Conversation

Republicans are already souring on JD Vance

“I’m a little surprised they didn’t vet him as thoroughly as they should have,” said one GOP strategist.

The Ohio senator started receiving unwanted attention after old clips resurfaced of him calling some Democrats
“childless cat ladies”
and suggesting parents should have more political power than non-parents.

Vance’s change of fortune also collided with the rise of Vice President Kamala Harris,
who has broken fundraising records and is on a glide path to receiving the Democratic nomination after President Joe Biden bowed out of the race.

And Harris — who would be the first Black and South Asian woman president and is running a campaign with the unofficial slogan “we’re not going back”
— has made the contrast with the Trump-Vance ticket even more stark.

It’s all starting to get some Republicans worried — and frustrated.
Some, like Arizona Republican operative Chuck Coughlin, conceded that Vance has had a “tough week.”

Conservative commentator Ben Shapiro bluntly questioned whether Trump should have picked Vance, saying on his show: “If you had a time machine, if you go back two weeks, would [Trump] have picked JD Vance again? I doubt it.”
Other Republicans also wondered aloud if the Trump campaign had truly anticipated the tidal wave of resurfaced comments, book writings and remarks that would come with picking a 39-year-old, recently elected senator who had grown up online and was firmly seated on the extreme right wing of the Republican Party.

https://www.politico.com/news/2024/07/26/republicans-jd-vance-attacks-00171473