Vance jokingly pushes back on ‘intellectual’ label: ‘You insult me’

Vice President Vance on Tuesday jokingly rejected the “intellectual” label during an interview at an event hosted by conservative think tank American Compass.

The group’s founder, Oren Cass, welcomed the vice president to the stage, saying he’s “thrilled” to talk to Vance and is “in awe” of much of the work he’s doing “because there are politicians out there who are — they’ve just been politicians.”

“But you are someone who was an intellectual first,” Cass continued. “Some people don’t like the word ‘intellectual.’ But I mean it in the good sense of the term. You were writing for National Review. You were at the bar late at night arguing about and helping shape these ideas that you are now—”

Vance laughed and cut in: “I come here for free, and you insult me, and you call me ‘an intellectual,’ remind me that I wrote for National Review.”

“What an a‑‑hole this guy is,” President Trump’s No. 2 added, to audience laughter and applause.

“That’s fair,” Cass said, noting that, “I will admit that I, too, wrote for National Review.”

Vance has become Trump’s chief defender in recent weeks, pushing back on courts that have ruled against the president’s executive actions. Earlier this month, he accused the legal system of trying to “quite literally overturn the will of the American people.”

He has also slammed Democrats for mocking the commander in chief with the TACO (Trump Always Chickens Out) moniker — tied to the president’s seeming backpedaling from positions when they prove to be unpopular — which critics have used to blast the administration as a whole.