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[Order David Horowitz’s new book, America Betrayed, HERE.]
Why did Donald Trump select JD Vance? Obviously, their current policy views are simpatico, but JD Vance was not supportive back in 2016. He was pretty harsh about Donald Trump the candidate. You know who else was? Me. Dig back through my columns and you’ll see. I was never a Never Trumper. I was always going to vote for the GOP nominee, and I did vote for the nominee. But I was a Ted Cruz guy because I didn’t think Donald Trump was actually going to do the things Donald Trump said he was going to do and I said so. In fact, CNN used to have me on as the conservative Trump-doubter…until I had it with Don Lemon’s nonsense. I was a traditional conservative, and I thought Donald Trump was a NYC liberal and that he would govern like one. But you know what?
I was wrong.
So, I changed my mind about him. I’m now a ferocious Trump supporter. And so is JD.
Here’s the thing about opinions. You change them when they are proven wrong. I thought Donald Trump was going to govern as a liberal. He did not govern as a liberal. He did about 95 percent of the things I wanted him to do. My concern was never with what Donald Trump was saying. I always liked what he was saying. I just didn’t think he was actually going to do what he said. And then he went and did a lot of it. He probably would’ve done much more if he hadn’t been subject to an unprecedented tsunami of fake scandals and if he had had a Rolodex of reliable people to work with. JD Vance had the same experience. He didn’t think much of Trump at first. Then Trump proved himself. And then JD Vance began to support him.
That’s how this works – remember that the great Ronald Reagan himself started as a Democrat. He learned and changed. I’m not sure why we are supposed to accept the bizarre notion that once you have expressed an opinion, you are locked into it in perpetuity despite evidence that shows you are wrong. I don’t accept that, and JD Vance doesn’t accept that either.
JD Vance is a very interesting VP choice. He was not my first choice to be the nominee for vice-president because I thought that Glenn Youngkin might bring more to the table in terms of building an electoral coalition. JD was, however, my first choice for actually being the vice-president. If and when he wins, I’m going to be thrilled.
But now I’m rethinking my initial assessment of his strengths as a candidate. I may have underestimated them. How? First of all, I have grown to trust Donald Trump’s instincts when it comes to politics. After all, this guy came out of nowhere and beat all the geniuses and professionals in 2016. Worst case, he nearly beat them all in 2020. And right now, according to all the polls, he’s beating that desiccated corrupt old husk. So, he had to have a reason for choosing JD Vance and it was probably a good one.
Dumb people will say it’s because JD Vance flatters Donald Trump. Again, that wasn’t always true, and Donald Trump has a long memory. But Donald Trump is not interested in flattery this time. He is clearly interested in winning. He has built a strong and effective campaign organization that dominated the primaries – I supported Ron DeSantis because I worried Trump was going to be hard to reelect and he just crushed my guy. Donald Trump has also shown incredible discipline by stepping out of the spotlight while Joe Biden staggered around on the verge of filling up his Depends to overflowing. And, of course, Donald Trump demonstrated his courage in his iconic response to the attempt to murder him. So, there’s no reason to believe Donald Trump picked JD Vance simply out of petty vanity. That’s silly. If you want to underestimate your opponent, feel free. But if you think Donald Trump is playing for anything but keeps this time, you are letting your own biases and prejudices cloud your judgment.
So, what did Donald Trump hope to gain from picking JD Vance? JD Vance is very smart and very effective in debate, but I’m not sure you really need that to beat Kamala Harris. She’s as dumb as a box of Arkansas rocks, no offense to Southern minerals. I think it’s something more.
Pundits often reflexively opine, by rote, that JD Vance appeals to the working class based on his impoverished upbringing. I think they are onto something, but I don’t think they go deep enough in assessing how this dynamic works. Guys who sweat on the job are not going to vote for JD Vance just because his family was poor. In fact, I’m not sure the goal is to get them to vote for JD at all. Rather, perhaps JD Vance is on the ticket so that they vote against Joe Biden, Kamala Harris, and the whole elite power structure.
You see, JD Vance did everything right. He did everything we asked within the paradigm of the American Dream. This was a poor but smart kid who worked hard and rose out of poverty. He served his country in the Marine Corps. Then he applied to a prestigious college and he excelled there. He was next accepted into the heart of the elite training grounds, Yale Law School, where once again he excelled. He was the editor of the law review. After graduating, he became a high-tech entrepreneur and did well. He did everything right. With his brains and his sweat and his hard work, he checked all the elite boxes. He beat the elite at their own game.
And yet, they still want to deny him his reward. He’s still not good enough, and maybe it’s because he rejects the ruling class’s ideology and because he’s a man of deep faith and patriotism. Without submitting to their false gods, he’s always going to be one of them. He’s The Other. Even though he earned it through effort, the elite refuses to allow him to be part of their clique. He will always be an outsider because he will not conform.
The message to the working-class men, and many women, of Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota is that no matter what you do and no matter how hard you work, and no matter whether you play by the rules and whether you beat the elite at their own game, you will never be accepted unless you submit and repudiate your roots. You will never be allowed to win if you refuse to sign on to all the weird social pathologies of the left. DEI, trans, anti-Americanism – it’s not enough to pay the price of acceptance with hard work. You have to pay it with your soul.
