During a town hall event on Thursday, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) struck a tone rarely seen on the 2024 campaign trail when he asked citizens not to let their political beliefs completely affect their relationships.
Former President Donald Trump’s running mate began by speaking about the harsh rhetoric used in the lead-up to Election Day, saying, “We’ve got to be better at communicating and talking to one another.” He shared his concern with censorship and not listening to people who share another viewpoint. “The idea that we should be trying to silence our fellow Americans rather than persuade them and talk to them,” he added.
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It was afterward, however, that Vance appealed to voters regarding how they interact with the people in their lives during a heated political moment.
“And one final point I’ll say about this. You know, don’t get too personal all the time. … One of the things I’ve seen, especially from some of my wife’s friends and some of my friends, is they disagree with us on politics — sometimes they’ll get very personal about it,” the Ohio Republican said.
“If you’re discarding a lifelong friendship because somebody votes for the other team, then you’ve made a terrible, terrible mistake and you should do something different,” he added. “Don’t cast aside — most of my family obviously is going to vote for Donald Trump and J.D. Vance, and if they’re not, actually, I need to talk to them. But I’ve got friends who like me personally, acquaintances who aren’t necessarily going to vote for me. That doesn’t make them bad people.”
“And you can’t — this is my important advice: Whether you vote for me, whether you vote for Donald Trump, whether you vote for Kamala Harris, don’t cast aside family members and lifelong friendships. Politics is not worth it. And I think, if we follow this principle, we heal the divide in this country,” he said.
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Harris and Democrats have repeatedly called Trump a “threat to Democracy,” a claim that many Republicans have said has led to increased hostility toward him and even threats against his life. Trump, for his part, has taken aim at Harris and Democrats, too, referring to them as “the enemy” and even questioning the sanity of some voters who would choose not to vote for him.
Vance’s earnest appeal to the public appears to be an attempt to override the vitriol and paint the GOP as the party willing to look past political disagreements to promote unity.
