On Monday, July 15, former President Donald Trump announced his choice for his vice presidential candidate. Bypassing seemingly conventional choices such as Florida Senator Marco Rubio and North Dakota Governor Doug Burgum, Trump threw a curveball and selected 39-year-old freshman Ohio Senator JD Vance.
Vance, who was elected in the fall of 2022, is the author of the New York Times bestselling book-turned-Netflix movie “Hillbilly Elegy.” The book is an autobiography of Vance’s Appalachian Rust Belt upbringing and a commentary on the state of white working-class culture. During the 2016 rollout of his book and his initial press tour, Vance had rather strong sentiments about then-Republican nominee for President, Donald Trump.
In an interview with NPR’s Terry Gross, Vance, who had previously solidified himself as “a never Trump guy,” was quoted speaking not-so-highly of Trump: “I can’t stomach Trump. I think that he’s noxious and is leading the white working class to a very dark place,” Vance said.
This is only the tip of the iceberg. That same year, in a text message to an associate, Vance said he went back and forth between thinking of Trump as “America’s Hitler” or “a cynical asshole like Nixon.”
But when Vance announced in July 2021 that he was running to fill retiring Senator Rob Portman’s seat, the change of tone was quite noticeable. Vance suddenly cozied up to Trump, and by the time the primary rolled around, Vance was full-fledged MAGA. He endorsed debunked claims of electoral fraud in the 2020 election and espoused the far-right and racist “great replacement theory.” Vance’s change of heart did not go unnoticed by Trump, who offered his endorsement to “JD Mandel” in a cringe-inducing gaffe when mostly Republicans and Trump himself were questioning President Joe Biden’s mental acuity.
After being elected to the Senate, Vance wrote the foreword to Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts’ upcoming book, “Dawn’s Early Light.” The Heritage Foundation, a far-right think tank, is currently one of the groups pulling the strings on Republican Party policy in the United States as well as Trump’s own campaign.The subtitle of Roberts’ book, originally “Burning Down Washington to Save America,” was changed after attention was drawn to the connection between the Trump campaign and Project 2025, 900-page document drafted by the Heritage Foundation which calls for a replacing civil servants with Trump loyalists, the banning of mifepristone (the abortion pill), dismantling the Department of Education, and expanding the power of the presidency to name a few things.
In his foreword, Vance praises Roberts as a key ally to the MAGA movement and calls readers to “circle the wagons and load the muskets,” claiming his ideas are an essential weapon.
Despite his previous high praise of the Heritage Foundation, the change in the subtitle was not enough distance for the Trump campaign. On July 30, Project 2025 director Paul Dans stepped down. The Trump campaign released a statement inadvertently linking themselves to the project, saying, “Reports of Project 2025’s demise would be greatly welcomed and should serve as notice to anyone or any group trying to misrepresent their influence with President Trump and his campaign — it will not end well for you.”
As if their attempts to distance themselves from Project 2025 could not be more clear, on August 7, Roberts’s book’s release was delayed until after the election.
Vance also has a keenness for putting his foot in his mouth such as his very vocal issues with childless people. In a now-infamous 2021 interview with Tucker Carlson on Fox News’ “Tucker Carlson Tonight,” Vance condemned “childless cat ladies” who “want to make the rest of the country miserable too.” He continued, “If you look at Kamala Harris, Pete Buttigieg, AOC [Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez], the entire future of the Democrats is controlled by people without children.” His comments resurfaced following his nomination on the Republican ticket, and he has since doubled down on them.
On SiriusXM’s “The Megyn Kelly Show,” Vance backtracked, stating, “Obviously, it was a sarcastic comment. I’ve got nothing against cats.”
Vance also makes frequent misogynistic comments ignoring his own wife’s accomplishments. Usha Vance graduated from Yale Law School and served as a law clerk for now-Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and John Roberts. In many of his introductions of Usha, Vance only mentions her “amazing” homemaker abilities and how great of a mother she is.
It makes you wonder: What exactly went on during the vetting process for Trump’s veepstakes? Why exactly did Trump select Vance if he had these weaknesses?
The answer is simple. Trump uses ritual humiliation to keep the party in order. He likes to see his former enemies convert, which could be seen in full display during the Republican National Convention. Among these enemies-turned-supporters is Senator Ted Cruz, who has called Trump a “sniveling coward” and “serial philanderer” and accused him of being “scared of strong women.”
The parade of shamed and converted followers continued with familiar faces such as Senator Marco Rubio and former Ambassador Nikki Haley, who just this March called Trump “unfit” to be president of the United States. This did not only apply to politicians, as some of the “average Joes” and token speakers, such as model Amber Rose, recalled a past life in which she believed Trump was racist, dangerous and cruel, just as Vance did. Now they are all in full support of Trump, a complete 180.
Vance’s turning over a new leaf has not helped his popularity as much as he thought it might. In a recent poll conducted by AP-NORC, only 29% of U.S. adults approved of Vance as compared to 42% (averaged) who viewed his running mate, Donald Trump favorably. That number likely won’t improve, as some in the MAGA world have begun calling for Trump to remove Vance from the ticket. On Wednesday, Trump began distancing himself from the decision to select Vance, saying he believed the choice had “virtually no impact” on the election, which Vance in-turn agreed to.
The chatter around dropping Vance is just that — chatter. Trump refuses to admit that it was a wrong decision. Being wrong means being weak in Trump’s eyes, and he cannot afford to look weaker than he already does against Vice President Kamala Harris and the building momentum behind her.
Vance has an array of awkward and unfortunate moments, including making comments about racist Mountain Dew, denying internet rumors of of having sex with a couch, sharing a video of a woman getting violated by a dolphin and using off-color words to talk about his wife’s race. He is adding even more trouble to the already-imploding Trump campaign.
