{"id":13417,"date":"2026-01-18T10:10:16","date_gmt":"2026-01-18T10:10:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=13417"},"modified":"2026-01-18T10:10:16","modified_gmt":"2026-01-18T10:10:16","slug":"jd-vance-despicable-toady-for-trump-and-2028-candidate-in-all-but-name-republicans","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/microvibenews.com\/?p=13417","title":{"rendered":"JD Vance: \u2018despicable toady for Trump\u2019 \u2013 and 2028 candidate in all but name | Republicans"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\u201cW<\/span>e did not have a lot of money,\u201d said JD Vance<\/a>, placing hand on heart as he recalled his childhood in Middletown, Ohio in the 1990s. \u201cI was raised by a woman who struggled often to put food on the table and clothes on her back.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was an earnest cry from the audience. \u201cMamaw!\u201d shouted a man.<\/p>\n

Smiling at the reference to his grandmother, the US vice-president said: \u201cEverybody loves Mamaw. Most of all me.\u201d But there was also a political point to the story: despite the hardships, Vance insisted, Mamaw never had to worry about violent crime until Democrats sabotaged law and order.<\/p>\n

The 41-year-old used this routine appearance<\/a> in Concord, North Carolina last September to present himself as a hardline warrior with a heart. It was a snapshot of a man who has emerged as both the most aggressive defender of Donald Trump and a 2028 candidate<\/a> in stealth mode.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span> Photograph: Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

It is a delicate balancing act that sees Vance trying to preserve the populist bombast of his boss while carving out a distinct persona of his own. In this he is aided by the one centre of power in which his connections surpass Trump\u2019s: Silicon Valley, where AI investments are driving the US economy and shaping the future.<\/p>\n

On the eve of his first anniversary as first in line to the presidency, the vice-president now finds himself promoting views he once opposed. On foreign intervention, free speech and government transparency, Vance has quietly reversed course, shrugged off inconsistencies or simply ignored them \u2013 all while positioning himself as the heir to Trump\u2019s movement.<\/p>\n

Joe Walsh<\/a>, a former Republican congressman turned Democrat, said: \u201cHe\u2019s absolutely risen to the occasion: he\u2019s a thoroughly despicable, dishonest toady for Donald Trump, and he\u2019s doing it wonderfully.<\/p>\n

\u201cHe\u2019s the clear frontrunner because he\u2019s utterly shameless and he\u2019s done and said everything that Trump wants him to do and say. He\u2019s done a great job and positioned himself to be the guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

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V<\/span>ance has become ever more prominent in recent months. He embarked on a high-stakes diplomatic mission to Israel to secure a fragile ceasefire with Hamas. He was Trump\u2019s enforcer on issues such as redistricting and a record long government shutdown. He provoked criticism when said he hoped his wife, Usha Vance, who is of Indian heritage and raised in a Hindu family, would ultimately convert to his own Catholic faith.<\/p>\n

Vance was the face of the administration\u2019s response to the assassination of rightwing activist Charlie Kirk, escorting Kirk\u2019s casket<\/a> from Utah to Arizona on Air Force Two and guest-hosting Kirk\u2019s podcast from his ceremonial office. Once a staunch defender of controversial speech against \u201ccensorship\u201d, he demanded retribution against anyone perceived as celebrating the murder.<\/p>\n

Although the vice-president was conspicuous by his absence<\/a> from a makeshift situation room at Mar-a-Lago where Trump directed an attack on Venezuela, he was back at his boss\u2019s side for a White House meeting with oil executives to effectively carve up the country\u2019s resources. When Trump stepped away to admire the site of his future ballroom, Vance grinned widely and shot an amused glance at secretary of state Marco Rubio, a potential 2028 rival.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Vance hosts an episode of The Charlie Kirk Show.<\/span> Photograph: Doug Mills\/AFP\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

That same week Vance had put himself front and centre<\/a> of the White House\u2019s reaction to the fatal shooting of Renee Good, a 37-year-old poet and mother, by an Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency (ICE) officer in Minneapolis. He berated the media and blamed the victim: \u201cI can believe that her death is a tragedy, while also recognizing that it\u2019s a tragedy of her own making and a tragedy of the far left who has marshalled an entire movement \u2013 a lunatic fringe \u2013 against our law enforcement officers.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vance is running a shadow presidential campaign in all but name. In March he was appointed finance chair<\/a> of the Republican National Committee (RNC), a role unprecedented for a sitting vice-president that allows frequent interactions with mega-donors. For the past 12 months he has been quietly travelling the country, building contacts and defining himself as both adjacent to but distinct from Trump.<\/p>\n

In September\u2019s stop at an airport hangar in North Carolina, he wore a dark blue suit, white shirt and red tie unmistakably reminiscent of the president. Hundreds of people had come to see him. Levi Baldwin, 62, a former pharmaceutical industry worker, said: <\/em>\u201cHe\u2019s one of us. He didn\u2019t come up in the ruling class. He struggled and living through that helped him build a lot of character. It\u2019s a wonderful story. It\u2019s kind of the American story.\u201d<\/p>\n

