political battle lines been so clearly defined. Win or lose, 2026 will transform our country.
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