Vance on End Times and God's Work

Vice President JD Vance appeared on "The Bryce Crawford Podcast," a Christian show hosted by a 22-year-old evangelist, in an episode released on August 31, 2026. The conversation, which ran roughly an hour and ten minutes, covered Vance's Catholic faith, his recent memoir about his conversion, his view of artificial intelligence as a possible sign of biblical end times, and his defense of President Donald Trump's social media post depicting himself as Jesus. It is from this interview that the viral quote originates.

USA Today's report quotes Vance as saying: "While I wouldn't be shocked if we are living in the end time, what I'm trying to focus on is doing as much of God's work as possible right now." The same article records him adding: "If that leads to the end times, okay, and if that leads to … us building a better world that thrives and survives for a very long time after I'm gone, that's great too." That wording closely tracks the claim circulating on X.

The Associated Press independently corroborates the substance of the interview, noting that Vance "mused about whether artificial intelligence was a sign of the end times" and that he discussed his longtime fascination with Christian end-times prophecy. The AP report does not include the exact quoted fragment but confirms the broader context in which the remark was made.

The Independent provides a near-verbatim transcription of the same exchange, quoting Vance saying, "what I'm trying to focus on is doing as much of God's work as possible right now," followed by "And if that leads to the end times, OK. And if that leads to you know, us building a better world that thrives and survives for a very long time after I'm gone, that's great too." The New Republic likewise characterizes Vance as saying he is "OK" if his work on earth brings about a biblical doomsday event, and quotes him saying he does not know whether we are in the end times but feels "not shocked if the Antichrist was walking among us."

Taken together, these accounts provide direct, independent confirmation from at least three major outlets that the quote attributed to Vance is genuine and accurately reflects what he said on the podcast. The phrasing on the FactPost tweet matches the transcripts almost word for word, with only trivial punctuation and capitalization differences. The date, speaker, and setting all align across sources, and no outlet disputes the quote or offers a substantially different version. The claim therefore checks out as supported, with the caveat that the remark was made in the context of a longer, wide-ranging conversation about faith, AI, and the Trump assassination attempt, rather than as a standalone policy statement.