When Sen. J.D. Vance accepted the GOP vice presidential nomination in Milwaukee on Wednesday, it was a long way from an Ohio stage where he stood two years ago to defend his change of heart about Donald Trump.
But his explanation at that March 2022 debate for why he’d gone from opposing Trump to being an outspoken supporter is serving him now as a perfect rejoinder to critics unhappy with Trump’s selection.
And his words are something that should be heard by every Republican who thinks Vance isn’t loyal enough, every Republican who opposed Trump before his presidency — and even the NeverTrumpers who oppose him now.
The question arose during a March 2022 primary debate, where Vance stood with four rivals for the GOP Senate nomination.
In the context of the candidates seeking Trump’s endorsement in the race, a moderator asked Vance to square his position supporting Trump with scathing comments Vance had made about Trump six and seven years earlier.
Vance’s response boiled down to: “I was wrong.”
“I’ve been very public about the fact that I voted for the president in 2020, that I was wrong about the president back in 2015-2016, and that he’s been the greatest president of my lifetime, for the very simple reason — there are many, but one very important reason — is that he revealed the corruption in Washington, D.C.”
Check out the video here:
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Vance cited other reasons for his change of view — his personal life has changed with his baptism into the Catholic church, and he and his wife have had three children.
Was J.D. Vance the right choice for Trump’s VP?
Yes: 99% (67 Votes)
No: 1% (1 Votes)
And he’s simply older now, presumably wiser, and has had the experience — along with the rest of the country — of seeing what Donald Trump can do in the White House — and the extent his enemies would go to stop him.
And those are solid reasons for anyone who wasn’t a Trump supporter during the 2016 primary race to have supported him in 2020 — and to support him now.
There’s a reason even liberal polls (like one by The New York Times, of all places) show Americans remember the Trump years fondly. Discounting the COVID pandemic and the George Floyd riots, it was a time of peace and prosperity.
The economy was roaring, unemployment was low, and the now-war ravaged Middle East was seeing glimmering signs of real peace with the Trump-brokered Abraham Accords.
It’s also worth noting that neither COVID nor the death of a drug-addicted Minneapolis counterfeiting suspect were Trump’s responsibility, but Democrats and radical leftists used both shamelessly as weapons against both Trump and the American people.
The machinations of the deep state were revealed in the form of now-former FBI Director James Comey’s blatant partisanship in attacking Trump (along with retired Army Gen. Michael Flynn, Trump’s first national security advisor and a host of others in Trump’s orbit).
The first Trump impeachment was on a charge so ludicrous it’s barely remembered (hint: It had a lot to do with Trump’s interest in — and Democrats covering for — the criminal lifestyle of Hunter Biden, Joe Biden’s abuse of power as vice president, and the corruption-ridden country of Ukraine).
Its main impact was that it showed the country how petty Trump’s political opponents are, and how relentless.
The mainstream media also disgraced itself to an almost unimaginable degree chasing fraudulent Pulitzer Prizes for reporting on the “Russia collusion” hoax, and endlessly hyperventilating about the “walls closing in” on Trump. (It’s an energy Washington reporters haven’t shown when it comes to covering the Biden administration, oddly enough.)
All of that — and there was plenty more — was visible to anyone who cared to look, and J.D. Vance apparently cared to look.
He sought and won Trump’s endorsement in the 2022 GOP Senate primary in Ohio, which likely propelled him to his narrow victory.
Now, he’s Trump’s official running mate in Trump’s effort to return to the White House. Trump opponents — Republicans and otherwise — could learn something from Vance’s words in 2022.
Trump supporters — who might think Vance is not loyal enough — could learn something, too.
Experience is the best teacher. And in this case, the lessons are clear.
