Posted on 07/20/2024 4:45:21 PM PDT by SeekAndFind
It shows a remarkable level of confidence from Donald Trump that he’s chosen for his running-mate the man who once called him “America’s Hitler.”
J.D. Vance, the thirty-one-year-old junior senator from Ohio, made the private comment in 2016, as he rose to fame off the back of his autobiography Hillbilly Elegy. The book recounts what it was like to grow up in a deprived rust-belt town, where his family and neighbors had “no college degree” and “poverty’s the family tradition.” Vance escaped by joining the US Marine Corps, which included a tour in Iraq. Once home, his degrees from Ohio State University and Yale took him to California, where he worked for the entrepreneur and Republican-backer Peter Thiel, who is reported to have arranged the first meeting between Vance and Trump.
Vance wasn’t just establishing himself as an author. He was starting to make a name for himself politically, too, as a never-Trumper who thought the president was “reprehensible,” an “idiot” and “cultural heroin.”
Six years later, Vance successfully ran for the Senate in Ohio as a MAGA-affiliated candidate. He became one of the former president’s biggest supporters, defending his actions on January 6 and repeating Trump’s claim that the 2020 election “was stolen.” In his speech at the Republican National Convention last night — his first as the vice presidential nominee — Vance described Trump as “America’s last best hope to restore what, if lost, may never be found again.”
What changed? In an interview with the New York Times earlier this year, Vance described the “complete overreaction,” after Trump’s 2016 win, to the mere suggestion that the president might, sometimes, have a point. By the 2020 election, Vance’s vote for Trump was a protest vote against being “policed in what we think and what we say.”
Fortunately for Vance, Trump can be forgiving towards those who repent and do penance. Humiliation is part of the punishment. “J.D. is kissing my ass,” Trump told a rally of Ohioans in September 2022. “Yeah, he said some bad things about me, but that was before he knew me and then he fell in love.”
Despite their past differences, Trump and Vance are now thought to be politically aligned. Joe Biden described Vance as “a clone of Trump.” Yet there are some notable differences between them: Vance is a devout Catholic convert, whereas Trump could not name his favorite verse in what he says is his favorite book, “the Bible.” Their biggest differences, however, come down to extremes. On policy, Vance tends to out-MAGA Trump.
While Trump is vague on the extent of his support for Ukraine, Vance has called for an end to the war, which would cede territory to Russia. “I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine,” he said in 2022. Vance wants the resources that are flowing to Europe to be diverted to America’s borders, as well as towards Taiwan — a move, he thinks, that could stop China invading.
Vance goes further on the economy, too. For all of Trump’s protectionist rhetoric, the crux of his economic agenda in office was broadly laissez-faire: a combination of lower taxes and market liberalization, with the odd Trumpian threat of a trade war thrown in to keep China and Europe on their toes.
If Vance gets his way, tariffs are the future. He seems relaxed about price rises (which he thinks are exaggerated) and tax hikes, so long as immigration is curbed and wages rise. His answer for filling in budget deficits is not to force America’s unemployed back to work but to entice them. The Republican Party hopes Vance’s economic outlook will appeal to trade-union voters. This week the head of the Teamsters Union — which represents 1.3 million workers — spoke at the Republican National Convention for the first time in history.
Vance may be a poster boy for the American dream, journeying from absolute poverty to Silicon Valley, to Congress. Trump has selected him as VP to highlight a different journey: Trump-naysayer to MAGA-enthusiast.
The Trump-Vance ticket is Trump’s way of showing off his unprecedented level of power over the Republican Party. In 2016, he chose Mike Pence as his VP to reassure its traditional wing. That’s a concession he doesn’t need to make any more. With Vance’s nomination, the MAGA takeover of the Republican Party is complete.
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Not going to do that.
I have seen this "Hitler" claim twice before - but, no source.
Can someone provide the exact Hitler quote, the date, and the exact context?
Thank you!
Precisely “Keep your friends close. Keep your enemies closer’’.
“You are allowed to admit being wrong.’ Precisely. A sense of humility is important in life.
Humility is knowing one isn’t God.
Years ago I found that out the hard way.
“I’m thinking of a belief system that’s been very popular for a couple thousand years that is based on notion of forgiveness.”
It’s odd that the purists here won’t accept the converts. Vance repented and admitted he was wrong. What more do they want? Probably the same people who were skeptical of Trump in 2016.
Maybe Trump hopes Vance is the one to carry on the MAGA movement after he leaves office.
Not really. There was a time that I believed that Trump was a total fraud. He proved me wrong.
Did you notice S4232. If you look at it, it is the Fauci Act. That there is some advanced level trolling.
And is MAN enough to say "I was wrong"!
Trump never holds grudges like most people.
Yes, and one more thing....
The Lord did not move the bullet. He moved Trump’s head away from the bullet.
Huge difference in my thinking......
I think he told the truth when he said he changed his mind . . . . I think he did and not for a phony political reason.
I was a Bawst'n transplant living in WV for about 4 years in the mid seventies and Mamaw is truly pictured, as I knew a number of West Virginian mamaws.
Maybe he’ll pick Vivek for some high level cabinet position, where he would have more power than a VP.
Perception.
Think 2028. After a wildly successful term in office like Reagan ushering VP Bush effortlessly into the presidency in 1988, Trump’s VP will be the presumptive frontrunner and likely President in 2028. Vivek is the only one on the national stage who consistently talks about the blueprint for extending and expanding MAGA and America’s future.
Thank you! These are impressive.
Many thoughtful comments. Strongest reason? Pragmatism. Vance is more than a candidate to deliver Ohio Which is probably not in doubt anyhow). JD is a regional powerhouse that can deliver the whole Rust Belt. Plus a military veteran. Young. A celebrity in his own right. But mostly a man whose story encompasses a region with several swing states. If you go back to read the transcript of his convention speech you’ll see that he mentioned Ohio, Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Kentucky dozens of times. He has a presence in all of these places at one time or another.
Lots of people who didn’t like Trump before the 2016 election are now supporters: Mark Levin, Ted Cruz, Greg Gutfeld, to name a few. I worked countless hours in 2016 making phone calls at a Trump call center. I was making the calls as much to stop Hilary as I was for Trump. I was hopeful that Trump would do what he was promising, but I was skeptical that he actually would. Now I’m an ardent supporter. Anybody that doesn’t change their opinion in the light of facts is a numbskull. Vance changed his opinion of Trump based on what he saw Trump do.
“I go back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical asshole like Nixon who wouldn’t be that bad (and might even prove useful) or that he’s America’s Hitler,” Vance texted to his room-mate in 2016 (who is now a Dem state representative in the South).
By ommiting portions, the quote is grossly mischaracterized.
“I go back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical asshole like Nixon who wouldn’t be that bad (and might even prove useful) or that he’s America’s Hitler,” Vance texted to his room-mate in 2016 (who is now a Dem state representative in the South).
The quote is grossly mischaracterized. While he considered that Trump might become one as one of a range options, he never called Trump “America’s Hitler” But even that was recanted as Vance realized how severely the media had lied about Trump.
I am excited to hear what your pal has to say. Please start a topic on your encounter.
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