Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance—who was announced as former President Donald Trump’s running mate—was at one point a staunch critic of the former president, not voting for him in 2016 and once comparing him to Hitler.
Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance was selected over Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum to serve as Trump’s running mate.
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Key Takeaways
- In an October 2016 interview with Charlie Rose, Vance said he was a “never Trump guy” and “never liked him,” just months after he told NPR he “can’t stomach Trump.”
- Vance also published an article in The Atlantic in 2016 in which he argued that while Trump “feels good” to many people, “he can’t fix America’s growing social and cultural crisis.”
- Vance published an article in the same year in The New York Times headlined “Why Trump’s Antiwar Message Resonates with White America,” in which he wrote: “Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation’s highest office.”
- Vance also suggested in 2016 he was inclined to believe a woman who accused Trump of sexual assault, saying on “Hardball with Chris Matthews”: “This is sort of he said/she said, right? And at the end of the day, do you believe Donald Trump who always tells the truth? Just kidding, or do you believe that woman on the tape?”
- Some of Vance’s most extreme criticism of Trump was made in private when he texted a former roommate: “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.”
- In a now-deleted tweet from March 2017, Vance said: “In 4 years, I hope people remember that it was those of us who empathized with Trump’s voters who fought him the most aggressively.”
- Before launching his own 2022 senatorial campaign—during which Trump endorsed him—Vance stopped his criticism of Trump, saying in 2021 he regretted “being wrong about” Trump and asking “folks not to judge me based on what I said in 2016, because I’ve been very open that I did say those critical things and I regret them.”
News Peg
Trump announced Vance as his running mate on Truth Social on Monday afternoon, saying Vance is “best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States.” Trump praised Vance’s “very successful business career in Technology and Finance” and said he will now be focused on “the people he fought so brilliantly for, the American Workers and Farmers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota, and far beyond….”
Surprising Fact
Vance voted for independent Evan McMullin in 2016, Politico reported. His tune had changed by the 2020 election, though, when he did vote for Trump.Key Background
Vance was one of three front-runners to be named Trump’s running mate, along with Florida Sen. Marco Rubio and North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum. Vance—a 39-year-old veteran of the Iraq War, a Yale-educated lawyer and former venture capitalist—was elected to the Senate two years ago after Trump endorsed him, saying Vance was “strong on the Border, tough on Crime, understands how to use Taxes and Tariffs to hold China accountable, will fight to break up Big Tech, and has been a warrior on the Rigged and Stolen Presidential Election.” Privately, Trump had said he wanted a running mate who had experience and a measured demeanor, The New York Times reported.
This article was originally published on forbes.com.
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