Wally Wallace, 78, a military veteran from Harrisburg, North Carolina: \u201cHe\u2019s got backbone and not afraid to speak up. That\u2019s what I like. I don\u2019t like a wimp. The thing that he and Trump have is they know how to connect to people. They\u2019re real. It\u2019s not a bunch of fake stuff. It\u2019s not like it\u2019s canned.\u201d<\/p>\n

Ben Venskus, 42, a management consultant wearing a red Make America Great Again cap, had brought his 11-year-old son. He said: <\/em>\u201cVance has an opportunity to do something that Trump won\u2019t be able to do because of the amount of hate from the public against Trump. Vance has an opportunity to grow the Republican party into something greater than Maga because he wasn\u2019t originally a Maga guy.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vance spoke from a lectern flanked by officers in uniform and against a backdrop of armoured police vehicles and giant US flags. He championed law and order and defended hardline immigration enforcement. He falsely claimed that Democrats had failed to denounce the killing of rightwing activist Charlie Kirk. He spoke of the American dream and \u201cthe sacred obligation\u201d of passing on a better life to the next generation.<\/p>\n

Vance also joked about how \u201ccussing\u201d would upset conservatives in the room. He complimented \u201ca beautiful baby\u201d, posed for photos with a boy who was skipping school and looked at ease fielding questions from reporters.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>The vice-president in Concord, North Carolina in September.<\/span> Photograph: Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Reflecting on the stabbing to death<\/a> of a 23-year-old Ukrainian refugee on a light rail train in North Carolina, he told the crowd: \u201cI have three little kids, and my youngest is a baby girl, three years old. She is the apple of my eye. As dads will know, daughters get away with more stuff, don\u2019t they?\u201d<\/p>\n

He went on: \u201cBut I look at this [Ukrainian] girl, who is 23 years old \u2026 If you are man \u2013 I don\u2019t care what skin colour you are, rich or poor \u2013 but if you are a man and you see the pleading eyes of a girl looking up for protection, we have to protect our girls and our women in this country.\u201d<\/p>\n

Vance also railed against Democrats and the \u201cfake news\u201d media. He said: \u201cIf you want to stop political violence, stop attacking our law enforcement as the Gestapo. If you want to stop political violence, stop telling your supporters that everybody who disagrees with you is a Nazi. If you want to stop political violence, looking in the mirror.\u201d<\/p>\n

There was some irony in the reference to Nazis. During the 2016 presidential election, Vance wrote that he goes \u201cback and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical a\u2013hole like Nixon who wouldn\u2019t be that bad (and might even prove useful) or that he\u2019s America\u2019s Hitler\u201d.<\/p>\n

In her book, 107 Days<\/a>, former vice-president Kamala Harris describes Vance as a \u201cshape-shifter\u201d and \u201ca shifty guy\u201d. Gregg Nunziata, executive director of the Society for the Rule of Law, posted on X in 2025<\/a>: \u201cI knew the VP a bit, not well, 10 years ago. I thought well of him. I\u2019ll never understand how he became who he has become. Of course, the ideology changed, but the dishonesty and pettiness, that\u2019s the worst of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

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V<\/span>ance was once best known as the author of Hillbilly Elegy<\/a>: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis, drawing on his upbringing in Ohio and Kentucky, which came to be seen as a Rosetta Stone for understanding the rise of Trump.<\/p>\n

But his path to the White House was backed by those on the other side of the economic spectrum: some of the most powerful men in tech, who for years have used their wealth and influence to further his political ambitions.<\/p>\n

Following a six-year stint working at largely tech-focused venture capital firms, Vance began his political career with an Ohio senate run that billionaire Palantir founder Peter Thiel bankrolled with $15m in campaign financing.<\/p>\n

It was Thiel who personally lobbied Trump to select Vance for vice president, and he has remained a champion: telling a crowd at one of his off-the-record lectures<\/a> last year on the Antichrist that he is \u201cvery pro-JD Vance\u201d.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Vance speaks to reporters at an event in Columbus, Ohio in 2022.<\/span> Photograph: Bloomberg\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Other connections to big tech also helped his path to the White House. While he hosted a $300,000-a-plate fundraising dinner at billionaire investor David Sacks\u2019 San Francisco mansion during the early days of the 2024 presidential campaign, a room full of wealthy tech donors gathered for Vance all encouraged Trump<\/a> to select him as a running mate. (Sacks, a political ally of Vance, was later selected as the administration\u2019s AI and Crypto Czar.)<\/p>\n

Elon Musk, the tech titan and Trump\u2019s biggest financial backer, also personally advocated for Vance and repeatedly touted his nomination \u2013 declaring to his over 200 million followers on X that the Trump-Vance ticket \u201cresounds with victory\u201d.<\/p>\n

The relationship between Vance and Musk stayed close even after the Tesla CEO\u2019s very public spat with Trump last summer, which initially threatened to be a permanent rift. Vance played a central role in mending ties between Musk and Trump, according to the Washington Post<\/a>, including personally appealing to Musk and urging him to back off plans to launch his own political party.<\/p>\n

