JD Vance’s Reluctance to Confront Antisemitism Reaches His Inner Circle

A new profile published this week reveals that JD Vance’s approach to antisemitism within the Republican coalition may extend beyond public messaging and into his inner circle. According to the report, his chief of staff, Jacob Reses, has amplified voices urging Jews to be more accepting of the Republican Party’s increasingly public embrace of Christian identity and language, reflecting a broader view that tensions within the coalition should not be confronted directly.

The development marks a shift in the ongoing debate surrounding Vance’s stance. For months, Jewish conservatives have criticized him for declining to draw a clear line against antisemitic figures gaining influence on the right. The profile now suggests that this same reluctance to confront internal tensions may also be reflected among his closest advisers.

According to the report, Reses used a private X account to repost a statement promoted by Joe Lonsdale, arguing that Jews should stop being uncomfortable with public expressions of Christianity. The statement read, “To save this Nation of Kindness that has bestowed such blessing on us, we Jews can no longer be squeamish about the majority’s invocation of the Christian deity and other aspects of their faith. The neutering of Christianity has been disastrous for all of us and must end.”

Vance has repeatedly defended keeping a wide range of voices inside the conservative movement, even when some of them are controversial. Speaking at a Turning Point USA conference in December, he said he would not subject the movement to “endless, self-defeating purity tests,” and described the United States as a “Christian nation.” In January, his Holocaust Remembrance Day statement omitted any reference to Jews or Nazis, and he has also said he does not believe antisemitism is rising within the Republican Party. The report notes that Reses reposted Vance’s rejection of such “purity tests,” mirroring his approach.

The issue carries added weight due to Vance’s central role in U.S. foreign policy. He has taken part in high-level discussions related to the war with Iran and is viewed by officials as a key figure in potential diplomatic efforts, placing him among the most influential voices shaping American strategy. Within that context, one person in Vance’s orbit told the magazine that Reses’s priority is Vance’s political success “at the highest possible level, up to and including U.S. president.”

The profile also highlights the personal relationship between the two men. In January, Vance officiated Reses’s wedding to Rachel Altman at a synagogue in Rockville, Maryland, delivering a Jewish prayer under the chuppah. The Chabad House at Princeton, where Reses studied, later shared a photo celebrating the moment as an expression of Jewish pride.

Reses’s background adds further context to his role. Raised in a Jewish family whose grandfather survived the Holocaust in Lithuania, he was described as a Democratic-leaning teenager in southern New Jersey before undergoing an ideological shift at Princeton University. His early career included internships for Hillary Clinton and John Kerry, before moving into conservative institutions such as the Heritage Foundation and the office of Sen. Josh Hawley.

Despite his position, Reses has himself been targeted by antisemitic rhetoric. A white nationalist website published an article about him under the headline “Another Nail in the Coffin — Jew Runs J. D. Vance,” reflecting the broader environment in which such views circulate.

The report contrasts Reses’s apparent willingness to tolerate controversial elements within the conservative movement with the stance of his former mentor, Princeton professor Robert George. George resigned from the Heritage Foundation’s board after its leadership defended an interview featuring white nationalist Nick Fuentes, saying the movement “simply cannot include or accommodate white supremacists or racists of any type, antisemites, eugenicists, or others whose ideologies are incompatible with belief in” human equality.

According to the profile, Reses believes American liberalism poses a serious threat, leading him to support the conservative movement even with its internal tensions. The report suggests this same thinking shapes Vance’s approach and is reflected not only in his public statements, but within his inner circle.