In the first five minutes, there were at least half a dozen profanities as host Joe Rogan and Sen. JD Vance (R-Ohio ) recounted cute, adorable stories of young kids swearing, cussing, and dropping F-bombs.
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This ai n’t your daddy’s Republican Party.
Jeb (! ) Bush could n’t have done it. Nici his father’s brother, Mitt Romney, the final GOP nominee before Trump, was able to do so. They’re very strict and overly traditionalist to communicate with a man like Rogan.
Another example of how carefully the MAGA movement has reorganized the Republican Party: We’ve replaced them with garbage trucks and McDonald’s staff. The social rebalancing is almost complete.
Vance has a talent for bridging the gap between the various groups within the new GOP. He’s religious sufficiently to friendship with the Catholics and Evangelicals, he’s educated enough for the academics and the financial ideologues, he’s nationalist enough for the military alliance, and he’s dark enough to appeal MAGA-adjacent influencers. In sports jargon, he’s a 5-tool idea.
But what did we learn?
Your first lesson is that Vance is exceedingly smart. No kind bright or” bright enough” (*cough* Kamala *cough* ) but truly a talent. His depth of knowledge ( and skill to pivot ) allows him to speak honestly and carefully, even in a three-hour meeting. Not all intelligent people are capable of pulling this off; many of them come across as unkind eggheads who favor figures over people.
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When Trump tapped Vance, there were quite a few detractors. ( Full disclosure: I was skeptical, too. ) The issue was less about Vance specifically, and more about the 2024 electoral map: Other potential selections ( Tim Scott, Marco Rubio ) could’ve activated certain demographics or ( Glenn Youngkin ) enhanced Trump’s chances in blue-leaning states. After all, a VP pick’s top priority is to ensure your boss ‘ victory on Election Day. ( Actually, being competent after you’re elected is a distant second )
Vance made no significant impact on how the political needles was moved. Ohio, his birthplace, was going to be MAGA in any case. Plus, since he was unfamiliar to most Americans, the Democrats ( along with their flunkies in the media ) had the very real possibility to define Vance in horrible, damaging way. And they tried: He’s a dork! He has intimate relationships with chairs! He hates single kitty ladies!
But they failed. And on the” Joe Rogan Experience” ( JRE ) today, you saw exactly what made him so appealing to Team Trump: He’s a genuine American who genuinely understands America.
Instead of bonding with voters over something superficial (skin color, geography, ethnicity ), he can bond with voters over ideas. And in the long run, that’s much more important — and not just for the 2024 plan.
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Win or lose, Vance has a brilliant prospect in the GOP. He is already the pioneer in 2028 for preventative measures.
The JD Vance discussion has been viewed more than two million days in the first few days of being posted. ( Just a wee bit shy of Trump’s 42 million views. ) Although Trump’s total views wo n’t match those of his, it’s likely to be his biggest audience since Tim Walz outstripped him in their debate on October 1st.  ,
That’s a lot of ears.
For the most part, the talk went where you thought it did: They talked about COVID restrictions, great chem, trans in sports, power, history, Hunter Biden, Big Tech, censorship, media bias, Tony Hinchcliffe, Joe Biden’s garbage comment, abortion, religion, illegal immigration, marijuana, psychedelics, and more. ( A few unpredictable topics too, including the brilliance of” Boyz N the Hood” and the domestic abuse allegations against Kamala’s husband, Doug Emhoff. ) Vennie avoided any errors for the Democrats to profit while also dishing out red meat to the MAGA honest.
Most important, Rogan was impressed with Vance’s knowledge, sincerity, and society. He smiled, laughed, and treated Vance like a companion. ( PR Pro Tip: You always wanna win over the host. ) For Standard fans, it seemed like the starting of a wonderful bromance.
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The PR consequences will be progressive rather of exponential. Vance did n’t change the narrative, he advanced it. And in the approach, the Trump-Vance group reinforced its brand identity in the last days of the 2024 plan: They’re ordinary Americans who care about ordinary things. They’re one of us!
And what does it mean that Tim Walz and Kamala Harris are n’t there? They’re NOT one of us.
Maybe it’s because they hate Joe Rogan and his audience, maybe it’s because they ca n’t have a normal, unedited conversation. ( Or perhaps Kamala chose to do the” Call Her Daddy” podcast rather than Rogan for personal reasons. ) Regardless of the actual reason, Trump and Vance were on the JRE, Harris and Walz were n’t.
And when things get tough, the voters will pick the candidate to run for office.
Like the Democrats always say: Representation matters.
