# Do you believe our Presidency would be more normal if JD Vance takes the office? **URL:** \ **Category:** Politics & Elections\ **Tags:** trump\ **Created:** [October 14, 2026, 12:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817 "2026-10-14T00:39:47Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 19\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![solost](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/solost/32/11776_2.png) [@solost](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/solost)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 2:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817/41 "2026-10-14T14:14:18Z")
Well, but I believe there are two aspects of the Republican Party, both evil in their own way. There’s trump’s complete takeover of the party, with all his attendant dictatorish insanity. As absolutely batshit awful as all that is, it’s kind of a distraction from the real Repub agenda. Then there’s the Republican Party of the 1% and of Project 2025. trump is somewhat in line with their aims, but he’s a loose cannon. Any next Republican President, whether Vance manages to be elected, or some other, will appear sane and ‘normal’, while quietly and diligently working to execute the Project 2025 playbook and the wishes of billionaires like Musk and Thiel. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 2:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817/42 "2026-10-14T14:23:06Z")
> [@Loach](#): > > I do believe our foreign policy would be considerably better. What’s more important, policy or democracy? Of course, it depends on what the policy is. Kamala Harris wouldn’t agree to what I’m saying now, when out of power, but in the Biden administration, Harris [was an Iran hawk.](https://www.cnbc.com/2024/10/08/harris-iran-greatest-adversary-trump-election.html) Some progressives would prefer Vance’s policy there to Harris’s. Vance would be more consistently anti-Ukraine than Trump. His policy on Israel is harder to predict. As for Vance’s rhetoric being less divisive than Trump, that is a low bar. His rhetoric towards immigrants would still be hair-raising to me. Remember the repeated outrageous claims about Haitians eating pets. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 2:30pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817/43 "2026-10-14T14:30:40Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Would JD be a better, more rational President compared to Trump More rational, yes. Whether a more rational totalitarian would be an improvement is another question. He might actually be more effective at establishing totalitarianism. ---
**Author:** ![Loach](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/loach/32/350_2.png) [@Loach](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Loach)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 2:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817/44 "2026-10-14T14:39:13Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > As for Vance’s rhetoric being less divisive than Trump, that is a low bar. His rhetoric towards immigrants would still be hair-raising to me. Remember the repeated outrageous claims about Haitians eating pets. This is of course purely conjecture at this point. I think there wouldn’t be much of this anymore. He’s an obsequious little shit who wants to please his boss. He also knows that Trump will turn on anyone in a second if he’s not pandered to. Once there is no Trump to pander to he won’t make stupid comments like this. There will still be stupid comments but not like that. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 7:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817/45 "2026-10-14T19:45:19Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > Vance would be more consistently anti-Ukraine than Trump. What is the evidence for this? ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 9:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817/46 "2026-10-14T21:35:18Z")
Vance, sadly, is somewhat intelligent. As I said earlier, with a true ignoramus like Trump, you can occasionally fool him into doing the right thing. But when a smart guy like Vance opposes Ukraine, it means he’s thought it out and knows what he’s doing, and won’t be talked out of it. ---
**Author:** ![Odesio](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/odesio/32/20003_2.png) [@Odesio](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Odesio)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 9:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817/47 "2026-10-14T21:52:20Z")
The presidency can’t help but be more normal under anyone who isn’t Donald J. Trump. Vance doesn’t really stand for anything nor does he have Trump’s \<🤮\> charisma, so I don’t think he can control the Republicans to nearly as successful a degree. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 14, 2026, 11:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817/48 "2026-10-14T23:52:28Z")
> [@DrDeth](#): > > > [@PhillyGuy](#): > > > > Vance would be more consistently anti-Ukraine than Trump. > > What is the evidence for this? 2022 according to Politico: [Just after Russia invaded Ukraine in February 2022, Vance, then a candidate for U.S. Senate, said: “I gotta be honest with you, I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another.”](https://www.politico.eu/article/jd-vance-europe-russia-ukraine-donald-trump-kyiv-vp-pick-policy-us-elections-ohio-aid-war/) 2024 according to ABC News: [“I do not think that it is in America’s interest to continue to fund an effectively never-ending war in Ukraine,” Vance said during a speech in May, adding “we’ve done more than our fair share.”](https://abcnews.com/Politics/trumps-vp-pick-vance-opposes-us-aid-ukraine/story?id=112036938) 2026 according to the Kyiv Independent: [“It’s one of the things I’m proudest… we’ve told **Europe** that if you want to buy weapons, you can, but the U.S. is not buying weapons and sending them to Ukraine anymore,” Vance **said** at a Turning Point event.](https://kyivindependent.com/jd-vance-brags-about-halting-ukraine-aid/) ---
**Author:** ![DeadTreasSecretaries](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/deadtreassecretaries/32/4817_2.png) [@DeadTreasSecretaries](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DeadTreasSecretaries)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 12:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817/49 "2026-10-15T00:49:16Z")
> [@solost](#): > > Then there’s the Republican Party of the 1% and of Project 2025. trump is somewhat in line with their aims, but he’s a loose cannon. Any next Republican President, whether Vance manages to be elected, or some other, will appear sane and ‘normal’, while quietly and diligently working to execute the Project 2025 playbook and the wishes of billionaires like Musk and Thiel. The places where Trump has hurt this group or failed to help them are either cases where he made stupid decisions that hurt them along with everyone else, or things that would require nuking the filibuster. Trump has shown that the appearing sane has little to no political value in modern American politics. Bully tactics and lawlessness from the executive branch are more effective, and part of those bully tactics involves public intimidation. Maybe there’s a third path where that involves simple majority legislation but I don’t see that as a greater risk with Vance than Trump. Plus Vance can’t magic away the economic pessimism coming from Trump’s policies any more than Biden could with the post-covid inflation. Trump’s unpopularity now is primarily a function of people not being happy that cost of living keeps rising and blaming the president. Trump at least has his 30% bitterenders but I don’t think Vance even has that. ---
