J.D. Vance shows range defending Trump
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Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) speaks to reporters at a Turning Point Action event with former President Trump in Phoenix on June 6. Photo: Ty O'Neil/AP
In a campaign full of slams and soundbites, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) — who's No. 1 (usually) or No. 2 on the VP speculation list of most Trump insiders — has given an unusual tour of his brain that showcases his range.
Why it matters: Vance, 39 — originally famous for his "Hillbilly Elegy" bestseller — would help former President Trump energize rural voters in the vital states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin. But Vance also speaks the language of college-educated suburban voters, who could tip the election.
Vance flexed those muscles in a nearly two-hour interview with New York Times columnist Ross Douthat, who called the Rust Belt native and Yale Law grad "arguably America's leading Trumpist."
- "I first met Trump in 2021," Vance, a former Marine who served in Iraq, said in the column, "What J.D. Vance Believes."
- "One of the stories he told me was about how some of our generals were changing the timings of troop redeployments in the Middle East so that they could tell him that the troop levels were coming down when in reality they were just changing the way in which troop levels jump up and down in the short term."
What they're saying: Asked whether there's a comprehensive populist economic agenda, the first-term senator replied: "Well, I have one."
- "The main thrust of the postwar American order of globalization has involved relying more and more on cheaper labor," he said. "The trade issue and the immigration issue are two sides of the same coin: The trade issue is cheaper labor overseas; the immigration issue is cheaper labor at home, which applies upward pressure on a whole host of services, from hospital services to housing and so forth."
- "The populist vision, at least as it exists in my head, is an inversion of that: applying as much upward pressure on wages and as much downward pressure on the services that the people use as possible," Vance added. "We've had far too little innovation over the last 40 years, and far too much labor substitution."
The bottom line: Vance — a former Trump critic who now impresses the Mar-a-Lago crowd with his TV sparring — can defend Trump and Trumpism with depth and substance, in places it's almost never defended.
- Ashley Etienne, a former top aide to Vice President Harris and former Speaker Nancy Pelosi, turned heads when she said on CNN this week that Vance "would pose the greatest threat" to Harris in a VP debate.
