During Donald Trump’s recent address to Congress, attention briefly shifted from the president’s speech to his close ally, Senator JD Vance. Once a harsh critic who compared Trump to figures like Hitler and Nixon, Vance has since become one of his strongest defenders. According to lip-reading expert Jeremy Freeman, Vance was caught telling House Speaker Mike Johnson that Trump’s adversaries would soon face a “full reckoning,” a comment that quickly fueled speculation about its intended target.

The exchange reportedly included Vance saying, “Yes it is, a full reckoning, and long overdue. By the way, I think the speech is going to be great. I’m not sure how you manage to do this for ninety minutes.” Johnson, appearing to want privacy, pushed a microphone aside before responding. He remarked that the hardest speeches to endure were those of President Biden, dismissing them as “stupid campaign speech[es].”

It remains unclear exactly who Vance’s “reckoning” remark referred to, but its timing raised eyebrows. The senator had recently clashed with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in a tense White House meeting, and he also drew criticism for dismissively calling Britain a “random country.” His rhetoric, critics argue, has grown increasingly combative in both tone and scope.

Vance, elected to the Senate in 2022, has aligned himself tightly with Trump, defending him from critics and even linking them to the failed assassination attempt against Trump in Pennsylvania last year. In a post shortly after the shooting, Vance argued that Biden’s campaign rhetoric portraying Trump as a “fascist” directly incited violence against him.

Meanwhile, Trump’s congressional address received raucous applause from supporters, especially when he branded Joe Biden “the worst president in American history.” Democrats, however, remained largely silent, with some holding protest signs accusing Trump of prioritizing billionaires over working families. The polarized reactions underscored the deep divisions now defining Trump’s second term in office.

Senator Jeff Merkley of Oregon offered one of the sharpest rebukes after the speech. He accused Trump and his ally Elon Musk—dubbed by critics as an “unelected billionaire co-president”—of dismantling government agencies that serve working-class Americans. Merkley said Trump had an opportunity to change course but instead doubled down on plans that, in his view, undermine democracy, federal institutions, and the Constitution.