Politics

JD Vance does a terrible Donald Trump impression

Published

8 months ago

November 12, 2024

JD Vance does a terrible Donald Trump impression

In the last several years, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, has transformed himself into a paragon of the MAGA movement. He’s thrown himself with gusto into the culture wars that Fox News’ conservatives delight in. And, like his running mate, former President Donald Trump, he has refused to apologize for offending anyone along the way. But while Trump’s behavior has won him devoted loyalists, Vance’s copycat act isn’t landing with anyone who isn’t already a fan of his boss.

While Trump’s behavior has won him devoted loyalists, Vance’s copycat act isn’t landing with anyone who isn’t already a fan of his boss.

A prime example came Thursday, when Vance attempted a “joke” on X ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris’ interview with CNN. Claiming that he’d gotten the footage ahead of time, Vance shared a clip from the 2007 Miss Teen USA contest, where a contestant went viral for her disjointed answer. When Vance appeared on CNN for his own interview Friday morning, anchor John Berman pointed him to a 2015 interview with the contestant in the video, Caitlin Upton. In that interview, Upton said she experienced suicidal ideation from the negative attention that moment brought her.

Vance denied knowing the video’s effect on Upton. But the best way to deal with “making mistakes in the public eye,” he said, is “to laugh at ourselves, laugh at this stuff, and try to have some fun in politics.” After an awkward attempt to shoehorn in talking points about inflation, he returned to defending his post. “There’s nothing that says we can’t tell some jokes along the way while we deal with the very serious business of bringing back our public policy,” Vance continued. “Politics has gotten way too lame, John, way too boring.”

Berman then asked if Vance would like to apologize to Upton and he refused. “I’m not going to apologize for posting a joke, but I wish the best for Caitlin, I hope she’s doing well,” he said. (In a post on X Friday, Upton wrote, “Regardless of political beliefs, one thing I do know is that social media and online bullying needs to stop.” She subsequently deleted her account.)

In that same interview, Berman asked Vance about Trump’s cascade of conspiratorial, sexist ranting on Truth Social over the previous 48 hours. The former president’s account was a truly unhinged mix of posts written by Trump himself and content he’d shared from others, including QAnon references and suggestions that Harris slept her way to power. “I’d much rather have a candidate who is willing to go off script, who’s willing to give every interview, and is willing tell some jokes,” Vance said in response. “A politics of boring scolds telling people they can’t laugh, that is not lifting Americans up, that’s how to tear us down.”

There’s a lot to unpack in that answer, but let’s focus in on the idea that Vance and Trump are just trying to bring some levity to politics with their attacks. It’s the same excuse that X owner Elon Musk and other (mostly) white (mostly) men use to defend of punching down at marginalized groupssupposedly for laughs. Any offense is the fault of the listener being too sensitive, claim the same people who are simultaneously very upset at being called “weird.” Meanwhile, the people that are most supportive of the sexism and racism on display are the Trump campaign’s target audience. Many of them are the exact kind of people who are making similar jokes day in and out, whether on podcasts or among seething co-workers.

Here’s the thing though: Vance is no Trump. As My colleague Zeeshan Aleem has argued before, for all Trump’s many faults and flaws, he knows how to entertain a crowd. His act has gotten more and more tired as he has agedbut he still has a certain charisma that keeps the devoted attached to him. Vance, on the other hand, fails to stick punch lines. He’s awkward and uncomfortable regardless of whether he’s speaking to a convention hall, television audience or a donut shop worker. It’s all too apparent when he speaks that he’s performing a warmed-over, bargain-basement version of Trump’s schtick.

Here’s the thing though: Vance is no Trump.

The key word there is “performing.” As Semafor’s Dave Weigel has noted, the “shock jock cum Blue Light News” bit that Vance is trying on for size clashes with his previous roles of “rural America explainer” and “Silicon Valley thinker.” We saw the same sort of halting, unconvincing act during Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ failed GOP primary campaign, when he tried to fit the bill of “Trump without the baggage.” I can’t say for sure whether Vance believes the things he says or if he’s just trying to fit in among a group that might actually tolerate him. But as Friday’s BLN interview showed, he still feels the need to hedge and try to keep anyone from getting too mad at him for saying what he said.

In contrast, Trump works because he knows what he’s saying is terrible, and he says it anyway. Often, he does so with a smirk, as though daring anyone to call him on it. His audience delights in being in on the gag, that someone is finally willing to voice the thing they’re all thinking. And when he is called on whatever bile has come from his mouth, he can lean back on the idea that it’s a “joke,” even if he was being honest the whole time.

In trying to bring things back around to his attack lines on Harris rather than rolling around in the muck, Vance demonstrated why this is a bad fit for him. Trump’s rampant narcissism gives him an entirely unearned confidence, projecting the illusion of strength behind his hits. With Vance, it feels more like someone doing a very unfortunate bit. And much like every other keyboard warrior who’s tough behind a screen but crumples in real life, it’s likely that it would take just one sentence to force Vance into a retreat: “Please, senator, can you explain the joke here?”

Hayes Brown

Hayes Brown is a writer and editor for BLN Daily, where he helps frame the news of the day for readers. He was previously at BuzzFeed News and holds a degree in international relations from Michigan State University.