Vance also heavily lobbied for Musk\u2019s preferred choice to head NASA, Jared Isaacman, helping to successfully resurrect a candidate that Trump had earlier publicly rejected. Last month, Musk told a gathering of former Doge employees<\/a> that he predicted two terms of a Vance presidency.<\/p>\n

As the tech industry continues to undergo a rightward shift under Trump, Vance has eagerly embraced the role of tech\u2019s man in Washington.<\/p>\n

As vice president, he has championed many of Silicon Valley\u2019s anti-regulation views and functioned as a bridge between Maga world and the tech right. One of Vance\u2019s earliest acts in office was a closely-watched address at the Artificial Intelligence Action Summit in Paris last February, where he told world leaders the US would pursue \u201cpro-growth\u201d AI policy and claimed that \u201cthe AI future is not going to be won by hand-wringing about safety\u201d. The UK renamed its AI Safety Institute<\/a> to become the AI Security Institute later that month.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Vance with Elon Musk at a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania in October 2024, three months after Donald Trump was shot.<\/span> Photograph: Anna Moneymaker\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

And when the UK government attempted to force Apple to provide law enforcement a backdoor to access to encrypted data, it was Vance who led a furious public charge<\/a> that forced the Home Office to back down.<\/p>\n

Vance has made numerous appearances to talk tech, including as featured guest at a live event for the immensely popular All-In podcast which Sacks co-hosts. Perhaps Vance\u2019s most revealing appearance, however, was as the keynote speaker last March at venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz\u2019s American Dynamism Summit. During a period of tension between Silicon Valley\u2019s pro-Trump elites and the Republican Party\u2019s populist base, he lauded the audience of tech executives for their work and assured them that tech had an important place within the Maga movement.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s time to align the interests of our technology firms with the interests of the United States of America writ large,\u201d Vance said.<\/p>\n

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A<\/span> RealClearPolitics poll average<\/a> late last year put Vance at 48.8% for the Republican nomination in 2028, far ahead of Donald Trump Jr on 11% and Rubio on 9.3%. In December Kirk\u2019s widow, Erika, threw the support of Turning Point USA and its young army of volunteers behind him. Earlier this month Glenn Youngkin, the governor of Virginia, said Vance would be<\/a> a \u201cgreat, great presidential nominee\u201d.<\/p>\n

The vice-president plans to travel extensively in 2026, ostensibly to campaign for Republicans<\/a> in the midterms, but also to lay the groundwork for a presidential run two years later. He will be able to earn political capital, deepen local networks and sharpen his skills on the stump. But loyalty will remain his watchword since he is aware that any overt eagerness risks rubbing Trump the wrong way.<\/p>\n

Vance is also steering clear of the internecine wars among celebrity Maga podcasters. Public spats over antisemitism and foreign policy provided a noisy backdrop to his recent appearance at AmericaFest, where he urged Republicans to resist \u201cendless, self-defeating purity tests\u201d and emphasised he \u201cdidn\u2019t bring a list of conservatives to denounce or de-platform\u201d.<\/p>\n

<\/svg><\/span>Vance at the RNC in Milwaukee in 2024.<\/span> Photograph: Anna Moneymaker\/Getty Images<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Instead, with Don Jr\u2019s likely backing, he will seek to present himself as a natural unifier. Larry Jacobs<\/a>, director of the Center for the Study of Politics and Governance at the University of Minnesota, said: \u201cHe\u2019s well along into the Trump dynasty. That is going to be his calling card. \u2018I am the guy who can continue Donald Trump\u2019s agenda.\u2019<\/p>\n

\u201cNow, whether JD Vance<\/a> has the skill, whether there is enough support for him, that\u2019s an open question and that\u2019s going to be a real battle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Stepping into Trump\u2019s shoes would be a daunting prospect and unique challenge for anyone. The president continues to tease a third White House run in 2028 and, while this is not permitted by the constitution, it does point to a deeper truth: that he will be unwilling to cede the limelight to any would-be successor, lest he be seen as a lame-duck president.<\/p>\n

Michael Steele<\/a>, a co-host of MS Now\u2019s The Weeknight and former chairman of the Republican National Committee, said: \u201cJD Vance, Marco Rubio, any of these so-called wannabe inheritors of Trump\u2019s mantle are gonna have to deal with two things. One, Donald Trump, and two, they\u2019re not Trump. It becomes real tricky and it\u2019s gonna be messy.<\/p>\n

\u201cDonald Trump, for all we know, could come out and say he taps Donald Trump<\/a> Jr. Then what do they do? Are they all going to fall in line or are they going to challenge? Donald Trump Jr for president? That\u2019s as a legitimate a part of the conversation as anybody else running for president in Trump world.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat\u2019s why I laugh at all this \u2018JD Vance is the heir apparent\u2019. No, he\u2019s not. The only thing apparent is that he\u2019s not the heir.\u201d<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

#Vance #despicable #toady #Trump #candidate #Republicans<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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