Donald Trump’s vice presidential pick, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, has given the GOP candidate many colorful names in the past — “America’s Hitler,” “a cynical asshole,” “cultural heroin,” “one of USA’s most hated, villainous, douchey celebs,” and whatnot. While all that’s water under the bridge for Trump, what about the storm Vance has riled up in the present?
Amid the many racist remarks against his wife, Usha Vance — daughter to Indian immigrants and a former lawyer at Munger, Tolles and Olson — the Hillbilly Elegy author decided to be the trooper of the Trump clan and do what his staunch supporters do best — be a racist with no boundaries.
Does Usha deserve it? Definitely not. Then why hasn’t her husband addressed this unjustified and senseless criticism aimed at his wife? Probably because he neither has the moral ground to do so, nor does he possess the superpower to erase the flippant comments against the U.K., submerged in racist ignorance, he made just days before being picked as Trump’s running mate (it’s what probably cemented the first indicted ex-president’s decision).
What would JD Vance’s comments about the U.K. have “serious diplomatic repercussions?”
A few days before being Trump’s pick for Vice-President, Vance was speaking at a conference for U.K. Conservatives, where he narrated a discussion with a friend about the first “truly Islamist country with nuclear weapons” and how they decided that the answer is “the U.K. since Labour just took over.”
“To our Tory friends, I have to say, you guys have got to get a handle on this.”
For a few Republicans, who are staunch followers of Trump — not the 40 cabinet members he nominated who are not endorsing him — Vance is probably “the one.” Because not only is he racist, which seems increasingly to be the GOP brand, he lacks the capability to let logic board his unhinged train of thought, to judge by his unchecked words. In short, he is a true Trump supporter (yes, he is, as Marjorie Taylor Greene’s RNC haunted house performance confirmed).
It doesn’t bode well for the U.S.-U.K. relationship if the worst-case scenario does come true and we cursed with a Trump-Vance presidency, a danger highlighted by many members of the U.K. government.
Tory Co-Chair Sayeeda Warsi’s article in The Independent underlines how Vance’s words could have “serious diplomatic repercussions” for the ties between the two nations, as the Republican Party has become “a racist joke,” and that Vance’s thoughts end up representing “the everyday Islamophobia and anti-Muslim racism which is casually thrown around by some of the most powerful in our societies.”
“It bodes for really dangerous times ahead.”
Norwich South Labour MP Clive Lewis has cautioned (via The Independent) that Vance’s words and his new post within the Trump campaign confirm that “we now need to prepare for the worst-case scenario of a Trump-Vance presidency.” Green co-leader Carla Denyer, in a chat with BBC’s Politics Live, didn’t hold back, whether it was calling the sentiments shared by Trump’s running mate as “Islamophobic,” or sharing worries about the future of the United States that might see a convicted felon as president, “and a vice-president who’s more aligned with Russian foreign policy than with supporting Ukraine.”
So, now Trump’s pack is complete — he has the giggling creature who can’t keep her inner Annabelle in check anymore, and now, Vance — aka Trump 2.0 in the making. It’s safe to say that Vance by unashamedly flaunting his offensive mindset has, via the Trump-approved despicable route, proven his loyalty to the MAGA principles and secured his place.