President Donald Trump, 2024 presidential candidate for the Republican Party, went to his Truth Social online social media site today to announce his choice for a running mate. JD Vance is an Ohio Senator who came into office in 2023 after his election in 2022.
Born in Middleton, Ohio, Vance served in the Marine Corps in the Iraq War, has a doctorate from Yale, and wrote a best-selling book, ‘Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis,’ that was made into a Netflix film. He worked in a large corporate law firm and was the president of an investment firm owned by billionaire Peter Thiel, according to the Washington Post.
His hero was his Meemaw, a Christian Democrat who owned 19 guns. He credits her for keeping him “on the straight and narrow” with “tough love and discipline” as he grew up in a community full of poverty and drug addiction.
Vance is seen as an up and coming star of the political party, and has recently been an advocate of Trump after voicing heavy criticism of him a few years ago. But after Trump’s announcement, many of his strongest supporters took to X (formerly known as Twitter) to voice their concerns.
Comparing him to the likes of Mitt Romney and Pence, many Trumpsters fear that Vance will be just “another of the bad choices that the former president has surrounded himself with.” Although the consensus is, “No matter who he chooses, we are still voting for him,” some Conservative voters are worried that Vance could secretly hate Trump. But why do they feel that way?
He Religiously Accused Trump of Being an Idiot
In 2016, JD Vance was quite loud about his disapproval of Donald Trump. In an interview with Charlie Rose, Vance stated, “I am a never Trump guy, I never liked him.” He also stated that he “can’t stomach” the former president, and even posted, “my god, what an idiot,” when referring to Trump in a Tweet that has since been deleted.
In an opinion piece for ‘The Atlantic,’ Vance called Trump “cultural heroin” for America conservatives and went on to say, “He makes some feel better for a bit, but he cannot fix what ails them, and one day they’ll realize it.” Vance also insisted that Trump was “unfit for our nation’s highest office” in an op-ed for the New York Times entitled, ‘Why Trump’s Antiwar Message Resonates With White America.’
In another deleted Tweet, Vance called Trump “reprehensible,” and stated that “God wants better of us.” In yet another, he addressed “fellow Christians,” scolding them for apologizing for Trump. During his bid for his current Senate seat in Ohio, Vance began scrubbing those Tweets from his X account. His degradation of Trump was so vivid that his competition spent millions of dollars on ads featuring Vance’s own words.
An Open Letter Against Vance
In May of 2022, Dr Joel S. Holmes wrote an open letter to “The President We Love: President Trump” about JD Vance. His letter began, “According to conservative political analysts, JD Vance will be Mitt Romney #2. And Vance will be another Liz Cheney.
Just as Romney asked for your endorsement in Utah for senator then betrayed you, JD Vance will do the same. Vance will be a thorn in your side from the moment he is elected ⏤ if he is elected.
Vance is lying about his record. He has always been a “Never Trumper,” and now, suddenly that he needs your endorsement in Ohio, he has an amazing change and supports you and your ideas…”
Accusations of Racism and More Religious Rhetoric
Vance also stated in 2016 that racism played a big part in the support of Trump, although maybe it wasn’t the largest supporter. He accused Trump of being a “moral disaster” who didn’t care about people. And he stated that Trump avoided policy issues by focusing on things like, “the great Mexican wall.”
The Ohio Senator also shared his opinion with a radio host that Trump was supported by voters who were middle-class, white, and didn’t have a regular church family – which led to them “falling for” the social acceptance and community at Trump rallies.
Yet this is the man that Trump has chosen as his running mate.
He’s Changed His Tune
Of course, in later posts he doesn’t seem to feel that a border wall is racist and in 2022 stated on his X account, “Accusations of racism are often about silencing dissent. You’re not a racist for wanting an immigration system that protects our citizens. Mock or ignore the people who say otherwise.”
In another 2022 post he said, “The charge of “racism” isn’t about compassion for our fellow Americans, it’s about power and control. It’s a rhetorical weapon used to silence the opposition “
The Washington Post says that Vance has “closely aligned himself with the former president” in recent years. Calling Vance one of his “most vocal champions,” the article goes on to explain that he showed support for Trump outside of the courthouse in New York during the criminal trials that took place there.
Vance also made many cable television appearances, and was highlighted by Trump’s allies in conservative interviews, and on ‘Meet the Press’ and CNN – quite a change from being highlighted by the left in the years prior. He has become a close friend to Donald Trump Jr, and has become one of the loudest and strongest supporters of the Trump family and candidacy.
Is His 180 Just for the Vice Presidency?
Yet some Trump supporters are skeptical, fearing that Vance simply changed his tune in order to run for Vice President. But the timeline doesn’t seem to match this rhetoric. In 2020, Vance admitted that he regretted his criticism of Trump, and had fully endorsed him by the primary. Vance was also proud to say that he voted for Trump in the 2020 election.
While Vance may have voiced his strong feelings against Trump in 2016, he says that he had begun a change of mind within the next two years. He is 39 years old now, so would have been just 31 in 2016. As one “Twitter” follower points out, “How many times have you changed your mind since you were 31?”
Another MAGA account on X shared, “Anyone who is mad about JD Vance and his trump hitler comments. Let me clear this up. He said years ago he was young when he made those comments and he believed the lying fake news media. Then once he met Trump, he saw was a great man he was and changed his tune. Can’t hold it against him, he was brainwashed like we all were until Trump came along. Give him a chance, he’s MAGA!”
