Isn’t Russia already in a quagmire trying to govern Russia? I thought that was one reason for the aggression against Ukraine in the first place.
Reasons?
Good news: opportunity not missed.
I don’t think the anti-Trump statements will hurt him. He has already explained how he changed his mind. He also may have some sway in the Rust Belt. I still think his weakness is among women. Also still wondering how he appears close to Trump’s height when he is about six inches shorter.
I’m trying to think how this could possibly true.
Maybe if Trump is truly going to pivot to the center — and it would not be like him to stay there long — it was smart to shore up his base before he takes a small risk of alienating it.
Then there’s the multi-dimensional chess possibility. If Trump had picked an unthreatening suburban mom, that bounce, on top of the moderate acceptance speech bounce, and the being shot bounce, might have been so great that the Democrats would have somehow forced Biden out, and then run a candidate Trump would have trouble beating. Trump couldn’t risk it!
Have I gotten it? Or Is there some other tactical brilliance I missed?
If he’s 5’7", most of the men in this clip are barely 5’0". Or he’s wearing six inch lifts.
For those arguing that Vance was a bad choice because he is just as far right as Trump and so doesn’t bring in any new voters, I would say that this was a forgone conclusion. There is no way that Trump was going to team with anyone with the slightest hint of moderation. He tried that with Pence and look what happened. He was only ever going to pick someone who was on the exact same page as Trump with regard to fascist authoritarianism.
Did Vance ever actually oppose Trump? I mean, sure, he said that Trump was America’s Hitler. But did he ever say that he considered that a bad thing?
OK, apparently the Trump campaign is upset about the height thing and wants google to correct the height. Vance has also apparently described himself as tall which he would not have done if he was 5’7”. I am thinking he is closer to 6’3” or 6’4”.
Why does this matter? It’s because when standing or sitting next to each other Vance looms over Trump which makes Trump appear smaller and therefore weaker. Trump appears much older and less vigorous next to Vance.
Yes, in 2016, he made several clearly anti-Trump statements.
https://www.politico.com/news/2024/07/15/jd-vance-donald-trump-comments-00168450
Speculation on my part of course but I see Vance as somewhat more charismatic than Trump with the women. His wife is brown which may help and he is a much better speaker. I see him as having a higher visiblity than most VP’s.
I predicted a while back that Trump wouldn’t pick anyone whose name he couldn’t spell. And I was right! He might have trouble with “Vance,” but even Trump can spell “J.D.”
Re: the women’s vote—women who are concerned with abortion access to the extent that it decides their vote were not going to vote Trump anyway, were they?
I don’t think we should underestimate the number of women with severe internalized misogyny from the ambient culture, and the number of women who (like my late rust-belt cousin) want nothing more than to be taken care of by a man. Just because I find that appalling (and also an example of internalized misogyny) doesn’t mean it’s not a thing.
(That’s not to say I care what decision any given couple makes: it’s people like my cousin who made the decision to be “taken care of” unilaterally, and then searched for men accordingly.)
Other than the non-white wife, that description would apply to almost every American.
The picture in this article shows Vance to be a little taller than Trump. Trump pretends to be 6’3”. Vance probably is around 6’3”.
At least Kid Rock doesn’t have a stupid name like J.D.
Summary
From what I’ve heard the first thing he tells people when he meets them is “Call me Bob.”
Yeah, we women are gonna love him.
JD Vance said people need to be more willing to stay in unhappy marriages for the sake of their kids—and seemed to suggest that in some cases, “even violent” marriages should continue
Women like you, probably not. Conservative women? I don’t know.
I would hope that women wouldn’t vote for Vance just because they find him good-looking. But then, I would also hope the same for men voting for the likes of Sarah Palin, Marjorie Taylor Greene, or Lauren Boebert, but I’ve heard of it anyway.
It’s not just that. There are many - possibly millions - of American women who are in unhappy relationships who stay together because of their children. A man comes along and tells them they’re doing the right thing. Will many of them support him for it? I think they will.
People tend to vote for people who tell them to do what they were going to do anyway.