The Memo: ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ author ties up with Trump after past criticism

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JD Vance, the bestselling author, was once a harsh critic of former President Trump Donald Trump More than 535 indictments six months after riot on January 6: Pennsylvania Department of Justice dentist and Trump associate accused of fumbling patient TikTok names longtime Microsoft employee top US lawyer MORE.

Now, as a candidate for the Republican nomination for the Ohio Senate, he is a huge fan of Trump.

How and why Vance swung from post to post is a hot topic of debate just days after Hillbilly Elegy author declared his candidacy for the vacant seat by Sen. Rob Portman Robert (Rob) Jones Portman McConnell swears ” The Hell of a Fight ‘Over Biden’s Infrastructure Plan Biden’s Political Challenge: Providing Infrastructure and Satisfying the Base The Hill’s Morning Report – 2024 GOPers Goal: Go Cautiously, Don’t Bother Trump MORE (R-Ohio) .

This debate, in turn, is a window into the current state of the Republican Party, torn by tensions over the 45th President and the shadow he casts.

Vance declared his candidacy for the Senate on Thursday.

Shortly thereafter, CNN uncovered old tweets in which he called Trump objectionable regarding his policy on immigrants, Muslims, etc. In another tweet from the same year, 2016, Vance said he would vote for an independent candidate, Evan McMullin, rather than Trump or Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton Hillary Diane Rodham Clinton Gabriel Shipton said his brother Julian Assange had been ” crushed from the inside “. Five big questions on the January 6 select committee, Marianne Williamson calls on Biden to abandon his efforts to extradite Assange PLUS.

Vance, who more recently became a regular Fox News guest, gave the network a penitent interview on Monday.

I ask people not to judge me based on what I said in 2016, because I have been very open that I said these critical things and I regret them, and I regret doing so. ‘being cheated on the guy, Vance said.

However, those comments were not enough to calm the storm.

Tuesday drew new attention to Vances’ record on Trump. There was a USA Today column by Vance in early 2016, in which he wrote that Trump’s real policy proposals, as they stand, range from the immoral to the absurd. “

In another story that year, this time from The Atlantic, the bestselling author described Trump as cultural heroine to otherwise marginalized voters.

It reassures some a little. But he cannot fix what is afflicting them, and one day they will find out, Vance said then.

The difference between Vance Then and Vance Now is huge.

Her Twitter feed over the past week featured support for stricter voting laws, a mockery of the Biden administration’s actions on gender identity, and complaints about positions taken by company executives. in general and Big Tech in particular.

It is, in a nutshell, Trumpy.

As for Vances’ views on the former president himself?

After winning [in 2016], I rethought my opposition, Vance wrote in Newsweek in March.

What separated Donald Trump from other Republicans in my lifetime was not just his populist-inspired political agenda, it was his fearlessness.

The problem for the new Senate candidate is at least threefold.

First, it looks like Vance has cowardly changed his tone for political convenience.

Second, this in turn undermines his greatest asset, the supposed authenticity that stems directly from his hardscrabble past in Middletown, Ohio.

Third, if even someone like Vance can’t get their blue-collar workers in good faith to be accepted by GOP voters without a conspicuous display of loyalty to Trump, what does that say about the state of the party?

Critics, both among the liberals and the conservatives, are on the increase.

The question comes down to this: Was JD Vance lying then or is he lying now? Rick Wilson, the GOP strategist who is one of the driving forces behind the anti-Trump Lincoln project, said Tuesday. Vance is in many ways a signifier of a post-ideological Republican Party. He doesn’t believe in anything. He believes in gaining and maintaining power.

The day before David AxelrodDavid AxelrodPsaki “will probably stay longer” than a year as White House press secretary House Democrats in Schumer: vote again on January 6. Poll Amash warns of turning lawmakers like Cheney into “heroes” MORE, the former Obama aide, tweeted a link to Vances’ expression of contrition for his criticism of Trump.

The heavy toll of ambition, noted Axelrod.

Vance’s aides and allies strongly reject this story.

In particular, they oppose the idea that Vance hid his previous objections to Trump.

Three different pro-Vance sources pointed out in this column that the author has repeatedly spoken about his shift.

They also objected to the emphasis in the CNN article that Vance had deleted the anti-Trump tweets. Many old tweets have been deleted, his allies say, including many that had no Trump-related or even political relevance.

Taylor Van Kirk, the Vances campaign press secretary, said: JD routinely deletes all of his tweets, political or not. He’s very open about his past comments on the president.

She added: He was an enthusiastic supporter and advocate of President Trump and his policies in 2020. We look forward to the next dump of opposition from our opponents and Project Lincoln.

He didn’t try to hide it, a spokesperson for a super-PAC supporting Vances’ candidacy told this column about his past dissent from Trump. That’s what bothers me about this story. He’s been talking about it openly for months.

The argument made by Vances’ allies is that he just wasn’t convinced Trump was real when he first ran. In this version of events, it was Trump’s pugnacity in the face of Democratic and media antagonism that appealed to Vance.

The super-PAC spokesperson said Vance has always been an immigration restrictive and has always been a business skeptic. His views have been Trumpy for much longer than anyone else. He’s always been a social conservative, he’s always been pro-life.

Another Vance ally with close ties to Trump World argued that Vances’ turn to the former president was real, and the sort of thing Trump loyalists should admire.

JD Vance is no different than a million other conservative commentators who were hesitant at first but were later seduced by Trump. Isn’t that what we want to win people over to our side? said this ally. Those of us who are true Trump followers should never challenge someone who has had a genuine conversion.

The same source insisted that probably more than any other Senate candidate in the country, Vance is 100% with us in the Trumps America First political agenda.

None of this will convince the Never Trump faction within conservatism, which views Vance as a pure opportunist.

It is a quivering mass of ambition. Unfortunately, he’s now playing a role that’s not very authentic, said Lucy Caldwell, a strategist who served as campaign manager for former Rep Joe WalshJoe WalshJoe Walsh says the radio show was canceled due to the criticism of Trump. Republicans? GOP lawmakers mourn the death of long-term Rush Limbaugh MOREs (R-Ill.) Candidacy for the 2020 GOP nomination.

Will Ohio voters see it the same way?

Vance is a big name but he also faces several rivals, the most prominent being former state treasurer Josh Mandel.

But even a glance at the first sentence of Mandels’ short biography on Twitter is a reminder that the biggest name in the race isn’t on the ballot.

The first Ohio state official to support President Trump, he said.

The Memo is a column published by Niall Stanage.

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