CNN  , — ,
Republican Ohio Sen. J. D. Vance, a leading candidate to be Donald Trump’s vice chairman, liked posts in 2016 and 2017 that harshly criticized Trump and his plans — including one guessing that Vance may assist in previous Democratic presidential candidate Hillary Clinton’s management.
Another tweets liked by Vance said Trump committed” sequential sexual assault”, called him “one of USA’s most hated, villainous, douchey celebs”, and, in a from- removed set of tweets, cruelly criticized Trump’s response to the deadly 2017 White nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia – something Vance then defends Trump around.
Vance’s past anti- Trump stances have been well- documented, but these new examples, unearthed by an extensive review of Vance’s past social media activity, demonstrate they were more widespread and scathing than previously known.
Their discovery comes as Vance has strengthened his standing in Trump’s inner circle as a frequent supporter of the former president and is one of the candidates for vice-presidential office.
Prior to his announcement in July 2021 that he would run for the open Ohio Senate seat, Vance deleted previous anti-Trump tweets, according to CNN’s KFile. Vance once , privately wondered whether Trump was’ America’s Hitler’ in February 2016, and a few months later wrote in The Atlantic that Trump was” cultural heroin”.
Vance added that he had even thought about supporting Clinton, but ultimately decided to support independent candidate Evan McMullin for president in 2016.
Once regarded as a” Trump whisperer” for his understanding of the aggrieved White working class and a self- described” Never Trump” Republican, Vance shot to fame over his memoir,” Hillbilly Elegy”, published in June 2016. Vince frequently appeared on cable news programs before moving on to CNN in 2017.
His subsequent transition from a vocal critic of Trump to a steadfast supporter has drawn a lot of scrutiny. Vince has stepped up as the former president’s trusted confidant and frequently defends Trump on television, including last month during his hush money trial in New York. Additionally, Vance assisted in planning Trump’s June 6 fundraiser in San Francisco with money from the tech sector. Trump is expected to meet with congressional Republicans in Washington, DC, on Thursday.
In a statement to CNN, Vance cited Trump’s “many successes in office” and claimed that realizing the” corporate media and Deep State’s” coordinated efforts to undermine Trump changed his perspective.
” I’m proud to be one of his strongest supporters in the Senate today, and I’m going to do everything in my power to make sure President Trump wins in November; it’s important for America to survive.”
The communication director for Vance sent two encouraging statements from Jason Miller, a senior advisor to the Trump campaign, and Donald Trump Jr., Jr.
Trump Jr. criticized media outlets for repeatedly disclosing Vance’s prior anti-Trump remarks, saying” We’re 100 % confident that JD is America First to the core” and that” no one in the Senate has been a stronger supporter of my father.” Trump Jr. added they were “long past all of this”, saying they had “discussed it with him at length”.
In response to Kamala Harris ‘ criticism of Joe Biden in the 2020 presidential primary over his prior opposition to desegregation busting in the 1970s, Miller argued that it was important to remember that politics is ultimately politics.
Vance told Ross Douthat in an interview that was released on Thursday that his political transition had led him to become a pro-Trump Republican.
I allowed myself to concentrate so heavily on Trump’s stylistic quality that I completely ignored how his substantive proposals on foreign policy, trade, and immigration, as opposed to many other elite conservatives and liberals, differed, according to Vance.
Before X changed its policy to make users ‘ likes private and kept secret from other users, CNN reviewed Vance’s previous likes on the platform known as X.
The majority of the newly discovered social media activity dates back to the campaign’s final five months in 2016. Vance likes a number of anti-Trump tweets on Twitter, including those that criticize Trump’s immigration policies, acknowledge antisemitism from Trump supporters, question the legitimacy of his support for Clinton, and even raise questions about his access to the nation’s nuclear codes as president.
