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   From: pothead@snakebite.com   
      
   . D. Vance Can't Stop Saying the Dumbest Things Imaginable   
   Portrait of Matt Stieb By Matt Stieb, Intelligencer staff writer   
   Updated July 29, 2024   
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   231 Comments   
   Trump JD Vance Republican National Convention RNC   
   Photo: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post/Getty Images   
      
   At a late-night dinner at Mar-a-Lago days before the Republican National   
   Convention, Donald Trump Jr. made the case for his father to pick J. D.   
   Vance as his vice-president. "I think I've seen him on TV, " Trump Jr.   
   said, recalling the conversation with CNN. "I've seen him prosecute the   
   case against the Democrats. I think no one's more articulate than that. "   
      
   But less than two weeks after Vance's nomination at the RNC, the bet on   
   Vance is looking way riskier than it did back when Joe Biden was the   
   nominee — a political reality that, somehow, was just over a week ago.   
      
   Vance's faltering image in recent days boils down to two basic factors:   
   questionable things he said in the past and weird things he is saying right   
   now. Republicans always knew that Vance — who called Trump "America's   
   Hitler" in 2017 — would bring some political baggage with him. Perhaps they   
   underestimated the weight.   
      
   Vance's moody blogging from the 2000s has been only mildly embarrassing. In   
   2005, he wrote of a day in which he "felt more like a female than I ever   
   have or will" because he was emotional — too emotional, in fact, to watch   
   Garden State. Intriguingly hung up on the gender thing, he later described   
   his blog as "like a diary, only far more masculine. "   
      
   On Saturday, the New York Times revealed a number of views Vance had   
   expressed, prior to his MAGA transformation, in private correspondence with   
   a now former friend from law school. Many of Vance's comments stand in   
   stark contrast with his more recent political rhetoric. In a 2016 email,   
   Vance apologized to the friend, who is trans, for describing them as   
   lesbian in his book. In 2014, after Michael Brown was killed by a police   
   officer in Ferguson, Missouri, Vance said, "I hate the police. " And he   
   suggested, when discussing Trump's anti-Muslim campaign rhetoric in 2015,   
   that Trump was a "demagogue" who was "willing to exploit the people who   
   believe crazy shit. " In a 2016 message, he also wrote that, "The more   
   white people feel like voting for Trump, the more Black people will suffer.   
   I really believe that. "   
      
   Vance's most ill-met comments over the past week have been more recent and   
   involved reproductive health, a political front that is a huge liability   
   for his party's electoral chances since the Dobbs decision. New audio was   
   released on Thursday of Vance saying that he wanted a "federal response" to   
   women traveling across state lines for an abortion. (Previously he has said   
   that he wants a national ban on abortion. ) Another quote of Vance's has   
   been going around, in which he said in 2021 that Democrats are a "bunch of   
   childless cat ladies with miserable lives. " People responded to the   
   resurfaced comment by sharing stories of their own challenges becoming   
   parents. Transportation secretary Pete Buttigieg discussed a   
   "heartbreaking" setback in his adoption process and that Vance "couldn't   
   have known that, but maybe that's why you shouldn't be talking about other   
   people's children. "   
      
   Vance then spent an entire news cycle doubling-down and fake-apologizing   
   for the cat lady comments.   
      
   Vance tries to clean up "childless cat ladies" comments via @megynkelly   
   "This comment that I made was actually motivated in part by a conversation   
   I had with my wife... she was talking about this incredible professional   
   pressure to not have kids because it set back her... https: //t.   
   co/c6MO0p7Z6u pic. twitter. com/uojxEmbEfY   
   — Alex Thompson (@AlexThomp) July 26, 2024   
      
   Putting aside his past comments and his habit of following online figures   
   with loathsome beliefs, Vance is making new problems for himself in the   
   present, too. It's difficult to exactly quantify this, but J. D. Vance does   
   not have any swag at all. Look how bad his joke about soda and racism   
   bombed at a rally in his hometown on Monday.   
      
   Vance: I had a Diet Mountain Dew yesterday and one today. I'm sure they   
   will call that racist. pic. twitter. com/z3ra8Y5F2f   
   — Acyn (@Acyn) July 22, 2024   
      
   For some indiscernible reason, the campaign also recorded a video of Vance   
   describing his Diet Mountain Dew stock backstage at a rally in Virginia.   
      
   An unusual coalition has emerged to call out Vance's off-putting nature.   
   The Wall Street Journal editorial board hit the VP pick for coming out of   
   the gate so poorly — a view reflected by owner Rupert Murdoch, who lobbied   
   against putting Vance on the ticket. So did fellow media magnate Dave   
   Portnoy. On the day of the big pile-on, the Barstool Sports founder   
   commented on a clip in which Vance suggested that parents and non-parents   
   should be taxed differently. "You want me to pay more taxes to take care of   
   other people's kids? " Portnoy wrote. "We sure this dude is a Republican?   
   Sounds like a moron. If you can't afford a big family don't have a ton of   
   kids. " Democrats have also taken advantage of the anti-Vance momentum,   
   repeatedly describing him as "weird" on TV appearance. Vance is so bad at   
   this that he tweeted out the "weird" allegation, drawing attention to the   
   attack.   
      
   With an entirely new election now that Harris is the (presumptive)   
   Democratic nominee, Republicans are already questioning the Trump-Vance   
   ticket. "He was the worst choice of all the options. It was so bad I didn't   
   even think it was possible, " one House Republican complained to The Hill.   
   "I think if you were to ask many people around this building, nine out of   
   ten on our side would say he's the wrong pick, " said another. "He's the   
   only person who can do serious damage. "   
      
   --- SoupGate-Win32 v1.05   
    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)