It’s long been known that J.D. Vance was a skeptic of Donald Trump before he became a supporter, a Trump-allied U.S. senator, and now Trump’s running mate. When Vance was first promoting his memoir Hillbilly Elegy, he made clear in interviews that he didn’t think Trump was good for the rural white voters who were the subject of his book.
Now, a newly released cache of text messages from Vance makes clear what he thought about his future running mate during the 2020 election cycle, when Vance was a public figure but had not yet run for office.
The Washington Post obtained messages that Vance sent to an acquaintance via the then-Twitter’s direct messaging function throughout Trump’s final year as president. The Post stated that they received the messages from the unidentified recipient. The newspaper stated that while Vance claims to have been converted to a Trump supporter because of Trump’s accomplishments in office, his messages at the time indicated that he remained a Trump skeptic as late as 2020.
“Trump has just so thoroughly failed to deliver on his economic populism (excepting a disjointed China policy),” Vance told his acquaintance in February of that year. Later that year, he also shared that he expected Trump to lose.
Stay up-to-date with the latest news!
Subscribe and start recieving our daily emails.
In August, the Post had reported on old texts between Vance and the far-right conspiracy theorist Charles Johnson, a prominent figure around the time of Trump’s election.
The messages also have Vance hinting, in a 2020 message, that he had been offered and rejected a position in the Trump administration, something not previously disclosed.
Vance also made clear, in the 2020 messages, that he was no COVID skeptic.
“I’m sympathetic to the idea that there’s a lot of long-term economic damage being done. But it’s always draped in this bizarre desire to pretend the virus itself isn’t a problem.”
In DMs unearthed by @PeteJamison, JD Vance observed how the right downplayed the risks of covid while criticizing mitigation measures.
“It’s always draped in this bizarre desire to pretend the virus itself isn’t a problem” pic.twitter.com/xcRSztN8sZ
— Fenit Nirappil (@FenitN) September 27, 2024
The Post reports are not to be confused with another story this week about J.D. Vance’s past views. Journalist Ken Klippenstein, on Substack, this week published when he called “The J.D. Vance Dossier,” Described as “a 271-page research paper the Trump campaign prepared to vet now vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance,” the document was reportedly obtained through hacking by the Iranian government and offered to the media, who until Klippenstein had declined to publish it.
The dossier mostly consists of Vance’s past statements that were critical of Trump, while it did not note any of the statements Vance has made about “childless cat ladies” or believe such things could hurt him politically.
Ken Klippenstein publishes the hacked JD Vance dossier and is immediately suspended by Twitter/X for publishing private information.
I’m old enough to remember when free speech zealot Elon Musk was outraged by Twitter’s censorship. pic.twitter.com/LfWmqr6Rn2
— Seth Hettena (@seth_hettena) September 26, 2024
For linking to that post, Klippenstein had his account banned by X.
Featured image via screengrab/YouTube