In February 2016, Vance liked a tweet featuring a photo of Trump, two women and O. J. Simpson with the caption,” Here is an old picture of one of USA’s most hated, villainous, douchey celebs. Also in picture: OJ Simpson”.
Vance liked the tweets from August 2016 that praised his book and suggested a possible Clinton administration for him, as well as another tweet that suggested he could give Clinton the” seeds to a plan to defeat Trump” ( seeds to a plan to defeat Trump ). However, Vance started liking a number of tweets using the hashtag# NeverHillary up until October 2016.
In addition to promoting his memoir, Vance liked a number of tweets that referred to the then-candidate as a “monster” and a “nemesis of the GOP.” Additionally, he liked a tweet that acknowledged” threats and derogatory terms Trump supporters hurl at Jews.” In addition to his criticism of Trump’s tweet about a woman’s appearance, CNN anchor Jake Tapper’s tweet criticized her for it in response to then-first lady Melania Trump’s campaign against cyberbullying.
Additionally, he liked a tweet that read,” Does any dad ( or future dad ) want to look his daughter in the eye and explain why he voted for Trump rather than first woman as president”?
After the” Access Hollywood” tape, which contained previously unaired lewd and sexually aggressive remarks by the presidential nominee, was one of the harshest tweets Vance liked. The tweet read,” Maybe the Central Park 5 could run a full-page advertisement to condemn the coddling of thug real estate barons who commit serial sexual assault.”
Vance’s other tweets included criticism of key Trump policies, including his anti-immigration and tax cuts from 2017, among others.
Vance criticized Trump’s response to the earlier, earlier, White supremacist violence in Charlottesville in August 2017, by linking in a since-delete tweet to a TV segment that called Trump a” coward” for his response, and later liked a tweet that suggested he did not consistently back the GOP or Trump.
Vance wrote, while also criticizing left-wing violence, that” there is no moral equivalence between the anti-racist protestors in Charlottesville and the killer ( and his ilk ).”
You may not like @JDVance1’s opinion, but it’s difficult to pin him down as consistently supporting either Trump or the GOP,” read the tweet Vance liked.
Pro- Trump pivot
By 2021, Vance dismissed left-wing criticism of Trump’s remarks as” the ridiculous race hoax in Charlottesville,” which was contrary to his earlier harsh criticism of him.
Ahead of his Senate campaign that year, Vance apologized for previously calling Trump “reprehensible”, in tweets first uncovered by CNN’s KFile.
” Like a lot of people, I criticized Trump back in 2016″, Vance told CNN in 2021. ” I regret being wrong about the guy”, Vance said, adding he thought Trump was a good president.
In a previously unreported blog post Vance wrote in April 2010 under his previous legal name, J. D. Hamel, he wrote in support of legal immigration, advocating to “massively increase” the number of migrants allowed into the country.
Border security is a good place to start, but if we want to control the border, we must also make plans to significantly increase the number of legal immigrants who can enter the country, according to Vance. The day that America no longer welcomes decent, hardworking foreign nationals is the day that it loses a very important aspect of its identity and economic diversity.
Vance told CNN,” It was a stupid opinion from 15 years ago when I was in my twenties. Anyone who wants to check my voting history as a senator needs only to find out that I have consistently opposed an increase in immigration into America.
Vance said in September 2016 that Trump’s immigration policies were overly simplistic.
” At the heart of Trump’s immigration message is that if we had less immigration, we would have much better jobs”, he said. It’s much more complicated than that, in my opinion. Trump definitely seems to make these issues easier, in my opinion. I do n’t believe that if you build a fantastic Mexican wall, all of these steel mill jobs will suddenly return to southern Ohio, but at least it will give people something to latch onto.
Three months ago, Vance reiterated his support for Trump’s immigration policies. According to Vance,” We do n’t have a country anymore if we do n’t get control of that border,” tens of millions of illegal aliens are currently in our country and tons of fentanyl are killed over 100 000 people in our country.
This story has been updated with more information.