He Isn’t Alone In His Change of Mind
And the tale of someone changing their mind about Trump isn’t a rare one. In fact, Bill Ackman, a billionaire manager of hedge funds, posted a Tweet that exclaimed, “I am going to formally endorse @realDonaldTrump. I assure you that I have made this decision carefully, rationally, and by relying on as much empirical data as possible.“
In his post he went on to say, “I came to this decision some time ago as many X followers have already understood from my supportive posts of Trump and my criticisms of Biden.” This decision by Ackman is another example of someone who’s followed Trump’s political career for some time and changed their mind about him after watching the former president in action.
And Ackman is not the only billionaire to jump on board the Trump train. In fact, a recent post from Newsweek shares that a number of them have. Of course, we all know that Elon fully endorses him, and so does Stephen Schwarzman, and David Sacks, to name a few. While these men were once just as vehement in their stance against the former president, they have all since changed their minds, much like Vance.
Instead of blindly believing in the politically-motivated rhetoric of his opponents, people are beginning to actually look at Trump’s accomplishments, policies, and determination to make his country a better place for its people. They’ve noted the differences in the little things, such as grocery bills and gas prices. For some, it is a good sign that the desire to base decisions on reality instead of media-induced rumor is spreading.
For example, in a place where it was once a scary thing to support Donald Trump; where professional athletes were shunned, and people were banned in some businesses and from American schools, one Twitter post shared on July 14th, “People just casually walking around SF with Trump hats. Something has changed” and another shared the day before, “Time to wear my MAGA hat in my city, San Francisco. DONE. IT’S ON.”
Even states like California and New York are seeing changes in attitudes towards Trump as people are waking up to the media-fueled “hate” sometimes known as “Trump Derangement Syndrome.” Although, as Madison Cawthorn points out, “the left has called for violence against Donald Trump and the Republicans for YEARS,” many are beginning to see it for what it is: hate and division.
As some of us have insisted all along, “We don’t hate each other as much as they try to tell us we do.” And now, the hyped-up hate is fading as people take a second look at a man who continues to stand despite arrests, court cases, media attacks, threats. A man who even stood tall with his fist in the air after being shot.
Vance Could Be Exactly What Trump (and America) Needs
So, it should come as no surprise that Trump chose as his running mate a man who’d been through this change himself. Vance will be relatable to those who have found themselves hating Trump with no clear reason why. He makes it clear that it is okay to change your mind and go against what you’ve been told in favor of what you see as best for your country.
As Shawn Farash shared on his X account,
“I know that some have reservations about JD Vance’s comments from the past about Donald Trump.
To those of you, I ask respectfully this:
If someone cannot change their mind, especially for the better, what exactly are we arguing about? Vance’s more RECENT actions as an elected official would demonstrate that he has been sincere.
Shouldn’t we look at this as a positive, and not a negative?”
Other Tweets include:
“My BF a USMC vet, voted for Obama, believed all the MM BS, before 2016 he had time for his own research, became a HUGE trump supporter. Vance has been on a path that many Americans have. If Trump trusts him then so do I.”
“I think it will actually help him too because he said what all these left Extremis people are saying about him now. He said all those things in 2016 when the mainstream media was violently attacking Trump because he was running against Hillary Clinton and messing up the NWO.”
As others point out, if you trust Donald Trump enough to vote him in as the president of the free world, shouldn’t we trust him enough to choose his own vice president? Surely we believe that he has thoroughly vetted, interviewed, and studied Vance and perhaps sees the same thing that we are saying here: he might be just what America needs to understand that it is okay to change our minds and support what we really need instead of what they tell us to.
Vance is known as an amazing fundraiser. He has made it clear that he supports Israel and is against sending any more weapons to Ukraine when we are struggling to supply our own. He stands firm against abortion and for values that will support the American family. He has no problem speaking his mind – even if he knows his audience won’t agree with him. He is a rock star when it comes to addressing the mainstream media.
And, perhaps most importantly, Biden doesn’t seem to like him at all. His X account was already sharing attack ads on Vance for fundraising just minutes after Trump’s announcement. One replied, “It took you longer to respond to the attempted assassination of Trump than to respond to his VP pick. Disgraceful and shameful.”
Another said, “Already back to that hateful rhetoric. That didn’t take long.”
And yet another pointed out, “Here’s the deal… everything that comes out of your mouth is a lie. Taxes were lowered under Trump. You’re wanting a capital gains tax. Which will hurt Americans. Your time is running out. Trump/Vance will save America.”
Just knowing Biden is against him could be enough for some, but Biden isn’t the only one. Tucker Carlson shared that, “Every bad person I’ve ever met in a lifetime in Washington was aligned against JD Vance.” Mitt Romney said, “I don’t know that I can disrespect someone more than J. D. Vance.”
That’s enough to make it clear that Vance’s change of mind about Trump, and his determination to bring about a better country, is most likely sincere…when those are the types of people who hate him.
And he is a man who isn’t too proud to admit when he is wrong, and take steps to fix it. A post in The New York Times calls Vance’s transformation “one of the most striking political stories of the Trump era, and one that’s likely to influence Republican politics even after Trump is gone.” And isn’t that the goal? To make positive changes that will ring throughout history and bring a better world to those who follow in our footsteps?