JD Vance Is More Dangerous Than Donald Trump

Donald Trump’s Vice-Presidential nominee, JD Vance, made his first major showing for the campaign at the U.S. VP debate last night. It was unlike anything I expected. The topic of abortion access came up and Vance took a stance that sounded much closer to a Democratic one. “There's so much that we can do on the public policy front just to give women more options,” he said. Vance was asked about Project 2025’s assertion of abortion surveillance and federal monitoring of pregnancies and miscarriages – in part, for the purpose of enforcing conservative policy. He quickly denied that he or Trump would support such a policy and pivoted, “I want us, as a Republican Party, to be pro-family in the fullest sense of the word.” I was as stunned as Democratic nominee for Vice President, Tim Walz. “I agree with a lot of what Senator Vance said about what's happening,” Walz admitted earnestly. “His running mate, though, does not. And that's the problem.” Despite the cordial rapport between the two candidates, make no mistake: JD Vance is just as — if not more — dangerous than Donald Trump. 

Whereas Trump is aggressive and often rambles off-topic, Vance appeared civil (for the most part), didn’t resort to petty blows, and expressed empathy with people who don’t look or think like him. It seemed clear that senior campaign officials went into the Vice Presidential debate desperate for damage control. But don’t let the polished delivery distract from Vance’s sinister intentions. Throughout the debate, Vance misrepresented Trump’s platform and attempted to gaslight Americans through what Walz called “revisionist history.”

On family leave, Vance said “we should have a family care model that makes choice possible.” When asked about gun violence, he exclaimed, “we've got to make our schools safer, and I think we've got to have some common sense, bipartisan solutions for how to do that.” Meanwhile, Republicans’ plan for safer classrooms looks like more officers in schools — though that proved ineffective in Uvalde — and defunding the Crime Victims Fund. On climate change, Vance declared “we believe in clean water and energy.” Someone watching may have forgotten about Donald Trump’s environmental policies, Project 2025, and the violence Vance was standing in for. The only times Vance let his true colors shine were when discussing immigration, foreign policy, and guns. During these conversations, Vance often vilified immigrants, called for hyper militarization, and leaned on falsehoods he knew wouldn’t be disproven in real time. 

Vance attempted to soften the blow of what the Trump administration is promising. Earlier this year, Trump boasted about overturning Roe v. Wade. Project 2025 clearly states “abortion and euthanasia are not health care” and advises the new Secretary of Health and Human Services to “protect children’s minds and bodies” from so-called radical ideologies. Project 2025’s vision for the environment would be one where states are not accountable to federal standards, subjecting more vulnerable communities to outdated infrastructure and no coordinated effort to reverse climate change. In sanitizing the promises and perspectives of Trump and those close to him, Vance flat out lied to voters about what they’re signing up for. 

“The rules were that you guys weren't going to fact check,” Vance actually said mid-debate. At that moment, Vance said the quiet part out loud for all of America to hear. The Trump campaign is counting on misinformation and fake news to carry them across the finish line. When members of the media agree to the dissolution of truth, they are complicit. The truth terrifies Vance because then he can’t feign sympathy for abortion ban victims one day while calling for criminalizing abortion nationally another day. He can’t claim to want clean water and air, while vowing to cut “burdensome regulations.” In 2016, Vance called Trump “unfit for the nation's highest office” and likened him to Adolf Hitler. In less than a decade, he is praising Trump and convincing us to drink the kool-aid. Everyone should be both suspicious and vigilant. 

Misinformation is a protective veil that Vance hides behind. Evasion is always easier than transparency. For example, towards the end of the debate, Vance was questioned about his fear that disinformation mitigation is an infringement of the first amendment. Walz pushed his opponent and used the January 6th insurrection as an example of how the inability to accept reality snowballs. “This was a threat to our democracy in a way that we had not seen and it manifested itself because of Donald Trump's inability to say, he is still saying he didn't lose the election.” Walz then turned to Vance, who moments before claimed to respect election results, and asked Vance, “Did Trump lose the 2020 election?” “Tim, I'm focused on the future,” Vance replied. “That is a damning non answer,” Walz sighed. 

Vance’s debate performance scared me more than Trump’s because I knew almost immediately that people would fall for Vance’s lies. Trump is easily identifiable as a racist, sexist bully and a bigot. But Vance is too, no matter how measured his voice remains or how coherent his sentences seem, it’s the same message, and the same horrifying policies. No matter what happens this November, Vance (and many others coming behind him) will continue to capitalize on cosplaying as a working-class, relatable person. And just when he has half of America ready to have a beer with him, Vance will already be laughing his way to the top of the oligarchy that he’s currently propping up. We can’t fall for Vance's smoke and mirrors. Though he packages his rhetoric better than Trump, marketing and branding won’t change that he’s peddling poison and calling it the American dream. What's more dangerous than a well-spoken white man?