Can JD Vance positively affect our nation?

JD Vance’s career can be compared to a classic American rags-to-riches course: After growing up poor in rural Ohio, he was accepted at an Ivy League institute, completed a law degree, and pushed his way to earn new connections into wealth and a seat in the US Senate.

While many voters may already know that part of Vance’s biography, thanks to his best-selling 2016 memoir “Hillbilly Elegy” and frequent media appearances as a senator, his financial views are less known.

But not that former President Donald Trump has picked him as his running mate for the key to the White House, JD Vance’s views on everything from trade to immigration are drawing scrutiny.

While he’s known for changing his views – he once called Trump “cultural heroin” — he’s long believed that Americans in economically struggling areas of the nation must exercise willpower to improve their lives instead of relying on government programs.

At the same time, JD Vance has supported trade policies that align with Trump’s “America first” vision. Given that Vance is a big believer in Trump’s protectionist trade policies, this pick is just the latest sign that trade will be near the top of Trump’s agenda if he returns to the White House.

Support for protectionist policies helped Vance win his Senate seat in Ohio and should be popular with the Great Lakes battleground states of Michigan, Pennsylvania, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania. So, to simplify matters, here are 6 things you MUST know about JD Vance’s views.

Corporate power and regulation

Generally speaking, Vance has been somewhat critical of corporate America. He even expressed some support for the Biden administration’s trust-busting measures, which is noteworthy given that free market capitalism was a central tenet of Republicanism until recently.

JD even said recently that Federal Trade Commission chair Lina Khan was doing “a pretty good job.” His views can sometimes be at odds with those of Trump, who vows to slash regulations on the campaign trail.

Still, the former president often denounces corporations that he says outsource American jobs or attack conservatives, meaning there may be some clashing between JD Vance and Trump when it comes to how they deal with corporate America.

Although Vance is close to many Silicon Valley donors, he has stated that large tech companies have too much power, a position Trump shares. He has demanded that Google be broken up.

And even though Trump doesn’t seem to have embraced that effort on the trail, he said during his term that Google might face an “antitrust situation” over allegations that it was stifling conservative views.

Abortion

JD Vance opposes abortion rights, even in the case of rape or incest, though he believes that there should be exceptions for circumstances when the mother’s life is in danger. He even praised the Supreme Court ruling to overturn Roe v. Wade.

When he ran for Senate in 2022, a headline on the issues section of his campaign website read: “Ban Abortion.” JD Vance declared he would support a 15-week national ban submitted by Senator Lindsey Graham of South Carolina.

He also stated that the matter is “primarily a state issue,” indicating that states should be free to make stricter laws.

He went on to say in an interview with USA Today Network in October 2022 that places like Ohio will want to have a different abortion policy from New York or California, and he thinks that’s reasonable.

Crime

Vance, like most Republicans, has made a “tough on crime” stance a centerpiece of his campaign, regularly running political ads flowing with rhetoric about the ineffectiveness of national Democrats and praising law enforcement.

Crime is at the top of the “issues” section of his campaign website, and, in recent times, JD has focused his attacks on Ryan with occasionally misleading rhetoric about Ryan’s previously stated position that the modern criminal justice system is “racist.”

The Republican National Committee wrote in an opposition file against Ryan that he’s gaslighting Ohioans into believing he supports the police after he spent years calling the criminal justice system racist and the “new Jim Crow.”

Ryan, on the other hand, has tried to separate himself from JD Vance’s attacks by noting his efforts as a congressman to bring federal funds into the state to support law enforcement and by stating Republican support for federal sentencing reforms around crack cocaine possession.

Others have pointed out that Vance made similar statements about law enforcement excessively targeting Black Americans dating to 2017.

Ryan has also sought to reverse Vance’s attacks by noting the Republican candidate’s statements describing law enforcement as “corrupt” for its role in a stalled investigation into Republican Representative Matt Gaetz’s alleged role in a child trafficking ring.

And, in campaign ads, Ryan has emphasized JD Vance’s prior calls to abolish the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms, despite what the campaign called the agency’s “critical role in helping local police departments take on major drug trafficking and illegal firearm cases” in the state of Ohio.

Inflation

Inflation has been demonstrated to be a defining issue that some strategists see as the real key to voter engagement in this election.

While Democrats seem to be in the lead in the national generic ballot, Republicans have been shown in polling to be on the winning side of the issue of the soaring costs of goods nationally and trade.

While Tim Ryan voted for significant spending increases under the Democrats’ Inflation Reduction Act, which has drawn the ire of Republicans and economists, JD Vance has seized this view in campaign rhetoric.

Although conditions of the bill, including incentives for domestic electric vehicle manufacturing, are believed to benefit Ohio, Vance has criticized the legislation as exacerbating inflation. He has named the Inflation Reduction Act a “joke of an economic program.”

Immigration

Immigration was the subject of JD Vance’s first advertisements in his 2022 campaign when running for Senate in Ohio.

While consultants typically write most ads, Vance said he wrote this: “Joe Biden’s open border is killing Ohioans, with more illegal drugs and more Democrat voters pouring into this country.” JD Vance’s views on immigration largely echo those of Donald Trump.

He wanted to complete the construction of the border wall and announced that he would “oppose every attempt to grant amnesty” to immigrants who came here illegally. He prefers a merit-based system for immigrants aspiring to settle here.

Vance says that undocumented immigrants are a source of cheap labor that undermines wages for American-born workers in states like Ohio.

He believes that if you can’t hire illegal immigrants to hire in hotels, then you’re obligated to seek one of the seven million prime-age American men who are out of the labor force and find a way to re-engage them.

Election integrity

JD Vance agrees with Trump’s claims that the 2020 election was “stolen.” He announced that he believed there were “problems” with the election. The senator has also downplayed the violence that happened during the January 6th, 2021, attack on the US Capitol.

Vance said he was “skeptical” that then-Vice President Mike Pence’s life was ever in danger. JD also said he would have preferred not to accredit the 2020 election results without pro-Trump electors in an interview with ABC.

Both Trump and JD Vance have planted a few seeds of doubt here and there about the 2024 election, with the vice presidential nominee saying he would only accept the results of the vote if they’re “free and fair.”

In an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, he stated: “I plan to accept the results of 2024. I think Donald Trump will be the victor. And if it’s a free and fair election. I think every Republican will enthusiastically accept the results.”

He’s also advocated against the widespread use of mail-in ballots, which puts him at odds with Trump, expressing that the process creates “extraordinary opportunities for fraud.”

If you haven’t read JD Vance’s Hillbilly Elegy yet. Here’s a copy from Amazon!

So what do YOU think about JD Vance’s views? Do you agree or disagree with them? Please feel free to share your thoughts on the matter in the comments section.

And if you found this article interesting, we highly recommend checking out: Millionaires Share 5 Reasons a Trump Presidency Could Boost Your Wealth!