Trump selects JD Vance as his running mate

JD Vance, Trump’s VP pick, once
called him a ‘moral disaster,’
and possibly ‘America’s Hitler’

JD Vance, Trump’s VP pick, once called him a ‘moral disaster,’
and possibly ‘America’s Hitler’

Republican vice presidential candidate Sen. JD Vance

Donald Trump’s vice presidential pick Ohio Sen. JD Vance was once a critic of Trump.

In private messages, he wondered if Trump was “America’s Hitler”.  

In public, he agreed Trump was a “total fraud” who didn’t care about ordinary people.

After the “Access Hollywood” tape was published in 2016, he tweeted“Fellow Christians, everyone is watching us when we apologize for this man. Lord help us.” 

Trump selects Ohio Sen. JD Vance as his running mate

Vance liked tweets that said Trump committed “serial sexual assault,” and called him “one of USA’s most hated, villainous, douchey celebs.” 

By 2020, Vance fully supported Trump.

~~~~~

The Trail of Tears was the ethnic cleansing of about 60,000 Natives. 

'For most Americans, this history is a deep source of shame: an authoritarian president trampling on the rule of law to commit atrocities.

For Vance, it is a well of inspiration.'

What J.D. Vance really believes

Vance's Senate campaign was funded by Peter Thiel, a billionaire who once wrote that “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.”

What J.D. Vance really believes

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Israel-Palestine conflict

Vance supports U.S. funding to Israel in the ongoing Israel–Hamas war.^[106] 

Vance has criticized the Biden administration for "depriving the Israelis of the precision guided weapons" the country needs, and states that Hamas bears full responsibility for all civilian deaths.^[107][108] 

He criticized Biden in April 2024 for 'micromanaging' Israeli actions in the war, stating "you've got to, first of all, enable Israel to actually finish the job".^[109]

J. D. Vance

J. D. Vance

Vance in the U.S. Marine Corps, 2003

Vance was born as James Donald Bowman on August 2, 1984, in Middletown, Ohio to Beverly Carol (née Vance; born 1961) and Donald Ray Bowman (1959–2023). 

He is of Scots-Irish descent.^[6][7] His parents divorced when he was a toddler. Shortly afterward, he was adopted by his mother's third husband.^[8]

Vance's childhood was marked by poverty and abuse, and his mother struggled with drug addiction.^[9] 

Vance and his sister Lindsey were raised primarily by his maternal grandparents, James (1929–1997) and Bonnie (née Blanton; 1933-2005) Vance, whom they called "Mamaw and Papaw."^{[6][10][11][12]} 

J. D. later went by the name James Hamel, his stepfather's surname, until adopting his grandparents' surname, Vance.^[13]

After graduating from Middletown High School in 2003,^[14] Vance enlisted in the U.S. Marine Corps. 

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

JD Vance's Mother: Bev Vance Nearly Destroyed Her Family

'One day, JD Vance’s mother picked him up from kindergarten and told him, quite matter-of-factly, that he would never see his biological father again. 

'Bev Vance’s explanation was that his father “didn’t want him anymore” and wanted instead to give him up for adoption. 

'This would be the first in a long series of father-figures who would come and go from JD’s life, a product of his mother’s inability to form stable relationships and her extreme willingness to jump into living arrangements with men she barely knew—a pattern of tumult and instability that would become a constant source of pain and anxiety for JD ...'