The Vice President's Pakistan trip is on, then off, then back to the residence by suppertime.

OK. Hon. The Vice President of the United States, on the day before, was scheduled to fly to Pakistan for talks with Iran about the next stage of the ceasefire. The talks were brokered by the Pakistanis. The Pakistanis, on the day before, on their own information minister’s social media, were posting status updates asking the Iranians whether the Iranian delegation was actually coming to the talks. They were not.

By Tuesday morning, the Pakistanis had still not heard from the Iranians. The Vice President’s plane was fueled. The Vice President’s bags were packed. The White House, on Tuesday afternoon, posted on Truth Social that the ceasefire was extended, citing fractured leadership. That post did the work of cancelling the trip without the trip being formally cancelled.

The Vice President, shortly thereafter, did not get on the plane. The Vice President went, instead, to the White House, and then, eventually, home. The White House, in its briefing, said the trip was on hold. The Pakistanis, in their briefing, said they were still waiting. The Iranians did not return calls.

I have worked hospitality. I have been in banquet halls where a party of forty booked a room for an anniversary dinner and only eleven people showed. I have seen a general manager, on a Friday, try to call the eleven people back before they got to the parking lot. That manager did not last because the room had been turned over and the food had been plated and the staff had been paid for the shift. You cannot, hon, uncalibrate a room on the same Friday. You also cannot, hon, uncalibrate a Vice Presidential trip on the same Tuesday without somebody noticing.

The Vice President, hon, is the second-most senior elected official in the United States. The Vice President’s calendar is not, in the normal run of things, something you flip between brunch and the early afternoon because the President posted something on a phone. The Vice President’s office is staffed by people who answer to the Vice President. The people who answer to the Vice President spent Tuesday on the phone with the Pakistanis, who were on the phone with the Iranians, who were not on the phone with anybody.

You ever notice how the more announcements there are, the less actually moves.

Funny how that works.