JD Vance is one of the worst vice presidential picks ever.
The venture capitalist, book author, and senator highlights the worst of the Trump campaign. His dangerous rhetoric is damaging to both supporters and detractors.
Vance was picked in July when a Trump victory looked like a guarantee. Since President Joe Biden dropped out of the race, Vance has proven to be a fatal flaw in the Trump campaign, as Harris has successfully portrayed both Vance and Trump as erratic and deceptive.
Vance originally gained national attention with his autobiography “Hillbilly Elegy.” The book examines the Appalachian region of the U.S. — one of the poorest in the country — and blames the people of Appalachia for not overcoming generational poverty.
In the years following the release of his book, Vance became a staunch critic of Trump. Among his criticisms was a comparison between Trump and Hitler. This view changed as he became more involved in Republican Party politics and Trump’s popularity maintained within the voting base of the party.
When Vance decided to run for Congress in Ohio, he became extremely pro-Trump. This didn’t go unnoticed by Trump, who retorted at a rally in Ohio that, “JD is kissing my ass he wants my support so bad.”
Despite Trump’s bullying, Vance has remained loyal in his pursuit as Trump’s yes man.
During his Senate race, Vance underperformed, winning by some of the lowest margins. Despite Ohio’s support of Trump, Vance’s Democratic challenger performed significantly better than previous candidates.
Vance has also been linked to Project 2025 — a deeply unpopular set of conservative policies supposedly endorsed by the Trump administration. Trump has publicly disavowed these plans, but a CNN review found that 140 people who previously worked for Trump were involved in the creation of Project 2025.
In June, Vance announced that he wrote the foreword for “Dawn’s Early Light: Taking Back Washington to Save America.” The book was written by Kevin Roberts — a leader in the creation of Project 2025.
Despite parts of the plan having up to a 72 percent disapproval rating, Vance has remained evasive on the subject. In an interview with Newsmax, Vance said, “Most Americans couldn’t care less about Project 2025. There are some good ideas in there.”
Vance also publicly supports lying, even when it brings out bigotry and hurts the people he is meant to represent. This past month, a fictitious story surfaced about Haitian immigrants eating pets in an Ohio town.
The story has been disproven numerous times, but when asked about it, he said, “If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m going to do.”
This false story has resulted in multiple bomb threats against the Springfield community, halting life for its 58,000 residents. After a tragic accident in which a school bus was hit by a Haitian immigrant in an SUV, killing a young boy on the bus, Vance was quick to use this as a bigoted case against them.
The father of the child has since come out saying, “I wish that my son, Aiden Clark, was killed by a 60-year-old white man. I bet you never thought anyone would ever say something so blunt. But if that guy killed my 11-year-old son, the incessant group of hate-spewing people would leave us alone. Using Aiden as a political tool is, to say the least, reprehensible for any political purpose.”
Ultimately, what the Trump campaign is left with is a former-critic-turned-yes-man who has openly disparaged his own people, an unpopular individual in his own state and region, a liar, and a primary source of contention for the Trump campaign and its supporters.