A Republican’s Perspective on the 2024 Election: The Abrupt “Shift” of J.D. Vance’s Beliefs

This piece is part of a series of articles produced in a special topics class taught by Professor of Law, Jurisprudence, and Social Thought Lawrence Douglas on the upcoming election. Articles may have been reviewed by Douglas as well as other members of the class prior to submission to The Student.

Since the vice president typically receives less attention than the president, and because right-wing media refuses to properly scrutinize J.D. Vance’s past while left-wing outlets fail to criticize him adequately, I am eager to expose the sellout he has become. Vance’s Ivy League education, inspirational upbringing of overcoming rural poverty, and exceptional debating skills could have made him a prominent politician who inspired millions of conservative college students to reject MAGA extremism — as he initially did — and usher in a new wave of sensible Republican politics. Instead, he has revealed himself to be an opportunist who has let down individuals, like myself, who admire vocal conservative voices emerging from the upper echelons of academia.

Vance’s shift can be traced back to his time at Yale, where he held more balanced beliefs, including acknowledging the existential threat of climate change. As recently as 2020, he spoke at Ohio State about society’s “climate problem,” advocating for a move away from natural gas toward a “clean energy future.” Only after receiving $283,000 from the oil and gas industry for his 2022 Senate campaign did Vance start to downplay the climate crisis, questioning the impact of human activity on global warming and supporting legislation that favors the industries he’s indebted to. Another disheartening change is his manufactured hostility toward the LGBTQ+ community. Sofia Nelson, a transgender classmate and close friend of both Vance and his wife, Usha, expressed her disappointment to The New York Times over Vance’s anti-LGBTQ+ rhetoric. She noted that their friendship was once so strong that she attended Vance’s wedding. Vance was so supportive that he even delivered home-baked treats to Nelson after her gender transition surgery — a puzzling gesture for someone who now espouses the views he claims to hold. Now, in an effort to appeal to a Republican Party that largely rejects the LGBTQ+ community, Vance has labeled queer people as “groomers,” described gender-transition surgeries as “gruesome,” and declared war on “far-left gender ideology.” Although both shifts highlight his self-betrayal, the most striking is his previous disdain for his running mate.

Vance has described Trump as an “idiot,” “reprehensible,” a “moral disaster,” “unfit for our nation’s highest office,” and even debated with a friend whether Trump was a “cynical asshole like Nixon” or “America’s Hitler.” Vance stated that he believed Trump is “cultural heroin” and “just another opioid” for middle-class America, a quote with a much deeper meaning considering his outspokenness about the opioid epidemic crippling the Rust Belt, which he experienced growing up. One of my favorite Vance quotes, which resonates with me given my belief that most MAGA supporters are well-intentioned people being manipulated by Trump, is when he said, “I cannot stand Trump because I think he’s a fraud. Well, I think he’s a total fraud that is exploiting these people.” In addition to his direct comments, Vance has indirectly endorsed similar sentiments by liking tweets that called Trump “one of the USA’s most hated, villainous, douchey celebs,” denounced Trump’s “good people on both sides” comment regarding the 2017 white supremacist rally in Charlottesville, and accused Trump of “serial sexual assault.” Furthermore, in 2016, Vance responded to Jessica Leeds’ accusation of sexual assault by saying, “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?”

In addition to questioning his character and sexual misconduct, Vance has agreed that Trump uses racism and xenophobia to manipulate Republicans into voting for him, hence why the border is one of Trump’s strongest campaign points. Vance argued that Trump was making the problem of racial resentment “worse” by talking about “rapist immigrants and banning all Muslims” as part of his message. When discussing Trump’s approach toward African Americans, he stated, “It’s not just that Donald Trump doesn’t speak to issues of special concern of minority voters or Black voters, it’s that he seems to like actively antagonizing a lot of the Black voters.” Vance is also on the record stating, “Definitely some people who voted for Trump were racist and they voted for him for racist reasons,” and that “Trump makes people I care about afraid. Immigrants, Muslims, etc. Because of this, I find him reprehensible. God wants better of us.”

