unsaveSave
JD Vance’s Trump-critical story continues to roll out.
New York Times has published several private emails in which Vance wrote about Trump.
He calls him, among other things, a “morally reprehensible person”.
ⓘ The summary is made with the support of AI tools from OpenAI and quality assured by Aftonbladet. Read our AI policy here.
Show more
chevron-down
Ohio Senator JD Vance, 39, was named last week as Donald Trump’s running mate.
Something that may seem strange, since Vance has previously been a staunch critic of Trump and called him “America’s Hitler”.
Vance’s background as a Trump opponent is further confirmed in several emails that the New York Times has seen.
The emails were sent between 2014 and 2017 from Vance to Sofia Nelson, a friend from law school at Yale University.
expand-left
full screen J D Vance, 39, was named the vice presidential candidate last week. Photo: Evan Vucci/AP
Describes Trump as a demagogue
In 2015, Vance strongly opposed Trump’s candidacy for the presidency. When Nelson writes about a Muslim friend saying that women wearing hijabs are afraid to go grocery shopping, Vance replies:
“I am clearly outraged by Trump’s rhetoric (…) There have always been demagogues willing to exploit people who believe in crazy bullshit”.
expand-left
full screen Here Vance is seen at a campaign meeting with Trump. Photo: Evan Vucci/AP
In another email, he writes that the more white people vote for Trump, the more black people will suffer.
As the 2016 election approached, Vance wrote that he “could never support Trump if it really mattered.” He didn’t want to vote for Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton either, but just like many others thought she would win. He called Trump a “disaster”.
– He is simply a bad man. A morally reprehensible person.
“Changed my mind”
Sofia Nelson says she and Vance used to be close friends, but that friendship ended in 2021 when Vance came out publicly with his support for the state of Arkansas’ ban on gender-affirming care for minors. Nelson is transgender himself.
expand-left
full screenDonald Trump. Photo: Alex Brandon/AP
A spokesperson for Vance’s campaign said in a statement that it is “unfortunate” that someone shared “ten-year-old private conversations between friends.”
“He (Vance) has been open that some of the opinions he had a decade ago changed after he became a father and started a family, and he has carefully explained why he changed his opinion about President Trump.”
The wife was “disgusted” by Trump
Even the vice presidential candidate’s wife Usha Vance, who will become America’s second lady if Trump wins the election, has previously expressed strong criticism of Trump. Several friends and former colleagues say so Washington Post.
expand-left
full screen Trump’s actions in the storming of the Capitol upset the vice-presidential candidate’s wife Usha Vance. Photo: Jose Luis Magana/AP
A friend says Usha was deeply upset by Trump’s actions at the storming of the Capitol on January 6, 2021.
– Usha found the breach in the Capitol and Trump’s role in it all deeply disturbing. She was disgusted by Trump from the moment he was elected.
But Republican strategist Jai Chabria, one of JD Vance’s campaign workers, says Usha, like her husband, has changed her mind over the years.
– Usha fully supports Donald Trump and her husband and will do everything she can to make sure they win in November, he says.
expand-left
fullscreenUsha Vance with husband. Photo: Paul Vernon/AP
Can topple Trump?
Although Vance was handpicked by Trump, analysts believe that he could become Trump’s sinker in the election campaign.
Politicos opinion editor Jamie Dettmer writes, for example, that if Harris now replaces Biden, the election campaign will likely focus on issues of abortion and women’s rights.
Trump is already having trouble attracting female voters according to several surveys – and it won’t get any easier with Vance.
Vance has made a series of controversial statements about anti-abortion and divorce. Something that recently spread like wildfire on the internet is his statement about “cat ladies”. He said that the Democrats consist of a bunch of such “childless cat women” with miserable lives. Among other things, he was referring to Kamala Harris, who has no biological children.
When Vance was recently interviewed by former Fox News anchor Megyn Kelly, he did not back down from the statement.
– Our whole society has become skeptical and even hateful towards the idea of having children, he said.