RENO, Nev. – Senator JD Vance knows he has an illness rocky rollout As Donald Trump’s running mate, however, she doesn’t believe she’s disappointed the former president.
“No,” Vance, R-Ohio, said in an interview on his campaign plane on his way to a rally here on Tuesday. “I mean, I knew when I walked out the door there would be positive media coverage for a few days and then they would immediately go and attack me for everything I’ve ever said in my life.”
Vance has faced fierce criticism from allies of 2021 Democratic presidential nominee Kamala Harris, questioning the societal value of childless women in 2021 and calling them “”childless cat ladies.” Harris’ campaign last week tried to call Vance and his political views “weird.” Trump was with Vance.
“The price of being on the national ticket and being given the opportunity to drive is that you have to … make shots, and so I was looking forward to that,” Vance said. “I think, frankly, people who have made a lot of money and gained a lot of power by subverting the country are not going to go away easily.”
Vance is in the middle of a great Western swing That includes fundraisers from California, traditional campaign rallies and a trip to the US-Mexico border in Arizona on Thursday morning. Sitting outside the 737 Trump Force Two with his wife, Usha, Vance discussed the early days of his vice presidential campaign, as well as what he hopes to accomplish if the GOP ticket wins this fall.
“My attitude is that I want to be a good public servant,” Vance said when asked what specific policy areas he would develop for himself. “I will help where I am asked to help. I would certainly like to be given some influence over our border policy, and I would do the exact opposite of what Kamala Harris is doing.”
This week’s trip is a bit of a reboot meant to intensify Vance’s role as an attack dog against Harris, endorsed by President Joe Biden as his successor when Vance ended his re-election bid days after accepting the Republican vice presidential nomination. While Harris supporters tried to call Vance a freak, Vance on Tuesday tried to frame Harris as weak — specifically on immigration and border security.
“It all starts with strength — strong borders, strong families, a strong economy and a strong president,” Vance said in an afternoon speech at a high school in Henderson, Nevada, near Las Vegas. “Of all the sins of Kamala Harris, the worst is that she left America weak and vulnerable. “Now the whole world knows that he helped cover up Joe Biden’s declining mental capacity for years.”
“Our adversaries,” Vance added, “are lying, and the world is a mess because of weak American leadership.”
When asked if the strange and poor contrast on board the plane was intentional, Vance described it as more of a coincidence.
“I wouldn’t say there was any particular effort to call him weak,” he said. “If there’s one particular label we want the American people to be aware of, it’s ultra-liberal.”
Border issues aside, Vance said he could see himself as the Trump administration’s spokesman on drug abuse. His mother, Beverly Aikins, has been sober for nearly 10 years after battling addiction — a struggle she wrote about in her 2016 best-selling memoir Hillbilly Elegy and spoke about this month in a speech at the Republican National Convention. On the plane, Vance noted that he and his mother attend Narcotics Anonymous meetings “quite often” to support her.
“One of the biggest health care providers for people with substance abuse disorders is Medicare,” Vance said. “And another big one is Medicaid, right? So the federal government, I think, has a big role to play in addressing or at least solving the problem of substance abuse. I think one of the roles that I can play is just a major leadership role and reminding people that there is hope on the other side of addiction— there is healing.
Vance then linked the issue to a key issue in his recent remarks: the border.
“For people to get a second chance, they shouldn’t die when they’re in the throes of an addiction crisis, and the best way to solve this problem is to prevent the worst poison from hitting our streets in the first place.” he said, accusing the Mexican drug cartels. “If there’s a change in attitude that I’ve seen in the last five years, the last three years, it’s that there’s so much fentanyl out there and everything is covered in fentanyl that the outcome of falling off the wagon could very well be. death, huh? “There’s a sense of dread in the addiction recovery space that I didn’t feel five years ago.”
Vance received enthusiastic receptions in Henderson and Reno. At the first stop, after he celebrated his 40th birthday on Friday, the crowd broke into a rendition of “Happy Birthday.” He also has reinforcements this trip. Among those traveling with him Tuesday were Trump campaign adviser Jason Miller and U.S. Rep. Anna Paulina Luna.
“I’m here today because of the vile attacks against JD Vance that he claims are misogynistic,” Luna said from the stage at Henderson. “Can you believe it? Think about it, it’s the same party that can’t define what a woman is.”
Speaking to reporters afterward, Luna, who traveled on Vance’s plane, said no one had asked him to make the trip.
“Actually, it was me,” he said. “I thought I had some things to say. That’s why I invited myself. But they are happy with me.”
On the plane, Vance stuck to his old comments about childless women, addressing Harris, then a stepmother of two, and other Democrats. Vance also said at the time that the criticism did not apply to women who are having trouble conceiving.
“What I have criticized and continue to criticize is a particular neurosis in American leadership that I think leads people to say crazy things, like climate change is a threat to the future because you shouldn’t have children,” Vance said Tuesday. “Climate change may very well be a problem, but it is not a problem that should discourage people from having families. And I think this attitude is quite harmful. This is quite devastating.
“While I’m sure Democrats will twist what I say, I’m going to keep calling it,” he said. “I just think the substance of what I’m saying is really defensible.”
Vance noted last week, “come to a penny” he said he would no longer face Harris in the vice presidential debate, saying he did not favor the new challenger.
“I don’t care,” Vance said. “I think obviously different guys — and I think they’re all guys except [Michigan Gov.] Gretchen Whitmer, but I don’t feel she has a good chance – they all present different strengths and different weaknesses. My attitude is that I have a job, but it’s about convincing as many people as possible to vote for us. Whoever the Democrats nominate, I will have the same job.”