Vice President JD Vance said in a podcast released Tuesday that if a 2024 assassination attempt had killed Donald Trump, he would have always wondered if it was part of a conspiracy and might not have accepted even another Republican as the next president.
Vance made the statement during a conversation with Christian podcaster Bryce Crawford. The vice president, who recently released a book detailing his own journey to Catholicism, also defended President Trump for posting an image of himself as Jesus and mused about whether artificial intelligence was a sign of the end times.
The conversation kicked off with a discussion of faith and the rush to scientifically explain away events that may be divinely touched. Vance cited the July 2024 assassination attempt in Butler, Pennsylvania, during which a bullet nicked Trump's ear and a supporter was killed.
Trump has long talked about his survival as divinely guided, a theme Vance took up. The vice president said that if the bullet had killed Trump, “we would have had real civil strife in a way that I don’t know that the country could have ever come back from.”
Vance said many Trump supporters would have assumed a conspiracy had robbed them of their chosen president, and he said he would have also had those thoughts “in the back of my mind.”
“I would have assumed very dark forces had taken out Donald Trump, right as he was about to come back into the White House,” Vance said. “There would have just been an illegitimacy to our entire political system.”
Most of the hour-and-ten-minute conversation was an amiable chat about faith, Vance's own spiritual journey, his Easter meeting with Pope Francis the day before the pontiff's death last year, and human frailty and fallibility. But it occasionally touched on darker themes.
Crawford asked Vance whether, as vice president, he had ever been in a room that was “spiritually dark.”
“I've been in meetings with world leaders where various issues are being discussed, and somebody will say something or somebody will make an observation and I'll feel some darkness about it, it sets off every spiritual alarm bell in my body,” Vance said. He added he also felt “a very dark spiritual energy” in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, probably because of the carnage at the Civil War battlefield.
Crawford also asked Vance about his interest in the “end times,” which the vice president laughingly said had been more of an obsession in youth during the late 1990s, when people were abuzz about the possibility with the coming millennium. A chortling Vance recounted a story of a friend who was obsessed that the world would end in late 2007 and ran up major credit card debt.
“There are, like, things about the world that make me feel, like, not shocked if the antichrist was walking among us, but, again I try not to focus too much on it,” Vance said. He cited “IT companies” and the use of artificial intelligence as a substitute for human interaction.
“I think that’s kind of satanic,” Crawford said when Vance recounted the story of one acquaintance using AI as a marriage counselor.
“Yeah, when you completely divorce the human from the social element that God made us for, OK that's very, that's very bad,” Vance said.
Crawford asked Vance about Trump’s post on social media of an AI-generated image of himself as Jesus earlier this year, which Crawford said offended him. Trump initially contended he thought the image was of him as a doctor, then took down the post amid widespread criticism from even some of his own backers.
Vance defended the president. “He did not mean to, like, mock or mimic God, that's just not who he is,” Vance said, adding that the president often tries to keep things light and constantly makes jokes. “He's a bit of a ballbuster, for those of us who work with him, and he just likes to have a good time. And I think that if people appreciated that, they would recognize, he's not trying to offend people, he's trying to keep things light.”
Vice President JD Vance speaks at Universal Contracting and Urban Tree Trimming, Monday, Aug. 31, 2026, in Sterling Heights, Mich. (AP Photo/Paul Sancya)
NEW YORK (AP) — Flavio Cobolli rallied from two sets down to avoid an early upset on the men’s side, and his wasn't even the most dramatic comeback at the U.S. Open on Tuesday.
Maria Sakkari fell behind 6-2, 4-0 once she was finally able to get on the court after the rain stopped, then the No. 32 seed rallied to edge Robin Montgomery 2-6, 7-5, 6-2.
The two turnarounds provided some rare spirit on a day when some of the busiest people were the ones trying to dry the courts.
“Just kept telling myself that everything is possible and just try to get myself in a good place mentally and just try to be a little bit more positive, try to make more balls, get myself into the match,” said Sakkari, who reached the U.S. Open and Wimbledon semifinals in 2021. “Because, I mean, everyone’s very good in tennis nowadays, but specifically that girl I played today doesn't have the experience that I do. So I just told myself, let’s try and hang in there, try and make more balls, and it worked.”
French Open champion Mirra Andreeva and 2024 U.S. Open runner-up Taylor Fritz had smooth sailing into the second round, unlike some of the other close calls after a rainy morning.
Cobolli, the No. 5 seed and French Open runner-up, beat Francisco Comesana 3-6, 2-6, 6-3, 6-4, 6-4, finishing his match that lasted 4 hours, 12 minutes not long after some sun had broken through the clouds and allowed play to start on all the outside courts.
Cobolli made his first career two-set comeback to avoid joining No. 4 seed Novak Djokovic and No. 10 Arthur Fils among early losers in a men's draw that was already missing top-ranked Jannik Sinner, Cobolli's fellow Italian who was unable to play in the tournament because of a right knee injury.
He said he took a bathroom break after the second set and decided to change everything.
“So I changed all the dress that I started with today and it works,” Cobolli said. “In Grand Slams it’s never done. You have to fight until the last point.”
Fritz, the No. 9 seed, rolled to a 6-3, 6-2, 6-4 victory over 18-year-old fellow American Darwin Blanch. Andreev beat Janice Tjen 6-2, 6-2.
Showers that began Monday night and would possibly be on and off through the middle of the week delayed play on all the outer courts, allowing for action only in Arthur Ashe Stadium and Louis Armstrong Stadium, which have retractable roofs.
Rain returned again Tuesday night, again restricting play to two courts.
Madison Keys, the No. 22 seed, beat 19-year-old Alina Korneeva 7-5, 6-4 in the leadoff match in Ashe. The 2017 U.S. Open runner-up was knocked off in the first round last year in Flushing Meadows.
“It’s always tough playing someone young and up and coming, and they’re going after their shots,” Keys said. “And it’s so hard to play a first round of a Grand Slam, so nervous and just wanting to do so well. So, really happy I was able to kind of fight through that and win today.”
Play finally began outdoors in the middle of the afternoon, when No. 2 seed Elena Rybakina beat Thea Frodin 6-3, 6-2. Frodin, a 17-year-old from California, was the body double for actor Demi Singleton, who played Serena Williams, in the 2021 film “King Richard.”
Coco Gauff, the 2023 U.S. Open champion, No. 17 Alex Eala, and men’s No. 1 seed Alexander Zverev were scheduled at night on the third and last day of the first round.
No. 12 seed Belinda Bencic, who teamed with Cobolli to reach the mixed doubles final, lost to Yulia Putintseva in three sets.
See AP’s full tennis coverage here
Flavio Cobolli, of Italy, celebrates winning a match against Francisco Comesana, of Argentina, during the first round of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Flavio Cobolli, of Italy, returns the ball to Francisco Comesana, of Argentina, during the first round of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
Flavio Cobolli, of Italy, reacts during a match against Francisco Comesana, of Argentina, during the first round of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Seth Wenig)
A crew member walks across the court at Grandstand stadium during a rain delay at the U.S. Open tennis championships Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
Madison Keys, of the United States, returns the ball to Alina Korneeva, of Russia, during the first round of the U.S. Open tennis championships, Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)
A couple sits under an umbrella during a rain delay on the Grandstand court during the first round of the U.S. Open tennis championships Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Kirsty Wigglesworth)
