Convicted Felon Picks "Never-Trump Guy" for Veep

I think that I’m going to vote third party because I can’t stomach Trump.  I think that he’s noxious and is leading the white working class to a very dark place.

--J. D. Vance, 

NPR "Fresh Air"

August 17, 2016

The words quoted were spoken when Trump was making his first run for the Presidency. Vance is now the junior Republican senator from Ohio, who began his political career just 18 months ago in January 2023 and today was formally named the vice-presidential candidate at the Republican convention in Milwaukee.  

Vance's remarkable rise from childhood poverty to Yale Law School to author and journalist to the heights of national politics is very well documented in his Wikipedia article as well as today's report on his nomination by the Associated Press.  I recommend these sources to all my truckbuddies for reading and reflection.

In 2016, Vance repeatedly condemned Trump harshly.  But by 2021, Vance had become one of Trump's staunchest supporters.  Now what on earth could make a smart guy like that do a total 180?  I wonder.  I highly recommend watching the following reports by Rachel Maddow and by Nicolle Wallace on Vance's stunning transformation from outspoken never-Trumper to toady-in-chief:

And if there's still any question in your mind where Vance stands, check out this New York Times report from last December that begins, "When a historian wrote an essay the other day warning that the election of former President Donald J. Trump next year could lead to dictatorship, one of Mr. Trump’s allies quickly responded by calling for the historian to be sent to prison."  Yep, it was Senator Vance - himelf a published book author and writer for the likes of CNN and the NYT -  who wanted a fellow writer thrown in jail merely for daring to suggest that the divine DJT could ever possibly become a dictator.  Perish the thought.

Who's really on the side of democracy here, and who's all for dictatorship, hmm?

For another perspective on the crisis in American politics, listen to the remarks by former U.S. Representative (R-Ill.) Adam Kinzinger on the Stephen Colbert show earlier this evening:

Part 2 of 3 - remarks about Vance

While in Congress, Kinzinger was an outspoken critic of Trump - one of the very few Republicans who had the guts to call a spade a spade - and served as one of the two Republican members on the January 6 Committee that conducted an exhaustive inquiry into Trump's failed self-coup in 2021.

And just for laughs, though it is no laughing matter, you could read this dimwitted opinion piece (or plain old propaganda?) by a completely cluleless Guardian contributor in the UK:  

Blue MAGA:  We Need to Talk about the Cult-like Turn of the Democratic Party.

That's as Orwellian a wordfuck as I ever saw:  black is white, white is black, and 2 + 2 = 5.  Sad!

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