Advance to the Rear
It’s uncommon that a vice-presidential running mate will affect a presidential campaign. From all I’ve read in the past, the only time that has happened since polling began is when John McCain picked Sarah Palin, whose name on the ballot got voters to not vote for McCain from concern of her becoming a heartbeat from being president. So, I don’t think J.D. Vance will affect the race.
That doesn’t mean he won’t have an impact on the race.
After all, when have we ever had a VP running mate who said his presidential partner might be “America’s Hitler”? Or said that his presidential partner was “unfit for our nation's highest office”?
But J.D. Vance said both those things about Trump. And I’m absolutely, 100%, positively sure we’ll be seeing that a lot during the campaign. In fact, I suspect ads have already long been made in anticipation of his possible selection.
I’m sure that Vance will try to backtrack and wobble about what he “really” meant when he said that Trump might be “America’s Hitler,” but the bottom line is that he said specifically and very clearly that Trump could be "America’s Hitler." There isn’t a lot of wiggle room there. It's really, incredibly hard to backtrack from saying someone could be "America's Hitler." Most especially when he's...your running mate!!!
The quote dates back to 2016 when Vance was writing to his former law school roommate, Josh McLaurin in private on Facebook – something McLaurin shared on social media in a screenshot when Vance was campaigning for the Senate in 2021. What Vance wrote in their exchange was --
Yes, there is actual, physical proof. Prepare to see this A LOT in the months ahead.
And yes, saying Trump could be "America's Hitler" isn't the only awful thing J.D. Vance says about Trump and the Republican Party. It's just that saying the party leader could be "America's Hitler" is pretty darn headline grabbing that anything else is going to be lost in the blaring sirens. But there's a lot of damning material in there. A lot!!
The quote hasn’t been denied, the only response from a spokesperson was that his views have changed. Boy howdy, if true, that would be a incredibly massive change – from “America’s Hitler” to “He’s my guy!” But then, for all we know, the change in J.D. Vance’s view may not be that Trump is no longer “America’s Hitler,” but rather that Vance is now okay with it.
(Indeed, McLaurin -- who today is a Democratic state senator in Georgia -- has said that “I never could have dreamed during those exchanges in 2016 that he would end up being one of the principal reinforcers of Trumpism only a few years later.”)
But then, that’s J.D. Vance. Him changing his views should not come as a shock, since it’s never been quite clear what his views are in the first place, other than opportunistic.
After all, saying that Trump could be "America's Hitler" wasn't a mere momentary brain freeze. For the longest while, it wasn't a bug in J.D. Vance, but a feature. Vance might have been a deep conservative, but man, he really hated Trump.
In a 2016 interview in The Atlantic, Vance called Trump “cultural heroin.” In an NPR interview that same year, Vance told Terry Gross, “I can’t stomach Trump,” adding that “I think that he’s noxious and is leading the White working class to a very dark place.”
After the Access Hollywood video appeared with Trump bragging about grabbing a woman’s p*ssy, Vance tweeted “Fellow Christians, everyone is watching us when we apologize for this man. Lord help us.” Fortunately for Vance, no one was watching when he later deleted the tweet. Though I don't think the Lord was helping him.
Further, Vance once told a PBS interviewer pointedly, “I’m a ‘Never Trump’ guy. I never liked him.” Of course, with J.D. Vance, it’s hard to know if his definition of “never” changed, or if not caring that he never had like Trump did.
Already, the Biden-Harris campaign has put out an online ad quoting J.D. Vance saying, “Donald Trump is unfit to be president.”
It’s hard to imagine Democratic organizations not wallpapering TV ads with many of those comments, if not all, from Trump’s running mate. But especially, “America’s Hitler.” We'll be seeing that over and over and over. As well we should. Putting aside all those other hate-filled comments about Trump, saying your running mate could be "America's Hitler" is highly-deserving of wallpapering.
In fairness, there’s a lot you could wallpaper ads with from J.D. Vance.
Like when he tweeted – “Alex Jones is a far more reputable source of information than Rachel Maddow.” For the record, lest anyone forget, including J.D. Vance, Alex Jones was sued for defamation over lying about the deaths of Sandy Hook schoolchildren and settled for $1.5 billion. To J.D. Vance, that’s a reputable source of news compared to, well...reality. Especially when he doesn’t care for the truth. But then, given his standard for holding onto view, it’s not surprising.
