Politics

JD Vance does a terrible Donald Trump impression

Published

2 years 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

‘We are winning elections’: Bernie Sanders on Democrats’ progressive wing

Published

23 hours ago

September 6, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

‘We are winning elections’: Bernie Sanders on Democrats’ progressive wing

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Politics

Trump wants the Postal Service to radically overhaul mail voting. But ballots are already going out.

Published

3 days ago

September 4, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

President Donald Trump’s controversial demands for the Postal Service to overhaul and monitor millions of mail ballots hit another snag on Friday, when North Carolina became the first state in the nation to start sending out ballots for the November election.

In March, Trump signed the initial executive order, which aimed to crack down on mail-in voting — which he regularly alleges without evidence is a vector for widespread voter fraud — and assert an unprecedented amount of federal control over the upcoming elections.

Under this order and the subsequent rule drafted by the U.S. Postal Service, the USPS would refuse to deliver ballots to states that failed to provide lists of eligible mail voters or did not adhere to an approved envelope design style.

Since then, the order has faced legal challenges, and it remains paused by a federal judge’s orders. But the Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to allow the new rule to proceed — something current and former election officials from both parties say would be both a legal nightmare that oversteps the federal government’s traditional role in elections and a logistical one that is happening far too close to the November election to implement even if they agreed with it.

“Why the hell are you rocking the boat this late in the game?” said Stephen Richer, a former Republican recorder of Maricopa County, Arizona, who has clashed with Trump allies for defending the security of the 2020 election.

Still, election officials are trying to project a sense of normalcy for voters, particularly in North Carolina, which serves as a test of whether established local election systems can operate normally amid intensifying federal scrutiny.

“I want to emphasize this point because there has been a lot of outside noise: Our county workers are ready,” Sam Hayes, a longtime Republican lawyer in the state and now executive director of the North Carolina State Board of Elections, said in a Thursday afternoon press conference.

He added, “All we can do is what we’re doing. … It is business as usual as far as I’m concerned.”

Despite the legal challenges, the Trump administration has continued to press the courts to let it proceed. The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court on Thursday to lift an order from a Massachusetts judge which temporarily prevents the USPS from enforcing their rule. It is the second time the Trump administration has asked the Supreme Court to step in, after winning an earlier victory in which the high court dismissed an earlier hold on the rule as premature.

“The uncertainty is coming from a single activist judge who continues to try and obstruct President Trump from implementing commonsense measures to protect the security of mail-in ballots and ensure only Americans vote in American elections,” White House spokesperson Lauren Bis said in a statement. “These safeguards for mail ballots were proposed months ago giving election officials ample time to prepare for the 2026 election.”

The USPS did not immediately respond to requests for comment.

Election officials said that if the rule goes into effect this close to November, it would cause chaos and place added strain on the USPS and election officials. And an anonymous federal whistleblower said in a report circulated earlier this week by Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) that the USPS was moving forward in a “secretive, rushed, chaotic, and fundamentally flawed process” to try to implement the new system ahead of the midterms.

In the coming weeks, states across the country will follow North Carolina’s lead. Nine other states will begin mailing ballots in the next two weeks, according to a tracker from the National Conference of State Legislatures — with the biggest day for mailing coming 45 days before the election in mid-September.

“It would be so outrageous to try to let this go into effect. It’s hard to even imagine,” said Ben Hovland, a senior fellow for democracy at the progressive think tank Center for American Progress and former Democratic commissioner with the Election Assistance Commission who was fired by Trump in July.

He added, “It would be a break-glass moment for our democracy.”

The rule would require meticulous changes to ballot handling and tracking practices that Hovland said are impossible to implement before Election Day in about two months, effectively disenfranchising millions of voters.

“Ballots are printed. Envelopes are printed. You can go on and on with all the practical reasons that show that implementing something like this at this time is not feasible,” he said.

Richer said he doubted the new rules would bring about more security. Even if the USPS received lists from the states, according to the postal service’s final rule, it would not do any additional vetting of the list, Richer said.

“It’s just that the mail ballots have to be on that list, and I don’t see what added value for election integrity that does,” he said.

He added, “It creates a lot of administrative burden, and I think it creates a lot more opportunity for error.”

While a decision looms in the courts, election officials and experts cast doubt on the likelihood of the rules going into effect before November. A more pressing issue, they said, is the confusion and uncertainty surrounding mail-in ballots, which could subvert and change the behaviors of voters.

“It makes things seem messy or difficult, and it can dissuade people from participating or coming out to vote,” Hovland said. “It certainly also helps establish a pretext to make bad faith claims about election results.”

Hovland said that while none of these claims of voter fraud are backed up with facts, they could cause Americans to lose faith in the voting process.

Still, some current officials contended they were well-prepared for whatever happens — and that they’d be able to communicate effectively with voters who have become increasingly buffeted by dramatic rhetoric about the once-unmentioned nuts and bolts of actually running an election.

“There’s always a lot of noise around elections, that’s not going to change, and it can be hard to differentiate that from what’s actually going on on the ground,” said Jason Tyson, director of external affairs for the North Carolina State Board of Elections.

As Election Day approaches, Tyson and election officials said they urge voters to check their registration status and make a plan to vote.

He added, “I think we’ve got a really well-trained, solid staff who are ready, and who have gone through all of the checks and balances and points of contact that we need to do to get to where we are.”

Politics

Missouri Supreme Court pauses GOP gerrymander, likely netting Democrats 1 House seat

Published

3 days ago

September 3, 2026

Blue Light Newsroom

Missouri’s Supreme Court suspended a congressional map that state Republicans drew last year that would have netted the GOP an additional House seat, likely keeping the seat in Democratic hands this November.

The court ruled unanimously on Thursday that a referendum petition organized by Democrats to put the new congressional maps to a vote was incorrectly deemed insufficient by Republican Secretary of State Denny Hoskins, and ordered that the gerrymandered map be put to a vote in the fall.

Voters will ultimately decide the fate of the new lines in November. But in the meantime, it cannot be in place for the midterms, meaning Rep. Emanuel Cleaver’s original Kansas City-based district will likely stay in Democrats’ hands this fall.