After Vice President Mike Pence’s “disobedience” to President Donald Trump’s demands on Jan. 6, 2021, that he refuse to certify the 2020 election, Trump may be looking (according to one view of the matter) for a more toadying example of a vice president. And some Trump loyalists are suggesting U.S. Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio fits the bill.
Vance, who owes his GOP Senate nomination and maybe his eventual 53% to 46% Senate victory over U.S. Rep. Tim Ryan to Trump’s endorsement, has acted since taking office as if Trump’s issues were his issues -- whether it’s calling for the prosecution of a columnist who had the temerity to write critically about Trump (and suggesting, in a letter to U.S. Attorney General Merrick Garland and U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken, that the journalist’s wife should also lose her federal security clearance), or walking out early from a meeting he and other senators were holding Tuesday with Ukrainian leader Volodymyr Zelensky. On Monday, Vance had dissed both the Ukrainian president and his aid request on Steve Bannon’s War Room podcast, suggesting Zelensky had his hand out for military aid only “So that one of ... Zelensky’s ministers can buy a bigger yacht? Kiss my ---, Steve, it’s not happening.”
When reporters asked about his threats, Vance claimed that his written call to federal officials to prosecute The Washington Post’s Robert Kagan and for what would have amounted to the firing of his wife had she lost her security clearance was tongue-in-check, cleveland.com’s Andrew J. Tobias reported.
Axios, which first reported that Vance was among those who might be considered for the VP job, noted that “Vance might prefer to remain in the Senate as ‘Trump’s hammer,’ we’re told.”
So how does our Editorial Board Roundtable look at the possibility of J.D. Vance as Trump’s running mate?
Leila Atassi, manager of public interest and advocacy:
If we have learned anything from the political implosion of Mike Pence, it’s that whoever signs on to a Trump ticket must be, for their own sake, a full-blooded, unequivocal Trumpster. JD is that guy. Pence held too tight to his own values, and that eventually cost him the support of Trump devotees. But his four years of loyalty to Trump cost him the rest.
Ted Diadiun, columnist:
This is really happening, isn’t it? OK, if it must, then I can’t think of a better running mate for Donald Trump than Vance. If Trump doesn’t chase GOP primary voters away with his undisciplined and undemocratic approach to governing, perhaps Vance will, with his stated opinion that we should abandon Ukraine to the Russians, and his overridingly dangerous naivete.
Thomas Suddes, editorial writer:
The senator would accept the nomination if it were offered because what would he have to lose? Were he and Mr. Trump elected, the senator would be heir apparent to an aging president. Were he and Mr. Trump defeated, the senator still would have his Senate seat in a (possibly Republican-run) Senate.
Lisa Garvin, editorial board member:
I have this fantasy that Vance — a former Trump critic — will accept the nomination in order to bring down the MAGA machine from the inside. Ah, who am I kidding? He totally drank the Kool-Aid. But there are far worse choices: Jim Jordan and Marjorie Taylor Greene, anyone? At least Vance has displayed glimmers of bipartisanship, unlike the do-nothing House Freedom Caucus.
Mary Cay Doherty, editorial board member:
The border crisis. Inflation. Increased attacks on U.S. forces in the Middle East. Aggressive, evil regimes in Russia, China, and Iran. Amid these threats, President Donald Trump’s potential running mate isn’t particularly relevant at this moment. Regardless, as a first-term senator, Vance isn’t ready to be a heartbeat away from the presidency. And he has important work to do for Ohioans in the Senate.
Elizabeth Sullivan, opinion director:
By accepting an offer to become Trump’s running mate -- should it be offered, which is far from certain -- J.D. Vance would sink further into the dangerous, dirty, destructive Trump-verse he’s embraced purely for political advantage, and to his own great detriment. But will it be offered? It’s a sure bet Trump hasn’t forgotten the opprobrium Vance once heaped on him.
Have something to say about this topic?
* Send a letter to the editor, which will be considered for print publication.
* Email general questions about our editorial board or comments or corrections on this Editorial Board Roundtable to Elizabeth Sullivan, director of opinion, at [email protected]