From a “never Trump guy” to the former President’s vice presidential pick, Sen. J.D. Vance’s (R-OH) cynical and nakedly self-serving transformation has earned him the ultimate payout.
Donald Trump selected Vance on Monday after summoning his shortlist to Milwaukee and systematically eliminating them, with each rejection leaking to multiple news outlets, creating the effect of the gradual elimination of contestants most often seen on reality TV. He announced the pick on Truth Social, and will reportedly also announce it at the Republican National Convention, which is already getting underway.
It caps Vance’s transformation from arms-length mouthpiece of Trump’s America to Trump’s right-hand man.
Vance has, in large part, good timing to thank for his rapid ascension. His memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” telling of his upbringing in downtrodden and depressed red, rural America, was published in June 2016 and enjoyed widespread popularity. Vance was quickly tapped as a translator of sorts, decoding the mysterious Trump supporter for the cable news set.
Back then, he wasn’t so high on his future running mate.
“I realize that, you know, the media has sort of asked me to be this spokesman for the white working class voter who’s voting for Trump, right,” he told Charlie Rose in October 2016. “But as somebody who doesn’t like Trump, myself, I sort of — I understand where Trump’s voters come from, but I also don’t like Trump himself and that made me realize that maybe I’m not quite part of either world totally.”
He’d also mused that he might vote for Hillary Clinton to NPR, and texted a friend: “I go back and forth between thinking Trump might be a cynical asshole like Nixon who wouldn’t be that bad (and might even prove useful) or that he might be America’s Hitler.”
Political expediency, though, appears to have quickly changed his calculus.
He joined the crowded Republican primary field to replace Sen. Rob Portman (R-OH) in June 2021, backed by the support and millions of right-wing venture capitalist Peter Thiel. Vance realized he’d need the coveted Trump endorsement to win the super competitive primary, and started performing the requisite groveling to win back his favor.
“I’ve been very open about the fact that I did say those critical things, and I regret them, and I regret being wrong about the guy,” Vance said on Fox News in 2021.
Professing to be wowed by Trump’s presidential tenure, Vance claimed a change of heart. Trump let him dangle until April 2022, when an eleventh-hour endorsement helped propel Vance to victory a couple weeks later. After beating Democrat Tim Ryan in the general election, Vance hewed to the political orientation that had served him, staying on the far right of the party and remaining a dependable Trump lackey.
On Tuesday, after Trump was injured by a shooter at his Pennsylvania rally, Vance snapped to attention.
“Today is not just some isolated incident,” he tweeted. “The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.”
The convenient take stood in stark contrast to his pooh poohing of his new boss’ culpability for the Jan. 6 insurrection, when he called the notion that Trump had endangered people’s lives “absurd.”
“Did a few people say some bad things? Sure,” he hand-waved in May on CNN. “But do we blame Donald Trump for every bad thing that’s ever been said by a participant in American democracy? I think that’s an absurd standard.”
It’s the kind of homerism and pleasantly flexible ethics Trump prizes in a running mate.
“After lengthy deliberation and thought, and considering the tremendous talents of many others, I have decided that the person best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance of the Great State of Ohio,” Trump wrote Monday afternoon on Truth Social.
Vance’s capitulation is complete.
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