Politics

Biden pays respects as former Minnesota House Speaker Hortman, killed in shooting, lies in state

Published

15 hours ago

June 28, 2025

Blue Light Newsroom

ST. PAUL, Minnesota — Former President Joe Biden joined thousands of mourners Friday as former Minnesota House Speaker Melissa Hortman lay in state in the Minnesota Capitol rotunda while the man charged with killing her and her husband, and wounding a state senator and his wife, made a brief court appearance in a suicide prevention suit.

Hortman, a Democrat, is the first woman and one of fewer than 20 Minnesotans accorded the honor. She lay in state with her husband, Mark, and their golden retriever, Gilbert. Her husband was also killed in the June 14 attack, and Gilbert was seriously wounded and had to be euthanized. It was the first time a couple has lain in state at the Capitol, and the first time for a dog.

The Hortmans’ caskets and the dog’s urn were arranged in the center of the rotunda, under the Capitol dome, with law enforcement officers keeping watch on either side as thousands of people who lined up filed by. Many fought back tears as they left.

Among the first to pay their respects were Gov. Tim Walz, who has called Hortman his closest political ally, and his wife, Gwen. Biden, a Catholic, visited later in the afternoon, walking up to the velvet rope in front of the caskets, making the sign of the cross, and spending a few moments by himself in silence. He then took a knee briefly, got up, made the sign of the cross again, and walked off to greet people waiting in the wings of the rotunda.

The Capitol was open for the public from noon to 5 p.m. Friday, but officials said anyone waiting in line at 5 would be let in. House TV livestreamed the viewing. A private funeral is set for 10:30 a.m. Saturday and will be livestreamed on the Department of Public Safety’s YouTube channel.

Biden will attend the funeral, a spokesperson said. So will former Vice President Kamala Harris, though neither is expected to speak. Harris expressed her condolences earlier this week to Hortman’s adult children, and spoke with Walz, her running mate on the 2024 Democratic presidential ticket, who extended an invitation on behalf of the Hortman family, her office said.

Lisa Greene, who lives in Brooklyn Park like Hortman did, but in a different House district, said she came to the Capitol because she had so much respect for the former speaker.

“She was just amazing. Amazing woman. “And I was just so proud that she represented the city that I lived in,” Greene said in a voice choked with emotion. “She was such a leader. She could bring people together. She was so accessible. I mean, she was friendly, you could talk to her.” But, she went on to say admiringly, Hortman was also “a boss. She just knew what she was doing and she could just make things happen.”

A hearing takes a twist: The man accused of killing the Hortmans and wounding another Democratic lawmaker and his wife made a short court appearance Friday to face charges for what the chief federal prosecutor for Minnesota has called “a political assassination.” Vance Boelter, 57, of Green Isle, surrendered near his home the night of June 15 after what authorities have called the largest search in Minnesota history.

An unshaven Boelter was brought in wearing just a green padded suicide prevention suit and orange slippers. Federal defender Manny Atwal asked Magistrate Judge Douglas Micko to continue the hearing until Thursday. She said Boelter has been sleep deprived while on suicide watch in the Sherburne County Jail, and that it has been difficult to communicate with him as a result.

“Your honor, I haven’t really slept in about 12 to 14 days,” Boelter told the judge. And he denied being suicidal. “I’ve never been suicidal and I am not suicidal now.”

Atwal told the court that Boelter had been in what’s known as a “Gumby suit,” without undergarments, ever since his transfer to the jail after his first court appearance on June 16. She said the lights are on in his area 24 hours a day, doors slam frequently, the inmate in the next cell spreads feces on the walls, and the smell drifts to Boelter’s cell.

The attorney said transferring him to segregation instead, and giving him a normal jail uniform, would let him get some sleep, restore some dignity, and let him communicate better. The judge agreed.

Prosecutors did not object to the delay and said they also had concerns about the jail conditions.

The acting U.S. attorney for Minnesota, Joseph Thompson, told reporters afterward that he did not think Boelter had attempted to kill himself.

The case continues: Boelter did not enter a plea. Prosecutors need to secure a grand jury indictment first, before his arraignment, which is when a plea is normally entered.

According to the federal complaint, police video shows Boelter outside the Hortmans’ home and captures the sound of gunfire. And it says security video shows Boelter approaching the front doors of two other lawmakers’ homes dressed as a police officer.

His lawyers have declined to comment on the charges, which could carry the federal death penalty. Thompson said last week that no decision has been made. Minnesota abolished its death penalty in 1911. The Death Penalty Information Center says a federal death penalty case hasn’t been prosecuted in Minnesota in the modern era, as best as it can tell.

Boelter also faces separate murder and attempted murder charges in state court that could carry life without parole, assuming that county prosecutors get their own indictment for first-degree murder. But federal authorities intend to use their power to try Boelter first.

Other victims and alleged targets: Authorities say Boelter shot and wounded Democratic state Sen. John Hoffman, and his wife, Yvette, at their home in Champlin before shooting and killing the Hortmans in their home in the northern Minneapolis suburb of Brooklyn Park, a few miles away.

Federal prosecutors allege Boelter also stopped at the homes of two other Democratic lawmakers. Prosecutors also say he listed dozens of other Democrats as potential targets, including officials in other states. Friends described Boelter as an evangelical Christian with politically conservative views. But prosecutors have declined so far to speculate on a motive.