When deciding who to vote for in the 2016 election, Vance stated, “I think I’m going to vote third party because I can’t stomach Trump. I think that he’s noxious and is leading the white working class to a very dark place.” Vance also told CNN’s Jake Tapper, “I’m definitely not gonna vote for Trump because I think that he’s projecting very complex problems on to simple villains,” certainly a reference to Trump’s pattern of oversimplification of the economy, border, and foreign affairs. During the election cycle, Vance described himself as a “never-Trump guy,” arguing that Trump was a “terrible candidate” and told voters they were “idiots if you voted for him.” Vance later suggested that if he believed Trump had a real chance of winning, he might “hold his nose and vote for Hillary Clinton.” Ultimately, he revealed that he voted for third-party candidate Evan McMullin, which makes me wonder if he would have voted against his current running mate had he thought Trump’s chances of winning were more legitimate. While I suppose it’s possible that Vance miraculously changed his mind about Trump, it’s much more likely he’s another phony politician who needed Trump’s endorsement to win his primary in Trump-loving Ohio.

To complement his running mate, Vance developed some reprehensible views himself. Vance has argued that women without children have “no physical commitment to the country,” said women prioritizing their career over having kids were “sad, lonely, pathetic people,” claimed that “the most deranged and psychotic people are people at home without children,” and said that teachers without children “disorient” and “really disturb” him. He has also criticized women who don’t like him as “childless cat ladies,” argued that women should stay in “violent” marriages, and disparaged Kamala Harris for only having stepchildren and no biological children. Additionally, at a 2021 rally, Vance proclaimed that women without children should have less of a vote in the country, stating, “When you go to the polls in this country, you should have more power — more of an ability to speak your voice in our democratic republic — than people who don’t have kids.” Regarding policy, in 2021, Vance suggested that individuals without children should be taxed at a higher rate than those with children to “punish the things we think are bad.” The Republican Party is supposed to be the party of limited government, and the federal government has no right to shame or financially punish women for either choosing not to, or being unable to, have children.

On the topic of abortion, Vance referred to rape and incest as “inconvenient circumstances,” arguing that victims shouldn’t have access to abortion, which he has compared to slavery, stating that “two wrongs don’t make a right.” Vance also suggested the unprecedented and unconstitutional firing of every mid-level bureaucrat, proposing to replace them with MAGA loyalists to eliminate potential opposition to Trump. As if that weren’t enough, Vance has praised Alex Jones, calling him a “truth-teller” and claiming he is “far more reputable” than CNN’s Rhodes scholar Rachel Maddow. For context, Alex Jones is a far-right conspiracy theorist who was sued for 1.5 billion dollars for falsely claiming that the Sandy Hook elementary school shooting was a hoax designed to take guns away from Americans. He alleged that the victims were actors and that no children had actually died. His false claims resulted in the torment and harassment of grieving families, including one of his followers urinating on a seven-year-old victim’s grave and threatening to dig up the coffin to prove there were no bullet holes in the boy’s body.

Finally, where Vance previously seemed to protest Trump’s racist rhetoric, he now just doubles down. He openly admitted to purposefully spreading the false story about Haitian immigrants eating pets in Springfield, Ohio, stating, “If I have to create stories so that the American media actually pays attention to the suffering of the American people, then that’s what I’m gonna do because you guys are completely letting Kamala Harris coast.”

It’s common for politicians to flip-flop on policy issues to appeal to key demographics in elections, as Kamala Harris is doing now. However, Vance has undergone a phony persona to align with the current GOP instead of courageously rivaling Trumpism. Vance publicly excuses his 180 because of Trump’s “successful” presidency, but in private, he rejected an appointment to Trump’s cabinet and messaged friends in 2020 that he believed Trump’s presidency was an economic failure. Vance only “changed” his mind on Trump when he needed his endorsement to win his Senate campaign in Trump-loving Ohio. Conservative America, which forms a vital and beautiful part of the country, deserves not only the truth but also far better representation than opportunists like Trump and Vance, who prioritize their own interests over the well-being of the party and the nation. If you’re undecided about whom to support in the 2024 election, consider this: Trump was forced to pick a new VP because his former right-hand man refused to back his attempted insurrection and won’t endorse him. In contrast, Vance is one of the few senators who publicly stated he would not have certified the 2020 election results and still refuses to denounce his running mate’s election denial, showcasing his loyalty to Trump. Vance is unrecognizable from the person he once was, and his lack of principles should concern every American about what he and Trump might do together in their pursuit of power.