JD Vance’s performance in this week’s vice presidential debate was real slick. A radical devotee of the MAGA cause, branded as “weird” by his critics and unpopular in polls, the Republican VP nominee used the debate to debut Vance 2.0. Or is it Vance 3.0 now? Maybe 4.0?
This version of Vance resurrected former President George W. Bush’s brand of compassionate conservatism. Voters heard nothing of his previous claims regarding childless cat ladies, immigrants eating cats and dogs in Springfield, Ohio, or how “Universities Are the Enemy.”
No, the man who made millions as a corporate lawyer and ruthless venture capitalist used the debate to reinvent himself as a dedicated servant of the downtrodden and dispossessed. He flipped the playbook on the Harris-Walz campaign and at every turn tried to address the concerns of America’s middle class. With a straight face, he even managed to seem like he takes climate change seriously.
Vance’s debate performance was an elaborate ruse, …