Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) previewed how he and former President Donald Trump are seeking to win the seven swing states ahead of the election, as the two have been campaigning separately.
The former president and Vance have rarely campaigned together at rallies since Trump selected the Ohio senator as his vice presidential candidate, largely because, as Vance explained, they are using a “divide and conquer” strategy. As the vice presidential candidate, Vance said he typically goes “wherever the campaign needs you to go,” which typically includes swing states, such as Pennsylvania, Arizona, Georgia, North Carolina, Wisconsin, Michigan, and Nevada.
“So you got two people, and you can be in two places, so you might as well do it,” Vance said on the This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von podcast. “But if we got a really big event, like, you know, the president got shot in Bucks County, or sorry, in … the first time. He got shot in Pennsylvania, and so we went out to Pennsylvania together to do a big rally, and then Elon Musk was there, in Butler, Pennsylvania. And then I was in Bucks County, Pennsylvania, like a week earlier, but that was just me. So you sort of go, some places you go together, but most of the time, we’re sort of dividing and conquering.”
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When asked about any safety concerns Vance has after the first assassination attempt against Trump, the Ohio senator said he tries not to think about it since “it’s one of these things you can’t control.”
Vance also detailed how he will return to Michigan soon, adding that he is trying to get musician Kid Rock, a Trump supporter, to join him. Theo Von suggested he was sure the musician would accept Vance’s request.
During their discussion, Vance also delved into his mother’s recovery from her drug addiction, which included “non-alcohol drugs,” such as heroin. He added that it has been “amazing” to see his mother’s recovery and that she will have been drug-free for 10 years in January 2025.
On the topic of drugs, Vance addressed how much more dangerous drugs have become in recent decades and that it is unfortunate how drugs can become “a death sentence” in some instances. He argued that while some can judge that overdose victims should not be taking drugs, he contended that “everybody takes something at some point in their lives,” and people should not die from “stupid mistakes.”
Earlier this year, Von featured Trump as a guest on his podcast. The podcaster is a favorite of the former president’s youngest son, Barron Trump. Similar to Vance, Trump discussed the topic of addiction, in which he revealed he learned from his brother, Fred Trump, not to drink alcohol or to smoke, a lesson he has passed on to his children.
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At the start of Vance’s podcast appearance, Von revealed his team had contacted both Vice President Kamala Harris and Gov. Tim Walz (D-MN), her running mate, to offer them the opportunity to appear as podcast guests, as he would “love to have them” on.
On Tuesday, it was confirmed to the Washington Examiner that Trump will appear Friday on The Joe Rogan Experience, the most popular Spotify podcast in the United States. It will mark the latest podcast Trump has appeared on in this election cycle, the first in which both presidential candidates have used podcasts to boost their outreach to voters.
