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\n

Former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels said he thinks Vice President JD Vance and other Republicans are wrong to move away from the party\u2019s traditional embrace of free-market economics \u2014 and that their shift could create an opening for a \u201cpro-freedom\u201d movement.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think they are in error,\u201d Daniels said in an interview when asked about Vance\u2019s criticism of economist Milton Friedman<\/a>, who championed free-market capitalism.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think what Vance is saying is that there are aspects to the free market which can be disruptive of culture and tradition. I mean, that’s what the free market does. It’s dynamic,\u201d he told Blue Light News. \u201cIt’s the only mechanism, in my view, for preserving the American dream, and that’s the most important element of our culture.\u201d<\/p>\n

The vice president\u2019s intra-party critics have argued that Vance has been moving away from free-market economics and toward a larger role for the government in shaping the economy in his defense of the Trump administration\u2019s economic policies, especially its wide-ranging tariffs.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat the president is doing is changing 40 years of a failed bipartisan consensus in Washington, D.C., that has sold out American workers and destroyed the underlying economic strength of the United States of America,\u201d Vance said in a Fox News interview<\/a> last year.<\/p>\n

The move is seen by some as Vance testing a more populist and protectionist message as he eyes the Republican presidential nomination in 2028.<\/p>\n

But the two men were at one point closer politically. In Vance’s bestseller “Hillbilly Elegy,” Vance described Daniels as his \u201cpolitical hero.\u201d Daniels has said that Vance sought his counsel on running for office in 2018 and Daniels advised against it because it was likely to be a bad year for Republicans.<\/p>\n

The vice president\u2019s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Daniels\u2019 remarks.<\/p>\n

Daniels recently released his new book, \u201cImpatience Is a Virtue.\u201d<\/a> In it, the veteran of Indiana politics \u2014 who also led the Office of Management and Budget under President George W. Bush \u2014 detailed his career championing the free market.<\/p>\n

Daniels told Blue Light News that President Donald Trump was both a \u201csymptom\u201d and \u201ca propellant\u201d of voters\u2019 discontent, pointing to their \u201cfeeling of being patronized, condescended, looked down on, ignored, disrespected.\u201d And Trump\u2019s political success came from his ability to unite and represent these discontented voters.<\/p>\n

Still, Daniels argued the evolution of the Republican Party under Trump has created room for a \u201cpro-freedom party\u201d that champions economic freedom and individual autonomy.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhether that is the next iteration of this Republican Party or you find some other vehicle, I don’t know,\u201d he said. \u201cBut I think that there’s a need, and as I say, there’s certainly, I think, a market for that viewpoint waiting to be expressed by somebody.\u201d<\/p>\n

The former governor, now back at Purdue University as the interim president after leading the school for a decade until 2022, sidestepped a question about his party identification and another one on whether he sees Vance emerging as the \u201cpro-freedom\u201d candidate.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s all TBD; I don\u2019t know,\u201d he said of Vance.<\/p>\n

Daniels also defended his view on another 2028 hopeful, Democrat Pete Buttigieg, who was the mayor of South Bend, Indiana, during the tail end of Daniels’ governorship.<\/p>\n

In his book, Daniels said Buttigieg is smart, but his principal asset that excites Democratic activists is his sexual identity.<\/p>\n

Buttigieg became the first openly gay person confirmed to be a Cabinet secretary when he was tapped to lead then-President Joe Biden\u2019s Transportation Department. A spokesperson did not immediately respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis differentiates him in a way that would be appealing to large portions of the core Democratic electorate,\u201d he said. \u201cAbsent that, he would be a less likely national figure.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Former Indiana Gov. Mitch Daniels said he thinks Vice President JD Vance and other Republicans are wrong to move away from the party\u2019s traditional embrace of free-market economics \u2014 and that their shift could create an opening for a \u201cpro-freedom\u201d movement. \u201cI think they are in error,\u201d Daniels said in an interview when asked about […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-27503","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"amp_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27503","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=27503"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/27503\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=27503"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=27503"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/bluelightnews.com\/category\/politics\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=27503"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}