J.D. Vance once told a friend he thought Trump could be America's Hitler - now he's Trump's running mate. Video edit by Alyse Wright. Video / NZ Herald, Getty Images
JD Vance had been trying to make a joke about political correctness in the Democrat party when he told a rally in Ohio: “I had a Diet Mountain Dew yesterday and one today, and I’m sure they’re going to call that racist too.”
But sadly for Donald Trump’s new running mate, the gag fell resoundingly flat.
“It’s good,” the Republican added before laughing: “I love you guys.”
The remark was branded “cringe” by a former Republican adviser and inflamed concerns over Trump’s pick for vice-president.
The 39-year-old Ohio senator is already faring badly in the polls, a fact not helped by the statements he previously made about Trump resurfacing.
Trump, 78, has come out in defence of his running mate, saying he’s “doing really well” and insisted he would have picked Vance regardless of whether Kamala Harris had become the Democrat nominee or not.
Trump picked Vance, a former US Marine turned writer who authored a memoir about transcending working-class roots to attend Yale Law School, to reinforce his support among Rust Belt voters.
JD Vance signs a copy of his book Hillbilly Elegy during a campaign event in Huber Heights, Ohio. Photo / Getty Images
But CNN polling shows that Vance has a negative six-point rating among the electorate, while the average for vice-president picks since 2000 had been plus 19 points.
No vice-president pick as far back as 1980 had polled negatively, according to Harry Enten, the outlet’s data analyst.
Enten also noted that while Vance won his Senate seat in Ohio in 2022, he had underperformed there compared to Trump’s 2020 performance and was 19 points behind the state’s Republican governor in 2022.
While the selection of running mate is usually an opportunity to appeal to a different part of the electorate, Trump’s selection of Vance simply doubled down on his own base.
Ohio is a safe GOP seat and Trump polls well among the white working class, which Vance mainly appeals to.
Former US President Donald Trump during the Republican National Convention. Photo / Getty Images
Emboldened by Joe Biden’s poor performance, campaign officials had noted that selecting Vance “was something of a luxury meant to run up margins with the base in a blowout rather than persuade swing voters in a nailbiter”, according to Atlantic journalist Tim Alberta.
Mark McKinnon, a former Republican adviser, told CNN the Mountain Dew moment was “cringe” and “testifies to what we’re hearing more and more of, which is that Trump’s campaign is really having second thoughts about JD Vance”.
McKinnon said Vance “was the guy that” the Trump campaign “picked when they all assumed that Biden was gonna be the nominee”.
He added: “He doesn’t expand the tent at all and in fact he contracts the tent by doing the sort of comments like that about DEI [diversity, equity, and inclusion], with the race thing, the dog whistles, it’s really problematic I think for the campaign.”
Previous comments Vance made about Trump have also continued to resurface.
As well as describing Trump as “America’s Hitler” in the run-up to the 2016 presidential election, Vance on several occasions suggested he thought Trump had committed sexual assault.
In October 2016 he wrote on Twitter: “What percentage of the American population has @realDonaldTrump sexually assaulted?”
Vance’s views on abortion are also viewed as more of a vulnerability now that Harris is leading the Democrat ticket.
While Trump’s messaging on the issue has been that the decision should be left to individual states to deal with, Vance previously called for abortion to be illegal nationally.
Vance sparked a backlash over previous comments he made about US Vice-President Kamala Harris being a "childless cat lady". Photo / Getty Images
Vance also criticised the idea that women could travel between states for abortion procedures.
He also sparked a backlash over previous comments he made about Harris being a “childless cat lady”.
The Republican senator made the comments on at least two occasions three years ago, once during a speech to a conservative think tank and then in an interview with broadcaster Tucker Carlson, when he was still a prime-time anchor for Fox News.
David Plouffe, who managed the 2008 Obama campaign, said Vance had “an unusual talent for deliberately offending and demonising large swaths of voters”.
“Trump is the oldest candidate in history. Fair for voters to assume the chance Vance could ascend. Should become a repugnant thought for more and more voters as he spews forth.”
Vance’s unpopularity and concerns about his performance so far have led to some people on social media posting pictures of lettuces to ask which will last longer.
While it is technically possible for Trump to change his running mate at this point in the election, it could be viewed as a sign of insecurity for his campaign and cause logistical issues in terms of printing ballots.
