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Jon Marq

Jon Marq

a son, a brother, a student; exploring American life & politics.

JD Vance Is Already Trying To Gaslight You

5 min read2 days ago
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Vice President JD Vance is trying to save face by criticizing Trump, but we shouldn’t forget that he’s been part of the problem too.

The uncharismatic, spineless, political punchline of a man that we call our Vice President released a statement stating the obvious about the Midterms: Republicans lost because of Donald Trump. In fact, he all but said that line in so many words. One could say, too many. But this isn’t some coming to Jesus moment, in which Vance has seen the errors of his ways, and is seeking reconciliation from the American people… no, he’s doing exactly what he has always done — which is to lie and kick and scream for power, without any concern for what his real values are, because, frankly, he has none.

For any history buffs or musical theater fans, the man is the modern Aaron Burr. No ideals. No values. No beliefs. Just an intelligent, cowardly opportunist, who’s sole purpose is to be in the “room where it happens.”

It’s power for the sake of power.

And what makes it so dangerous is that his story is so familiar to many Americans. A kid grows up in a dying steel town. He is the son of blue-collar workers. He witnesses addiction, domestic violence and the poverty slowly overtaking his community. Somewhat comforted by the praise to his apparent intelligence, he believes that he can be the one to make it out of all the chaos, and fix it all. He does a brief stint with the marines. Graduates the top of his class at Ohio State. Graduates from Yale Law School. Writes a best selling memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, that publishes at the perfect time (in June 2016) — right before Hillary Clinton would lose the election to Trump, in large part due to the declining trust of Americans (from those exact towns that Vance is from) in the Democratic party.

And then this young upstart from Middletown, Ohio, gets handpicked by Donald Trump to lead his second term in 2024 as his Vice President. Spoiler alert: They win. JD Vance’s story, in essence, is a political rags to riches story.

All this would be fine, exceptional actually, if JD Vance actually cared about his own story. This guy, who should be a rising star in conservatism, seems to be constantly flip-flopping on his own ideals, simply for whatever will grab him power at the moment. I mean, this is a guy who referred to Donald Trump as a modern Hitler, and yet has become is biggest supporter.

Wait, but now he’s not supporting him? Again? Now that aligning himself with Donald Trump has become a negative trait politically, Vance is attempting to distance himself from the very man that he owes his entire national appeal to. He isn’t charismatic. He isn’t good at galvanizing people. His only luck has been who he connects himself to, and what’s frustrating is that the man doesn’t need to do this. There was an entirely acceptable lane for a conservative like Vance to go through, which may not have landing him on the national stage, but would have kept him from kamikazeing his career like we are observing now.

Make no mistake, his career should end here. We cannot let him continue to switch sides. It is a dangerous precedent. No, it is not like how we imagine politicians will switch sides and cut deals that are necessary aligned with their previous promises. No, this is switching sides with a narcissistic demagogue who’s tangibly threatened to end our Republic, and betraying the very people that you should so vehemently be striving to support.

I think the American people are smart enough to know a weasel when they see it. I think the American people are fed up with the distrust in their political leaders. And perhaps most daring of all, I think the American people are prepared to usher in a new age of politics, the age of the working politician, and not the politician’s politician. The age of our political leaders delivering change directly in the streets, and not being voted just to hide away in their office, and be absolved of consequence. The greatest thing JD Vance will ever do in his little miserable beta of a life, is be the catalyst for a backlash so strong, that his kind of political archetype will seldom ever be elected again.

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Thank you JD Vance. You starveling, national embarrassment.

In conclusion, and for the interested reader, the following is Vice President JD Vance’s statement on the Midterm results:

One of the things the data analysts on our side obsessed over was ‘composition’ — whether the electorate looked close enough to 2024 for Republicans to win.

So, I asked the smartest data guy I know, does that mean we’re going to shock the world?

‘No,’ he told me. ‘We might do better than the polls suggest. But the data is telling us that a lot of Trump/Vance 2024 voters are pissed and planning to vote for the other guys. Our voters are turning out, but they may not vote for us.’

Well, that looks prophetic now.

Our voters did show up. In Florida, for example, the electorate was 9 points more Republican than Democrat, just a couple points worse than 2024. Undoubtedly there were places we could have done better on turnout. But the main problem is not turnout. The main problem is that many people who voted for Trump/Vance in 2024 voted for Democrats in 2026.

There will be a lot of infighting and arguing over what happened and why that is. One of the pollsters I really respect told me that our economic messaging wasn’t sharp enough down the stretch. I’m sure that’s true.

The real reason we lost is obvious to almost everyone. The reason we lost is the war. The president himself said so last night.

If you’d like to argue it was worth it, that losing the Senate for the next 6 years was worth it, then do so. Argue it was a worthwhile cost to pay. Agree or disagree, that’s at least honest. But everyone knows why we lost. And any honest conversation about where we go from here must start there.

I’m open to the idea that we should change enforcement — by focusing more on businesses that hire illegal labor, for instance — but I reject calls for amnesty.

I remain hopeful about our country. To the people who are pissed off and want to say, ‘I told you so’: you’re right, you did tell us so. Take that energy into electing Republicans who share your worldview. To the people who are just pissed at the results, you should be. Let’s take that anger and get back to the work of saving our country.

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Jon Marq
Jon Marq

Written by Jon Marq

a son, a brother, a student; exploring American life & politics.