No, JD Vance was picked not because the working class will necessarily love him but because the contempt rained down on him by the elite and its lapdog regime media will demonstrate that our ruling class will always hate working people who remain true to themselves. JD Vance is proof that the people who feed, fuel and fight for America will never be allowed to succeed. He is proof that they will always be second-class citizens. And that will motivate the people who build, run, and defend this country to vote against the drooling avatar of an elite that hates them.
Maybe I’m overthinking this, but maybe not. The hate that has come crashing down on JD Vance in the wake of his selection is undeniable. The elite cast him out, just as it cast Donald Trump out, for the crime of not bending the knee. Perhaps you can become part of the elite if you give up your self-respect, but the American Dream isn’t about debasing yourself. It’s about earning what’s yours while remaining true to yourself. And as the elites deny JD Vance what he has earned because he thinks for himself, those working-class men and women who will make the difference in the Rustbelt will be watching, and they will be voting.
“Narrative assassination” is working less and less…nazis, supremacists, dangerous, destroying democracy, bullseye, they never stop insinuating evil to half the country and their president…tyrants like Dems lie because they don’t dare tell the truth about themselves.
I slightly disagree with you. On the contrary, democrats do tell the truth about themselves when they accuse the opposition of doing things they’ve already done, would like to do or are planning to do.
Democrats are well versed at turgid language and subliminal propaganda (Obama, for example, is highly skilled at this.) Unfortunately, most republicans and conservatives are not and so a lot of what the dems say goes right over their heads.
I’m reminded of one of my favorite lines from Casablanca where Peter Lorre (Ugarte) explains to Rick, “Somehow just because you despise me, you are the only one I trust.” To me, that speaks to the sort of brutal honesty that can forge strong political relationships.
I think much of the contempt shown to people who have fought their way to the top without wealthy parents securing their status is reaction formation from people who became wealthy through no merit of their own. Whether derived from theft, graft, or inheritance, they know they could never have done what Vance, and those like him have accomplished on their own. People who earn their way threaten the dishonest self image they construct for themselves.
None of scorners would consider enlisting in the Marines. Not a chance.. Altruism is furthest from their instincts. They are rapacious parasites with no spine or courage. They are essentially parasitic. They fear those who can face a blasting head wind, yet keep moving forward.
Vance is a wise, intelligent man who also happens to have a real backbone. He isn’t waiting around for gifts or inheritance to secure his life. And he doesn’t sit around obsessing about his relative social status. He’s not a social parasite. Where he ends up will be because he strove for it and set his goals wisely. He will never demean himself by becoming a political parasite.
Vance will sleep easily and awaken with a clear, easy conscience. He won’t compromise himself by seeking unearned wealth or power. He doesn’t value what he hasn’t earned and in that way I think he is much like Donald Trump..
The leftist parasites are renowned for having no spine or courage.
That was how I was sure in Oct, 2018 those “pipe bombs” that were delivered en mass were fake. (They’d never chance a real bomb going off, nor risk a real investigation.)
The bombs were similar to that fake bomb on Jan 6th; an op to slander conservatives – timed for the midterm election cycle to deflect from all the previous attacks on Trump supporters (throwing drinks had become ubiquitous & showing a bit too much how infantile leftists really are.)
Great post TB. Good to see you on the board again.
But your mention of altruism may get a certain someone annoyed enough to start an argument. The word triggers him.
So be aware.
=This is a fantastic article. Thank you Kurt Schlichter.
JD Vance is impressive. He surely overcame any obstacles that were thrown at him growing up with a single mom. He got his college degree, he served as a marine in combat, he ran a business, and his rise to being a Senagtor of the United States. has been good for Ohio. He is an overrcomer and balanced individual which is what we need in the White House. Lets hope the Trump-Vance Team can work together and start cleaning up the mess that has been created in Washington by secular progressives.
“Here’s the thing about opinions. You change them when they are proven wrong.” That’s what conservatives do. And patriots and clear-thinking people do, also. But not the left. No deviation is tolerated. None. Step outside the narrative and you’re dead to them.
That’s why I’m highly suspicious of commenters on other sites who say they hate Senator Vance because he said mean things about President Trump. They have more in common with Democrats and Rinos than they have with conservatives.
When they have to go back a decade to find some room-mate of Vance who thought he was ‘creepy’ and then make front page news out of this
‘shocking revelation’….. you know they are desperate.
Is Vance beholden to Peter Thiel, the one who has financed his meteoric rise?
Time will tell.
I think that Kurt is 100% correct but I also think that Trump is smarter this time around and is thinking ahead to the future of the party. Rewind back about forty plus years when Reagan was picking his VP. He talked to Ford and they could not work it out, so he tapped George H.W. Bush as his VP and the rest is history.
Had Reagan picked someone like Jack Kemp who was over twenty years younger than Reagan the legacy that Reagan created could have lived on after his presidency, but that legacy was crushed by Bush who was in reality a northeast liberal disguised as a Republican and he and his nitwit son ushered in both Clinton and Obama to the White House to start and end the dismantling of our once great country.
Bringing on a JD Vance who is about half of Trump’s age will hopefully after Trump’s term provide another two terms of economic sanity and someone who will have the time and energy to clean out the Augean Stables that is D.C.
JD Vance brings Peter Thiel to the party, with lots of influence and cash.
I am hopefully optimistic about Vance, but there are good reasons to withhold trust. He would need to act against the interests that have propelled him into wealth and prominence:
Vance is eminently unqualified to be President on day one, unlike many of Trump’s other options, who have already proven to be experienced and successful conservative governors or Senators.