Since I don’t tell Republicans how to handle their business, I was somewhat indifferent to the Veepstakes that surrounded candidate Trump. Though South Carolina Senator Tim Scott did a good imitation of Mr. Bojangles, I was sure that Trump would not pick Scott, no matter how obsequious he was. A group of women and I thought if he dared choose former South Carolina governor Nikki Haley, Dems might have something to worry about. But his ego was too big to consider Haley, who might have tipped some suburban women his way. Marco Rubio might have expanded Trump’s base and offered a nod to Latino voters, but instead of expansion, the former president’s vice-presidential pick signaled that he is drilling down on extreme conservatism, and he is suggesting that the Republican Party will embrace extreme conservatism for many years. JD Vance is the 39-year-old MAGA conservative who began his career calling Trump “unfit” for the presidency. Fast forward to 2022 when JD Vance fawningly ingratiated himself to the 45th President, earning an endorsement, but also the ridicule of the former President who roaringly announced at one of his rallies that “JD Vance is really kissing my —“.
The Trump-Vance combination is bad news. It is a double dose of rabid conservatism, a double dose of an anti-woman, anti-Black, anti-diversity agenda. Lots of people say that vice-presidents don’t matter, but JD Vance’s extreme conservatism ought to give us all pause. He has said that feminism has gone too far, and thinks women should stay with their husbands, even if they are abusive. He is staunchly anti-abortion. In his scant two years in the Senate (he would be less than any major party candidate), much of the legislation he has introduced would “turn the clock back”. For example, he would eliminate any tax breaks for those who purchase electronic vehicles (EVs). Those breaks move us away from fossil fuel and are important given our climate crisis. But Trump and Vance don’t believe there is a climate crisis, so there’s that.
From my perspective, one of the most disturbing things about Vance is his anti-affirmative action, anti-DEI stance. He says he opposes “racism in federal government hiring”. In other words, no focus on diversity, no focus on the historical exclusion of Black people from federal employment and contracting. Vance’s College Admissions Accountability Act would enforce the Equal Protection Clause and Title VI prohibitions on racial discrimination or racial preferences. Though Republicans swear they hate bureaucracy, this College Admissions Accountability Act would create a Special Inspector General Unlawful Discrimination in Higher Education, a burdensome initiative for higher education. Similar legislation is being drafted on the House side. A Trump-Vance administration would restrict access to higher education. That administration would also likely restrict access to public assistance, health care, and more.
When former president Trump gets on angry rant, it sometimes feels as if his anger is manufacture. Trump, after all, is not a working-class white man whose job disappeared because his manufacturing plant closed, or because some foreign entity bought it and cut wages. Trump is an upper-class billionaire who didn’t want for a thing a day in his life, but he has cannily given voice to the white working class who feels lost and left out.
Vance’s anger is real, and it became even more authentic when the elite treatment he both chased and craved didn’t come to him. He earned “hillbilly” spokesman status with his book, Hillbilly Elegy, that gave plaintive voice to the abandoned white working class. But the so-called elites didn’t embrace the movie, and that angered him. After trash talking Trump, he ingratiatingly embraced him and lobbied for the second seat on the ticket.
Vance lobbied, but so did many others, including Junior Trump and members of the donor class, like Elon Musk. These billionaires want Vance on the ticket to serve their economic interests. By choosing the young Vance as his VP, Trump has transformed the Republican Party into the MAGA Party. It’s likely to be that way for decades. That’s dangerous for most Americans, especially Black Americans. That, if nothing else, ought to be an incentive to vote.
