In the last several years, Sen. JD Vance, R-Ohio, has transformed himself into a paragon of the MAGA movement. He’s thrown himself with gusto into the culture wars that Fox News’ conservatives delight in. And, like his running mate, former President Donald Trump, he has refused to apologize for offending anyone along the way. But while Trump’s behavior has won him devoted loyalists, Vance’s copycat act isn’t landing with anyone who isn’t already a fan of his boss.
While Trump’s behavior has won him devoted loyalists, Vance’s copycat act isn’t landing with anyone who isn’t already a fan of his boss.
A prime example came Thursday, when Vance attempted a “joke” on X ahead of Vice President Kamala Harris’ interview with CNN. Claiming that he’d gotten the footage ahead of time, Vance shared a clip from the 2007 Miss Teen USA contest, where a contestant went viral for her disjointed answer. When Vance appeared on CNN for his own interview Friday morning, anchor John Berman pointed him to a 2015 interview with the contestant in the video, Caitlin Upton. In that interview, Upton said she experienced suicidal ideation from the negative attention that moment brought her.
Vance denied knowing the video’s effect on Upton. But the best way to deal with “making mistakes in the public eye,” he said, is “to laugh at ourselves, laugh at this stuff, and try to have some fun in politics.” After an awkward attempt to shoehorn in talking points about inflation, he returned to defending his post. “There’s nothing that says we can’t tell some jokes along the way while we deal with the very serious business of bringing back our public policy,” Vance continued. “Politics has gotten way too lame, John, way too boring.”
Berman then asked if Vance would like to apologize to Upton and he refused. “I’m not going to apologize for posting a joke, but I wish the best for Caitlin, I hope she’s doing well,” he said. (In a post on X Friday, Upton wrote, “Regardless of political beliefs, one thing I do know is that social media and online bullying needs to stop.” She subsequently deleted her account.)
In that same interview, Berman asked Vance about Trump’s cascade of conspiratorial, sexist ranting on Truth Social over the previous 48 hours. The former president’s account was a truly unhinged mix of posts written by Trump himself and content he’d shared from others, including QAnon references and suggestions that Harris slept her way to power. “I’d much rather have a candidate who is willing to go off script, who’s willing to give every interview, and is willing tell some jokes,” Vance said in response. “A politics of boring scolds telling people they can’t laugh, that is not lifting Americans up, that’s how to tear us down.”
There’s a lot to unpack in that answer, but let’s focus in on the idea that Vance and Trump are just trying to bring some levity to politics with their attacks. It’s the same excuse that X owner Elon Musk and other (mostly) white (mostly) men use to defend of punching down at marginalized groups, supposedly for laughs. Any offense is the fault of the listener being too sensitive, claim the same people who are simultaneously very upset at being called “weird.” Meanwhile, the people that are most supportive of the sexism and racism on display are the Trump campaign’s target audience. Many of them are the exact kind of people who are making similar jokes day in and out, whether on podcasts or among seething co-workers.
Here’s the thing though: Vance is no Trump. As my colleague Zeeshan Aleem has argued before, for all Trump’s many faults and flaws, he knows how to entertain a crowd. His act has gotten more and more tired as he has aged, but he still has a certain charisma that keeps the devoted attached to him. Vance, on the other hand, fails to stick punch lines. He’s awkward and uncomfortable regardless of whether he’s speaking to a convention hall, television audience or a donut shop worker. It’s all too apparent when he speaks that he’s performing a warmed-over, bargain-basement version of Trump’s schtick.
Here’s the thing though: Vance is no Trump.
The key word there is “performing.” As Semafor’s Dave Weigel has noted, the “shock jock cum politico” bit that Vance is trying on for size clashes with his previous roles of “rural America explainer” and “Silicon Valley thinker.” We saw the same sort of halting, unconvincing act during Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis’ failed GOP primary campaign, when he tried to fit the bill of “Trump without the baggage.” I can’t say for sure whether Vance believes the things he says or if he’s just trying to fit in among a group that might actually tolerate him. But as Friday’s CNN interview showed, he still feels the need to hedge and try to keep anyone from getting too mad at him for saying what he said.
In contrast, Trump works because he knows what he’s saying is terrible, and he says it anyway. Often, he does so with a smirk, as though daring anyone to call him on it. His audience delights in being in on the gag, that someone is finally willing to voice the thing they’re all thinking. And when he is called on whatever bile has come from his mouth, he can lean back on the idea that it’s a “joke,” even if he was being honest the whole time.
In trying to bring things back around to his attack lines on Harris rather than rolling around in the muck, Vance demonstrated why this is a bad fit for him. Trump’s rampant narcissism gives him an entirely unearned confidence, projecting the illusion of strength behind his hits. With Vance, it feels more like someone doing a very unfortunate bit. And much like every other keyboard warrior who’s tough behind a screen but crumples in real life, it’s likely that it would take just one sentence to force Vance into a retreat: “Please, senator, can you explain the joke here?”