Summary
- JD Vance once called Trump “America’s Hitler” privately.
- Made the comparison before Trump’s 2016 presidential election.
- Publicly criticized Trump as “reprehensible” and a “moral disaster.”
Vance, who has adopted a more assertive stance since the assassination of his buddy, conservative activist Charlie Kirk, stated in a vehement speech following a shooting at an ICE detention center in Dallas that the left must cease its vitriol regarding the Trump administration in order to prevent political violence.
“If you want to stop political violence, stop telling your supporters that everybody who disagrees with you is a Nazi,”
Vance said, to applause.
“If you want to stop political violence, look in the mirror.”
Vance went on to say that anybody who uses their words to "encourage violence" against law officers can "go straight to hell."
However, a number of individuals noted on the internet that Vance had previously spoken to his current boss using similar language.
According to an Ohio Capital Journal story, Vance texted his roommate at the time in 2016 to express his belief that Trump was "America's Hitler."
“Why did @JDVance call Trump ‘America’s Hitler,’”
Democratic Representative Eric Swalwell wrote on X in response to the clip of Vance.
The Lincoln Project, a political action committee opposed to Trump, sarcastically responded:
“Does ‘America's Hitler’ count @VP?”
In response, the office of California Governor Gavin Newsom shared a screenshot of a headline that mentioned Vance's "Hitler" remark. The statement read,
Just because JD Vance compared Trump to Hitler, JD Vance is going to hell.
In an effort to counter their agenda, Newsom and his team have been taunting Trump, Vance, and other high-ranking administration officials on the Democratic governor's social media accounts.
Grok, the platform's AI chatbot, was asked by another X user to remind people about Vance's remark on Trump.
Vance has a long history of criticizing Trump. The vice president had expressed sorrow for criticizing the president on X, formerly Twitter, and said he was "wrong" about him before receiving Trump's endorsement.
When confronted about his former beliefs about Trump during the vice presidential debate last year, Vance reiterated that he was wrong about Trump and then blamed the media for swaying his opinion of Trump in 2016.
"I've always been extremely open about the fact that I was wrong about Donald Trump,"
Vance said, during the debate. "I was wrong first of all because I believed some of the media stories that turned out to be dishonest fabrications of his record.”
In the end, Vance's prior disparaging remarks about Trump did not harm his chances of winning the 2024 presidential election as his running mate.
Vance has so far shown a strong devotion to the president and shared his views on a number of issues, including divisive rhetoric about Democrats and the left engaging in political violence.
How have Democrats and Republicans reacted to this reminder?
Democrats have used the reminder as a way to highlight what they see as Vance's past statements about Trump as inconsistent behavior or political opportunism. Some Democrats argue that Vance's past scathing proclamations regarding Trump contrast with this latest close relationship, indicating political consequences rather than sincerity.
The reminder serves to delegitimize Vance and takes advantage of the cracks forming in the Republican party. Many Republicans have either ignored or minimized the effect of the reminder; they characterize it as a shift in Vance's position while also claiming commitment to Trump.
Some in the Republican party defend Vance's comments, arguing that he did not fully understand the value or implications of Trump at the time of his comments, and now Vance's interest in Trump shows growth or pragmatism.