**Author:** ![Wesley\_Clark](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wesley_clark/32/20581_2.png) [@Wesley\_Clark](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Wesley_Clark)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 12:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817/50 "2026-10-15T00:53:47Z")
very much so. Trump is a level of evil and corrupt that goes beyond normal limits. I won’t agree with Vances policies but I don’t see Vance trying to subvert democracy wholesale, accepting bribes, raping children, admiring dictators, being wildly incompetent, committing treason, being a felon, being dangerously mentally ill, etc. vance deep inside knows trump is stupid and evil, which is good. it shows self awareness. it also shows a lack of backbone, but it shows awareness most republican voters lack. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 1:25am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817/51 "2026-10-15T01:25:30Z")
> [@Wesley\_Clark](#): > > I won’t agree with Vances policies but I don’t see Vance trying to subvert democracy wholesale, accepting bribes, raping children, admiring dictators, being wildly incompetent, committing treason, being a felon, being dangerously mentally ill, etc. Agree on the raping children. I also agree on the treason, but only because I think aiding and comforting the enemy only applies if Congress votes a declaration of war against said enemy. JD supports all Europe’s far right parties including the National Rally in France and AfD in Germany. He makes endorsements in European elections. Trump isn’t forcing that. It’s the real Vance. Robert Reich in the Guardian: [JD Vance is the handpicked leader of the anti-democracy movement in the US](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2024/oct/03/jd-vance-anti-democracy-movement-leader) > [@](#): > > Trump picked Vance as his running mate because Vance publicly stated he’d do what Mike Pence refused to do – overturn democracy and place the US under Maga control. The danger with Vance is that he’s at least as anti-democracy as Trump, but because he talks a little more calmly, a lot of voters will wrongly see him as a safer choice. One doesn’t know for sure unless or until he gets the top job, but I think Vance is roughly as inclined to be a strongman as is Trump. ---
**Author:** ![PhillyGuy](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/ed655f/32.png) [@PhillyGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PhillyGuy)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 1:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817/52 "2026-10-15T01:50:09Z")
Re Vance probably not being personally corrupt: Yes, but I’m guessing that maybe half of vile strongman leaders are not personnaly corrupt. I haven’t heard that Xi Jinping is getting rich. Narendra Modi isn’t as bad as Xi, but he’s another democratic backslider who seems to live frugally. The Portuguese dictator of my youth, António de Oliveira Salazar, lived frugally. Same with Park Chung-hee in South Korea. Juan Perón didn’t steal, or not much. A clean authoritarian may be harder to defeat in elections, and that’s what Vance seems to be. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 2:24am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817/53 "2026-10-15T02:24:41Z")
> [@Smapti](#): > > Which raises the question of what he would actually do if/when he _is_ the daddy figure. What whoever he gloms onto next wants. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817/54 "2026-10-15T02:30:28Z")
As president, it would be people wanting to glom onto him, not vice versa. ---
**Author:** ![DrDeth](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/b487fb/32.png) [@DrDeth](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DrDeth)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 2:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817/55 "2026-10-15T02:38:24Z")
> [@PhillyGuy](#): > > 2022 according to Politico: Pretty solid cites. ---
**Author:** ![romansperson](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/romansperson/32/17100_2.png) [@romansperson](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/romansperson)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 2:58am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817/56 "2026-10-15T02:58:39Z")
I read _Hillbilly Elegy_. He’s spent his life as a lost little boy, searching for someone’s approval. As far as I can tell, he has no real beliefs or principles of his own. I don’t think that’s going to change. It’s just a question of who that will be next. ---
**Author:** ![Smapti](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/smapti/32/17938_2.png) [@Smapti](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Smapti)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 5:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817/57 "2026-10-15T05:00:43Z")
> [@romansperson](#): > > As far as I can tell, he has no real beliefs or principles of his own. The dude faked a religious conversion because he was sure Tradcaths were gonna be the Next Big Thing. Whatever actual beliefs or values he has, he’s willing to compromise any and all of them in pursuit of personal power, which makes me wonder what he’d do if he actually became the biggest dog in the yard and didn’t have to kiss up to a bigger kid. ---
**Author:** ![Velocity](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/velocity/32/18006_2.png) [@Velocity](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Velocity)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817/58 "2026-10-15T06:17:03Z")
If Vance became the biggest dog in the yard, he would still have to kiss up to whichever faction was most important for his power. Even in regimes like North Korea, the dictator’s survival depends on what people around him think. Vance would keep extending his antennae to sense which way the wind was blowing and which trend was likeliest to extend his power or end it. ---
**Author:** ![The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/the_other_waldo_pepper/32/12370_2.png) [@The\_Other\_Waldo\_Pepper](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/The_Other_Waldo_Pepper)\ **Post date:** [October 15, 2026, 9:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817/59 "2026-10-15T09:26:09Z")
This is, uh, _fun,_ I guess — like reducing a badly-written character to a single predictable response — but: isn’t a person typically more than one ruling passion dictating all of their decisions? Don’t we often find _ourselves_ weighing different competing factors as we internally waver over which choice to make, and isn’t that pretty much the human condition? [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/do-you-believe-our-presidency-would-be-more-normal-if-jd-vance-takes-the-office/1033817.md?page=2)