Vice President JD Vance drew a partly empty arena and criticism from some conservative attendees Wednesday at a Turning Point USA forum in Athens, Georgia, one day after returning from a Pakistan trip that failed to produce a ceasefire in the U.S. war with Iran, the Associated Press reported.
The muted reception illustrated the administration’s difficulty selling an ongoing conflict to its own base — a challenge compounded by Trump’s public disputes with Pope Leo XIV and a social media image depicting the president as Jesus that drew conservative blowback before being removed Monday.
Empty seats outnumbered attendees by more than two to one at the Athens venue — not even the largest forum space on the sprawling University of Georgia-area campus, located roughly 90 minutes from downtown Atlanta — as Vance arrived without word of progress on ceasefire talks, the AP reported. Many who attended wore Turning Point USA clothing and Trump campaign merchandise.
Andrew Kolvet, a Turning Point USA executive, moderated in place of Erika Kirk, who leads the organization following the assassination of her husband, Charlie Kirk. Kirk canceled due to unspecified threats she had received, the AP reported. Vance told the audience he had feared the event would be canceled entirely.
Conservative critics in the crowd
Among the attendees, several expressed direct disapproval of the administration’s direction.
Joseph Bercher, identified by the AP as a Catholic, said he had voted for Trump but no longer considers himself a Trump supporter. Bercher cited Pope Leo XIV’s opposition to the Iran war as reflecting his own views, and described Trump’s Jesus meme as a warning sign about the president’s character — saying Trump appears to see himself as a demagogue or as someone to be worshiped, according to the AP.
C.J. Santini, a recent Liberty University graduate, told the AP he had no opinion on whether Iran’s reported nuclear progress justified military action. He laughed and shook his head, the AP reported, when asked about Trump’s attacks on the pope, calling the president’s conduct stupid and a distraction from the administration’s own stated agenda.
One attendee heckled Vance over the Gaza war; another pressed him on the administration’s handling of Jeffrey Epstein documents, the AP reported. Vance, a Marine Corps veteran who served in Iraq and has since converted to Catholicism, acknowledged that not all young conservatives support another war in the Middle East and urged the audience not to disengage even on points of disagreement.
Vance shifts his argument on the pope
On the question of Pope Leo XIV — the first American-born pope, who has publicly opposed the Iran war and whom Trump has called “weak” — Vance offered notably different framings in a Fox News interview the day before the Athens event and on stage Wednesday.
In the Fox News interview, Vance dismissed Trump’s Jesus meme as a joke that many people were not understanding and said the Vatican should confine itself to moral and church matters while the president sets American public policy, according to the AP.
On the Athens stage, Vance said he welcomed the pope’s comments because at a minimum they invite conversation, and said he was glad to receive them even where he disagreed, the AP reported. He then challenged Pope Leo XIV’s citation of the Old Testament book of Isaiah — that God does not hear the prayers of those who make war — by asking whether God had been on the side of Allied forces when they liberated Nazi death camps in World War II. He said he believed the answer was yes, and added that it is very important for the pope to be careful when mixing theology with global affairs, according to the AP.
Other attendees offer mixed assessments
Jessie Williams, a Methodist, told the AP the pope should stay out of politics. She acknowledged, however, that she understands why Catholics are troubled when Trump calls Pope Leo weak and suggests the American-born pontiff was elected as a counterweight to the president. Williams described the Jesus meme as distasteful but said she was resigned to Trump’s conduct.
Blake McCluggage, a Baptist, said he disapproved of both the meme and Trump’s Easter Sunday statement, in which the president threatened to destroy Iranian civilization — remarks Pope Leo XIV had condemned as truly unacceptable, the AP reported. McCluggage said he still considered himself a Republican despite his disagreements with Trump.