THOMPSON: Vice-presidential candidate JD Vance reflects the worst of America

(DON THOMPSON / iNFOnews.ca)

October 07, 2024 – 12:00 PM

OPINION

JD Vance is the Republican candidate for vice president….Donald Trump’s running mate. Yes, it’s JD, without periods…one of many oddities about Vance, including his having three different legal names in his 39-year life.

Vance doesn’t have much of a track record when it comes to accomplishments. In 20 months as a U.S. Senator, he has not sponsored or introduced a single piece of legislation that became law. Neither Ohio – the state he represents – nor the U.S. are better places due to his efforts.

What he is best at…is talking. He has spoken on the Senate floor nearly 50 times…invariably promoting culture war issues, railing against mask mandates, diversity initiatives and sanctuary cities.

Almost every job Vance has ever held was gained through one man’s largess…Peter Thiel, who founded Pay Pal. Thiel paved the way for Vance in the world of venture capitalism, another place where he accomplished very little.

Thiel bankrolled Mr. Vance’s campaign for Ohio’s open Senate seat in 2022 to the tune of $15 million, a record amount, even though Vance under-performed by 11 percentage points all other Republicans running for offices in Ohio.

It’s perhaps telling that Vance’s most notable accomplishment to date is the writing of a memoir at age 31…a considerable feat given he had done little to change the world for better.

His memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” embraced by Right Wingers, appears more a single-minded after-the-fact branding effort for his political ambitions than anything about his culture and ancestry.

In fact, he blames poor people in Appalachia and elsewhere for being shiftless and unwilling to pull themselves up by their bootstraps. This, of course, is simply another re-hash of an old Conservative Republican attack on the poor.

In many ways, Vance appears to think and believe more like an old white man than someone 39 years old. He’s said that married couples should stick together…no matter what…abuse is something you work through.

Also, Vance said the Democrats running the country are “a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they’ve made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too.”

In true Trump MAGA-style, rather than apologize, Vance doubled down the next day…saying he “has nothing against cats.” Like most of what he says…it backfired. Hundreds of thousands of women have registered and sent money to Kamala Harris since Vance was chosen by Trump. Republicans simply can’t help themselves.

Vance is opposed to any funding for Ukraine…aligning like Trump…against NATO and in support of Russia’s Vladimir Putin.

Vance is the prototypical MAGA Republican…lots of rants…few solutions. Vance’s biggest drawback is that he’s simply unlikeable. Listen to him talk. Is this a guy you want to sit down and get to know better? No.

Consider that former Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin – usually remembered as the worst vice president pick in history – was more popular than Vance. Republicans expecting a Hail Mary from Vance…some miracle statement or comment that is going to make him popular…are going to be disappointed.

JD Vance is like a bad boyfriend…or your drunk uncle that always says and does the wrong thing at family gatherings. You can’t toss Vance a softball without him clubbing himself with the bat. Democrats are almost giddy…waiting to see him debate Gov. Tim Walz of Minnesota, Harris’ running mate.

The smart money is on Walz to win the debate. JD Vance is everything Walz isn’t…which is a pity for him because Walz is every man’s and every woman’s favourite uncle. Vance – on the other hand – has trouble with people…whether it’s one or thousands. Last week’s stop by a donut shop in Georgia says all you need to know about Vance.

Vance: “I’m JD Vance…I’m running for vice president.”

Donut shop worker: “Okay.”

Things went downhill from there…as captured by television news cameras.

We’ve all known someone like Vance…a person who you simply cannot like…someone whose personality so cuts across the grain that you’d rather be alone than in his company.

It is curious that Vance even wants the job…after all, the MAGA crowd tried to kill his predecessor, Mike Pence, during the Jan. 6 insurrection. That should tell everyone the Vance will be the perfect Trump lapdog.

With so many against the MAGA-crowd’s extreme abortion stance, Vance is now saying he will “absolutely commit” to not imposing a Federal abortion ban.

Given he has absolutely no control on what Trump wants, says or does…that’s simply another Republican lie to avoid losing even more votes. Of course, Trump and Vance are at their best when they’re lying…their largely ignorant cult cheers them on.

Bad vice presidents often disappear quicker than they came on the scene…Spiro Agnew and Dan Quayle, for example. Vance, though, will be more like Sarah Palin…such a poor choice that he is unelectable.

Trump and Vance can and will continue to lie to their MAGA cult followers…but that’s not going to garner Independents. They are going to be in a tough spot…either alienating their rabid MAGA followers…or alienating new potential voters.

Vance not only admires, but is a follower of a Far-Right Podcaster, Curtis Yarvin, a guy with white nationalist, pro-slavery views. Vance said Americans need to “get over our dictator phobia” and he has said race determines both societal hierarchy and intelligence.

Further, Vance said universities make “worse people” and should be “destroyed”…an anarchist mantra for the past 50 years. Vance during the debate with Walz was like a slick door-to-door vacuum salesman. His sales pitch…mostly lies. Vance lies better than Trump…almost sounding believable…but they’re still lies.

A few weeks ago, 238 former staff members of the last three Republican presidential nominees – George W. Bush, John McCain and Mitt Romney – signed a public letter endorsing Kamala Harris.

Trump, Vance and the perverse MAGA cult must resort to cheating to win…something they’re more than willing to do…because they know they don’t have the votes and have no hope of getting them.

Meanwhile, Democrats are at once trying to contain their giddiness at being in a position of strength and suffering from the congenital party pessimism for which they are known.

New voters – mostly young people and women – are becoming registered Democrats by the thousands every day. Republicans on the other hand appear to be losing voters…former Republicans who can no longer accept the MAGA craziness…and even MAGA supporters who seem see the writing on the wall.

Trump – an old, decidedly unhinged hater – and Vance – an ambitious Conservative who thinks and acts like an even older white man – reflect the worst in America.

Increasingly, Americans know it.

— Don Thompson, an American awaiting Canadian citizenship, lives in Vernon and in Florida. In a career that spans more than 40 years, Don has been a working journalist, a speechwriter and the CEO of an advertising and public relations firm. A passionate and compassionate man, he loves the written word as much as fine dinners with great wines.

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