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JD Vance Should Not Have Been Trump’s Vice Presidential Pick
JD Vance Should Not Have Been Trump’s Vice Presidential Pick
By: Arnold Bernini đť•Ź | 08/02/2024
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It is concerning to a great number of conservatives – ones knowledgeable in the ties and network of the establishment, anyway – that Donald Trump has selected JD Vance to be his Vice President pick.
JD Vance represents all that is wrong with contemporary American politics, from his ties to mega-donors like former PayPal CEO and Palantir cofounder Peter Theil to his political history as a former never-Trumper.
What’s wrong with Vance?
Vance, an Ohio native and Yale Law School graduate, was a die-hard never-Trumper before he was elected to represent Ohio in the U.S. Senate. Leading up to the 2016 election, Vance called Trump an "idiot" and said he was "reprehensible." In private, Vance despised Trump so much that he compared him to Adolf Hitler.
Even worse, Vance was also an Obama apologetic and suggested in 2016 that he might vote for Hillary if he thought Trump could win. "My current plan is to vote either third party or, as I joked to my wife, I might write in my dog because that's about as good as it seems," Vance told NPR's Terry Gross in a 2016 interview. "But, you know, I think there's a chance, if I feel like Trump has a really good chance of winning, that I might have to hold my nose and vote for Hillary Clinton."
Today, Vance remains liberal on issues like abortion, too, saying he supports access to the abortion pill Mifepristone in a July interview on NBC. In 2019, Vance was baptized Catholic, which explicitly bans any forms of birth control, especially those that end life after conception. JD Vance’s wife “Usha” was not raised Christian and is not a Christian, he clarified in a different Fox interview.
He has also been a proponent of further U.S. military involvement in Iran. "A lot of people recognize that we need to do something with Iran—but not these weak little bombing runs. If you're going to punch the Iranians, you punch them hard,” Vance said on July 15 in a Fox News interview, mimicking forever warmongers of the early 2000s that he claims to oppose.
Vance also said, "I hate the police," after the killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown, which led to race riots in Ferguson, Missouri. On June 29, 2016, he said, "The more white people feel like voting for Trump, the more black people will suffer."
New polling, too, shows he may be dragging Trump down when it comes to appealing to voters.
A new study published by Dr. Kevin Wagner of Florida Atlantic University's Public Opinion Research Lab found that nearly 45 percent of voters find Vance "strongly" or "somewhat" unfavorable, while 41 percent see him as "strongly" or "somewhat" favorable.
Voters remain divided about Trump, with 50 percent seeing him as unfavorable and 49 percent viewing him as favorable. Still, more think Trump is "strongly" favorable than those who had the same view about Vance. The new Vice Presidential candidate is supposed to be more favorable than their running mate, but somehow, Vance has been less favorable from day one.
Vance doesn’t fool anyone; he’s much too entrenched. He has a laundry list of things he’s said and done that should’ve disqualified him as the potential vice president. How can such a politician go from a nobody to a senator to a potential Vice President in a little under two years?
How did Vance become Trump’s pick?
It’s not clear why Trump chose to run with someone who hated him just a short time ago, but a likely influence on the decision was billionaire Peter Thiel.
Thiel had employed Vance at his venture capital firm Mithril Capital and gave $15 million to boost his Senate campaign in 2022. Vance only became a Trump sycophant in 2022 when he realized he needed Trump’s endorsement to win his seat in Ohio.
Thiel does big business with the Pentagon, too. His company, Palantir Technologies Inc., provides software platforms and data services to the CIA, U.S. Army, and other government organizations. Palantir was founded in 2003 and received foster funding from In-Q-Tel, the CIA’s venture capital arm.
Thiel is just another Silicon Valley titan parasitically embedded in the national security apparatus. It is no wonder he would invest heavily in a prospect that promises foreign war and military spending. Thiel saw an opportunity to make an investment and invested early, and it paid off. Unfortunately for America, Vance will certainly have to pay back that investment.
JD Vance represents all that is wrong with contemporary American politics, from his ties to mega-donors like former PayPal CEO and Palantir cofounder Peter Theil to his political history as a former never-Trumper.
What’s wrong with Vance?
Vance, an Ohio native and Yale Law School graduate, was a die-hard never-Trumper before he was elected to represent Ohio in the U.S. Senate. Leading up to the 2016 election, Vance called Trump an "idiot" and said he was "reprehensible." In private, Vance despised Trump so much that he compared him to Adolf Hitler.
Even worse, Vance was also an Obama apologetic and suggested in 2016 that he might vote for Hillary if he thought Trump could win. "My current plan is to vote either third party or, as I joked to my wife, I might write in my dog because that's about as good as it seems," Vance told NPR's Terry Gross in a 2016 interview. "But, you know, I think there's a chance, if I feel like Trump has a really good chance of winning, that I might have to hold my nose and vote for Hillary Clinton."
Today, Vance remains liberal on issues like abortion, too, saying he supports access to the abortion pill Mifepristone in a July interview on NBC. In 2019, Vance was baptized Catholic, which explicitly bans any forms of birth control, especially those that end life after conception. JD Vance’s wife “Usha” was not raised Christian and is not a Christian, he clarified in a different Fox interview.
He has also been a proponent of further U.S. military involvement in Iran. "A lot of people recognize that we need to do something with Iran—but not these weak little bombing runs. If you're going to punch the Iranians, you punch them hard,” Vance said on July 15 in a Fox News interview, mimicking forever warmongers of the early 2000s that he claims to oppose.
Vance also said, "I hate the police," after the killing of 18-year-old Michael Brown, which led to race riots in Ferguson, Missouri. On June 29, 2016, he said, "The more white people feel like voting for Trump, the more black people will suffer."
New polling, too, shows he may be dragging Trump down when it comes to appealing to voters.
A new study published by Dr. Kevin Wagner of Florida Atlantic University's Public Opinion Research Lab found that nearly 45 percent of voters find Vance "strongly" or "somewhat" unfavorable, while 41 percent see him as "strongly" or "somewhat" favorable.
Voters remain divided about Trump, with 50 percent seeing him as unfavorable and 49 percent viewing him as favorable. Still, more think Trump is "strongly" favorable than those who had the same view about Vance. The new Vice Presidential candidate is supposed to be more favorable than their running mate, but somehow, Vance has been less favorable from day one.
Vance doesn’t fool anyone; he’s much too entrenched. He has a laundry list of things he’s said and done that should’ve disqualified him as the potential vice president. How can such a politician go from a nobody to a senator to a potential Vice President in a little under two years?
How did Vance become Trump’s pick?
It’s not clear why Trump chose to run with someone who hated him just a short time ago, but a likely influence on the decision was billionaire Peter Thiel.
Thiel had employed Vance at his venture capital firm Mithril Capital and gave $15 million to boost his Senate campaign in 2022. Vance only became a Trump sycophant in 2022 when he realized he needed Trump’s endorsement to win his seat in Ohio.
Thiel does big business with the Pentagon, too. His company, Palantir Technologies Inc., provides software platforms and data services to the CIA, U.S. Army, and other government organizations. Palantir was founded in 2003 and received foster funding from In-Q-Tel, the CIA’s venture capital arm.
Thiel is just another Silicon Valley titan parasitically embedded in the national security apparatus. It is no wonder he would invest heavily in a prospect that promises foreign war and military spending. Thiel saw an opportunity to make an investment and invested early, and it paid off. Unfortunately for America, Vance will certainly have to pay back that investment.