JD Vance clashes with Jackson School professor on X
In a heated exchange over Christianity and foreign policy, Vice President JD Vance LAW ’13 claimed Professor Rory Stewart has an “IQ of 110” and misunderstands theological hierarchy.

Garrett Curtis, Staff Photographer
On Jan. 29, Vice President JD Vance LAW ’13 appeared on Fox News’ Hannity, where he defended the Trump administration’s “America First” agenda, arguing that Americans should prioritize their families, communities and fellow citizens over foreign countries. Calling this approach a “very Christian concept,” Vance claimed that “a lot of the far left has completely” abandoned it.
His remarks quickly drew criticism, including from Jackson School professor Rory Stewart, who co-directs the Brady-Johnson Program in Grand Strategy. Stewart, a former UK Secretary of State for International Development and member of the UK National Security Council, pushed back on Vance’s invocation of Christian principles.
Citing John 15:12-13 — “love one another as [God] love[s] you”— Stewart described Vance’s argument as “less Christian and more pagan ritual.” He also criticized politicians who “assume to speak for Jesus” and dictate “in which order to love.”
Vance quickly responded, telling Stewart to “just google ordo amoris,” a theological concept referring to rightly ordered love. In “Summa Theologiae,” St. Thomas Aquinas argues that there “needs [to] be some order in things loved out.” Defending his position, Vance wrote that “the idea that there isn’t a hierarchy of obligations violates basic common sense.”
“Does Rory really think his moral duties to his own children are the same as his duties to a stranger who lives thousands of miles away?” Vance asked. “Does anyone?”
The News could not reach Stewart for comment.
The exchange further escalated when Vance questioned Stewart’s intelligence, writing that “the problem with Rory and people like him is that he has an IQ of 110 and thinks he has an IQ of 130,” adding that “this false arrogance drives so much elite failure over the last 40 years.”
Stewart responded with sarcasm, posting that he was “so impressed” by Vance’s “IQ and Latin” as well as his “ability to measure other’s IQ so instantly and confidently.” He then asked, “Is this supposed to be the moment for me to challenge the VP in an IQ test? And if so will he participate?”
Stewart went on to call Vance’s remarks “false and dangerous,” arguing that “nowhere does Jesus suggest that love is to be prioritized in concentric circles.” Instead, Stewart described Jesus’ love as “universal.”
In an interview with BBC Radio, Stewart continued his criticism, saying that “JD Vance and Donald Trump have a complete obsession with trying to guess other people’s IQs. And of course the assumption is that their IQs are enormous.”
He also dismissed Vance’s reading of Aquinas as “obscure” and warned that adopting such an interpretation would lead to “an eccentric reading of Christianity.” Citing the Parable of the Good Samaritan, Stewart argued that Christianity calls upon individuals to “push beyond selfish tribal ethics.”
Kevin Hollinrake, the UK’s Shadow Secretary of State for Housing, Communities and Local Government, who served in government with Stewart, wrote on X that he agreed with Vance “on [his] order of priorities,” but joked that Vance had “lowballed Rory’s IQ by at least 40.”
Rev. James Martin, a consultant to the Vatican’s Secretariat for Communications, also weighed in, challenging Vance’s commentary.
“Jesus’s fundamental message is that *everyone* is your neighbor,” Martin wrote, adding that Christianity teaches people to “help those who seem different, foreign, [or] other.”
Vance is the fourth vice president to have graduated from Yale University.