“Hillbilly Elegy” author J. D. Vance (photo) wants to be a Republican U.S. Senator.
CNN says it took him “only four days to understand just how much control Donald Trump has over the Republican Party these days.”
Vance formally entered the Ohio GOP Senate primary on July 1, and by July 5, he was apologizing for and deleting his past tweets critical of Trump.
Back in 2016, he accurately called Trump “reprehensible” and said Trump’s policy proposals, “such as they are, range from immoral to absurd,” which also was accurate (see, e.g., separating migrant kids from their parents and locking them in dog kennel-like cages). “He also called Trump ‘cultural heroin,'” an epithet I haven’t seen before, but which strikes me as quite perceptive.
But now, in 2021, there’s this: “Vance appeared on Fox News – where else – on Monday to try to make nice with Trump voters.” By saying things like this: “Like a lot of people, I criticized Trump back in 2016,” Vance explained. “And I ask folks not to judge me based on what I said in 2016, because … I regret them.” (Read story here.)
He’s right about that, too — Ohio voters should judge him for what he is now, not what he was in 2016. A spineless blob. A coward pandering to the Trump mob. A guy willing to trade dignity, self-respect, honesty, and principle for votes from a demagogue-loving mob. Shame on him. But I don’t live in Ohio, so it’s not up to me. It’s for the people of Ohio to decide whether they want to be represented in the Senate by a jellyfish like him.
Representing constituents is, of course, a Senator’s job. But it’s reasonable to expect elected leaders to also be leaders, and lead their constituents where they ought to go. True leadership bears no resemblance to following the whims of a mob, or pandering to a mob.
The right way to do politics is to decide what you believe in and stand for, communicate that to voters, and let them decide if that’s what they want; and if they elect you, keep your promises and do what you said you would do. And if they elect the other candidate, accept defeat with grace, tell your supporters you’ll keep fighting for what you and they believe in, and go home secure in the knowledge you were true to yourself — and to them.
Vance (bio here) is a smart guy — a summa cum laude grad of Ohio State, with a Yale law degree — and, while a bit too young and inexperienced in life to be a U.S. Senator just yet, he showed a lot of future promise. Until now. Too bad he’s destroying that by turning into a gutless, spineless, jellyfish in thrall to a mindless, violent mob.