(By the way, Vance later said he was “just trolling” in his comments about Alex Jones, although he added “that doesn’t mean what I said is in any way untrue.” Which basically takes away his "I was just kidding" wink. As does the fact that he later repeated them in a private speech to a group of young conservatives at the Treneo Network, an organization run by far-right extremist billionaire Leonard Leo -- who Pro Publica writes "advised Trump on the nominations of Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. Before that, he’d helped pick or confirm the court’s three other conservative justices — Clarence Thomas, John Roberts and Samuel Alito." He also helped fund Clarence Thomas’s wife Ginni.)
And, for more wallpaper copy, like when Vance said, “I believe the devil is real and that he works terrible things in our society. That’s a crazy conspiracy theory to a lot of very well-educated people in this country right now.” Well, yes, in fairness, it is a crazy conspiracy to a lot of very well-educated people. Most people wouldn't consider that a badge of honor. Especially for a United States senator. To J.D. Vance, though, it is.
And like when he said to Ohio donors who had asked if he would condemn inflammatory remarks made by Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene. “I said, ‘Why? Why do you want me to denounce this person? ‘Well, she believes these crazy things.’ Who cares?”
That’s U.S. senator, GOP nominee for vice president J.D. Vance. Who cares if someone says crazy, inflammatory things? Who cares if very well-educated people think something you say is crazy conspiracy theory? Who cares if you just troll people whether or not you believe what you say, though it turns out you actually do believe it? Who cares if you think someone is a credible source of news despite them settling for $1.5 billion for defamation? Who cares if you say you never liked Trump, never support him, think him noxious, that you can’t stomach him, think he’s leading America to a dark place, think your “fellow Christians” should be ashamed for having to apologize for Trump saying something repugnant about women, that Trump may be “America’s Hitler” – who cares?, as long as you’re okay with ignoring all of that and being absolutely in full, loving support of the man despite him being convicted of 34 felonies, found guilty of business fraud, and found actually liable by two juries for rape. So much for your “Fellow Christian” values to not apologize for Trump saying bad things about women. Rape, it turns out, is acceptable. But then, with J.D. Vance, so much for having values – whatever they are. Assuming they exist.
Who cares about any of that? As long as Trump will make you his running mate, leading American to a dark place. As long as you can run to be a heartbeat from the presidency, even if it's with "America's Hitler"? Who cares about any of those pesky things like values, beliefs, morals, standards that get in the way. Just so you can run by his side! Who cares??!
There really is only one requirement for a vice-president. To be qualified and ready to take over from the president should the need arise. And given the 78-year-old Trump’s condition with early dementia, that is not an improbable situation, should he be elected. And though it is not an improbable situation, it is a creepy one: the valueless J.D. Vance, who floats from personal views to personal views to flexible religious values more fluttering than the wispy, gossamer feather in Forrest Gump getting carried by the wind wherever it gets blown, possibly landing a heartbeat from the presidency.
And we haven’t gotten into any of his actual positions he’s advocated, like that women should stay in an abusive marriage. (Yes, really.) And like when he ran for the Senate pushing for a national abortion ban with no exceptions for any reason, including rape, incest or the life of the mother -- a view (being J.D. Vance) he's now ever-so-slightly softened, like allowing for the life of the mother and "states' rights," as the wind changed and blew him off course in that direction. And devaluing the dollar for what is currently the world’s strongest economy, which would cause massive inflation, helping major exporters and crushing pretty much everyone else. A position he will either have to flit away from with the win if told to or drag his running mate Trump down along with him.
MAGOPs, who like to show their racist misogyny by decrying Vice President Kamala Harris as supposedly nothing more then a “Diversity, Equality, Inclusion” hire – despite her being elected Vice President, elected Senator from the country’s most populous state, elected Attorney General twice from the country’s most populous state and elected District Attorney twice from San Francisco – will now have to get behind defending J.D. Vance as somehow qualified to be a heartbeat from the president with his whopping 18 months in the Senate and absolutely no other political experience, and just success on Wall Street, another rich businessman with zero standards like Trump.
I don’t think J.D. Vance being Trump’s running mate will affect the presidential race. Unless you count getting endlessly quote for everything hate-filled he’s said about the head of the ticket, including calling him “America’s Hitler.”
On the other hand, Vance impressively is able to make that MAGOP ticket even more soulless, which one would have thought near-impossible.
Run, J.D., run!
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