Old video clips of Vice President JD Vance have resurfaced across social media following a horrific terror attack linked to an Afghan refugee on Wednesday— and for good reason.
They provide an illuminating light following a violent strike on two National Guard members serving in Washington, D.C., on Wednesday. Both National Guardsmen remain in critical condition as of the latest reporting, after being ambushed by a gunman identified as 29-year-old Afghan national Rahmanullah Lakanwal.
Lakanwal, according to CNN, entered the United States on a temporary visa issued to him in 2021 under Operation Allies Welcome, a program designed to coordinate the evacuation, processing, and resettlement of vulnerable Afghan nationals in the aftermath of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan. Some of those Afghan nationals had worked alongside U.S. forces.
Vance, even during his time as a Senate candidate in Ohio, expressed valid concerns about resettling Afghan refugees. There was no proper vetting process in place, and the botched military withdrawal under former President Biden was expediting the process to unsafe levels.
Vance saw it. He knew this presented a problem.
One of the earlier examples of that involved Vance, who had just entered the political arena, getting into a dustup with then-Sen. Ben Sasse (R-NE), whose oft-squishy views on bringing refugees into the United States had put them at odds with one another.
Sasse, as Biden's failed withdrawal was heating up, argued that the United States had an obligation to help those who had helped the country, urging the Biden administration to "go faster and save the Americans and Afghan allies behind enemy lines."
Vance, though, dismissed Sasse's "ridiculous platitude" and pointed out that America should keep its word, but must prioritize America first.
"Of course, nobody disagrees with that … the question is not whether we honor our word," he said. "The question is, who we made promises to, who do we owe an obligation toward? And to any leader of this country, the obvious answer should be American citizens. So, let's focus first on getting them out of Afghanistan before we say another word about the Afghan refugees."
Amen. Sing it from the mountaintops.
Here is my message to Ben Sasse and other establishment Republicans who seem to care more about bringing 30,000 unvetted Afghan refugees into our country than getting our own people out safely. pic.twitter.com/PSfoc2swdC
— JD Vance (@JDVance) August 23, 2021
READ MORE: Stephen Miller Absolutely Throttles Biden for Policies That Led to National Guard Terrorist Attack
Another clip making the rounds is Vance's tussle with CBS News' Margaret Brennan in his first interview since becoming Vice President. Brennan, practically parroting the Biden White House, had insisted that people coming into the country had been adequately vetted.
Spoiler alert: Vetting was virtually non-existent.
Vance immediately turned Brennan's argument on its head by pointing to a planned terrorist attack on Election Day in 2024 by an Afghan national residing in Oklahoma City. That attack was thwarted, thankfully.
The back-and-forth argument—and by that I mean something akin to an argument between a hammer and a nail, with Vance serving as the hammer—led to the Vice President's viral retort, "I don't really care, Margaret."
"That was a very particular case. It wasn't clear if he was radicalized when he got here or while he was living here, but..." Brennan argued.
Vance replied, "I don't really care, Margaret. I don't want that person in my country, and I think most Americans agree with me."
They likely agree at a much higher rate, considering the latest terrorist attack on the National Guard.
Vice President @JDVance utterly embarrasses CBS and @margbrennan on the unvetted migrants that Biden allowed into our country 🔥☠️
— Andrew Surabian (@Surabees) January 26, 2025
Margaret Brennan: "These people are vetted!"
VP Vance: "Just like the guy who planned a terrorist attack in Oklahoma a few months ago?" pic.twitter.com/IeA8qsklTR
The Vice President, in X posts following the National Guard attack, pointed out the obvious. He was right. Trump voters were right. Any American with more than three operational brain cells was right.
Bringing unvetted Afghan refugees into the country was a bad idea. Any promises to them should have been secondary at best to those made regarding the safety and security of the American people.
"I remember back in 2021 criticizing the Biden policy of opening the floodgate to unvetted Afghan refugees. Friends sent me messages calling me a racist. It was a clarifying moment," Vance wrote. "They shouldn't have been in our country."
The 2028 frontrunner said the Trump administration would work tirelessly to continue packing the bags of any people illegally in the United States.
I remember back in 2021 criticizing the Biden policy of opening the floodgate to unvetted Afghan refugees. Friends sent me messages calling me a racist. It was a clarifying moment.
— JD Vance (@JDVance) November 27, 2025
They shouldn't have been in our country.
"Many of our voters will demand not just words, but action, and this is an entirely appropriate response," Vance explained. "We will first bring the shooter to justice, and then we must redouble our efforts to deport people with no right to be in our country."
President Trump, in an address to the nation's military on Thanksgiving Eve, echoed those sentiments, saying his administration would "re-examine every single alien who has entered our country from Afghanistan under Biden."
Trump and Vance will need to keep working to clean up the mess that Biden and his minions helped usher in—no letting off the gas now. These two National Guard members deserve a ruthlessly aggressive reset on the invasion that led to their attacker getting into this country in the first place.
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