[tomder55]

Trump picked Vance as his VEEP running mate. In doing so he signaled that Vance was the future of MAGA. Is he ?

Yes there are many things they agree on…the border ; tariffs ;America First and America’s role in the world ;” the forgotten man”; their opinion of the compliant press and some social issues .

Other items …. Not so much . When Vance first entered the political arena he was a never-Trumper . Now he says he was wrong. Not sure how much of that is riding the hot horse and how much is a genuine ‘road to Damascus’ conversion.

Sure he talks about big government . But he is not shy to suggest that government can fix the ills of the forgotten communities where he grew up .As already noted ;he has cosponsored bills with some of the more radical Dems . (Elizabeth Warren ;Raphael Warnock ;Peter Welch among others ) .

He joins Dems in calling for raising the minimum wage. He fully supports the anti-trust initiatives of FTC boss Lina Khan. He is not a fan of right to work laws .

Now all the differences may bubble under the surface if Trump wins . But look for a future Republican turf fight either in 2028 if Trump wins ;or immediately after a Trump loss.
And if you asked me who would better represent the future of the party; it would be Ron DeSantis ;not Vance.

[tomder55]

Vance may prove to be a liability to Trump . He may hurt Trump's chances instead of helping especially now that Trump's opponent appears to be Kam the Sham.

The misogyny label has dogged Trump since 2016 . It is a weakness and evidently selecting Vance reinforces the negative .

Here is comments he made to Tucker Carlson when running for Senator

"We're effectively run in this country...by a bunch of childless cat ladies, who are miserable at their own lives and the choices that they've made, and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable, too. It's just a basic fact. "

He then singles out Kam and other Dems who have not had children saying that because they have not had children they don't have a stake in the nation .
Ron Filipkowski on X: "JD Vance says women who haven’t given birth like Kamala Harris are “childless cat ladies who are miserable at their own lives,” and have “no direct stake” in America. https://t.co/3DJY3pQTGe" / X

This is a very stupid thing to say and particularly ignorant because Kam in fact has 2 step-children. Yes they were teens when her husband married her . But still she had a part in raising them.
Kamala Harris' 2 Stepchildren: All About Ella and Cole (people.com)

Even dumber when you consider that George Washington never had biological children of his own . He too raised step children as well as a brood of other step grandchildren nephews and nieces .

I'll say it again . Trump can win on the issues. But if the campaign gets reduced to this type of nonsense he will deserve to lose.

[jlisenbe]

I'll say it again . Trump can win on the issues. But if the campaign gets reduced to this type of nonsense he will deserve to lose.

And do I have confidence that Trump can wisely navigate these tricky passages? Maybe.

[tomder55]

Vance is doubling down on stupid. He is not backing down on his comments about single women and it is beginning to take on the equivalent of Evita's "basket of deplorables " open disdain and intolerance. of life styles different from his own.

Even worse . More and more he appears to be liberal in his apparent belief that taxation should be used as a tool for promoting social policy.

He wants to use the Child Tax credit in that manner .

"We need to reward the things that we think are good and punish the things that we think are bad. So you talk about tax policy, let’s tax the things that are bad and not tax the things that are good,

If you are making $100,000, $400,000 a year and you’ve got three kids, you should pay a different, lower tax rate than if you are making the same amount of money and you don’t have any kids. It’s that simple,


Having children or not is a life-style choice not something that should be dictated by tax policy. A conservative would know that you shouldn't reward or punish through taxation .
Right from the starting bell he has managed to antagonize single women without children, married women without children; people who are stepparents; stepchildren, people who do not have children for whatever reason ,people with cats as pets ;, Taylor Swift fans. Way to expand the base !!!! (yes if I were Kam the Sham I would arrange to go on stage to a Swift concert asap and ask for donations ) ,

Trump spoke a good game about expanding the base . Then he made possibly the worse pick from those he was considering for the job.