A lot has happened in the past two weeks.
There was an assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. President Joe Biden stepped out of the race. Vice President Kamala Harris stepped up. Trump picked U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance as his VP nominee. Harris is vetting hers.
While we wait to see whom Harris will pick, let’s talk about Vance. Because even for Trump, he’s an odd choice. So who is Vance, really?
As it turns out, even he doesn’t know. For starters, he’s legally changed his name three times and was only sworn in 18 months ago. It’s a remarkably low and inconsistent bar for VP qualifications, so you’re not alone if you don’t know much about him
What we do know is this. So far in his brief political tenure, Vance has proved himself MAGA to the extreme. He wants abortion to be illegal nationally. He voted against codifying access to in vitro fertilization and openly stated he’d vote against codifying marriage equality.
Vance has also publicly questioned the validity of the 2020 elections and openly declared he doesn’t care what happens in Ukraine. He wants to ban pornography, has many ties to Project 2025 and has bootlicked Trump all the way to the RNC stage. Seems like a match made in MAGA heaven, right?
Except Vance isn’t who he says he is, and it should come as no surprise why
Selecting a new vice president would always be a tall order for Trump. In 2020, he expressed support for the hanging of his former Vice President Mike Pence, so he doesn’t exactly give off vibes as a trustworthy boss.
Trump also managed to coerce, corrupt and get disbarred or jailed an astonishing number of lawyers from his legal team, again pointing to huge personal and professional risks for anyone hoping to fill Pence’s small shoes. So who would ever agree to join America’s largest grifter-in-chief given the risks?
Enter Vance, a man with precisely zero moral scruples, an ax to grind and clear narcissistic tendencies that make him fit to be only the second-worst con man on the Republican presidential ticket.
While Vance might be a MAGA fanboy these days, you needn’t look too far back to realize he’s full of baloney. In Vance’s own words, he “can’t stomach Trump.” In 2016, Vance called Trump “unfit” to hold America’s highest office. That same year he called him “America’s Hitler” and exclaimed, “My God, what an idiot.” Vance also condemned the former president saying, “I’m a never Trump guy,” right up until he needed Trump’s support to win in Ohio.
In other words, Vance flip-flops more than an overcooked pancake.
Yet it’s not only Vance’s stance on Trump that’s made a complete 180. It’s darn near everything about the man. In his bestselling book “Hillbilly Elegy,” Vance nostalgically claims he’s from Appalachia. He paints a rich family history to resonate with rural Americans. Except locals say he’s not from there.
Vance has also talked smack about working women while his wife is a high-powered lawyer from Yale. At the same time, he pushes dangerous talking points on immigration when his inlaws are immigrants.
The man is a walking set of contradictions, and he might as well have “Will sell soul for power” tattooed across his forehead.
This raises the question of which Vance voters would get if they elected him vice president. Would conservatives get the rump-kissing MAGA enthusiast, or will Vance’s willingness to flip-flop again cause disappointment in his base? Will moderate voters hold their noses as they did for Trump in 2016, only to elect a wannabe dictator a second time? If Vance is willing to do or say anything to get power, how can anyone possibly trust what he says or who he is?
Picking Vance and his long, complicated history is yet one more sign of Trump’s incompetence to lead our nation. Americans deserve better than a VP who will shapeshift at even the lightest breeze. Especially given Trump’s age and health, are voters really willing to gamble their future on the polar opposite of Honest Abe?
For everyone’s sake, let’s hope not.
Trish Zornio is a scientist, lecturer and writer who has worked at some of the nation’s top universities and hospitals. She’s an avid rock climber and was a 2020 candidate for the U.S. Senate in Colorado.
The Colorado Sun is a nonpartisan news organization, and the opinions of columnists and editorial writers do not reflect the opinions of the newsroom. Read our ethics policy for more on The Sun’s opinion policy. Learn how to submit a column. Reach the opinion editor at opinion@coloradosun.com.
Follow Colorado Sun Opinion on Facebook.