J.D. Vance

“Seriously, we need to release the Epstein list. That's an important thing. ”

— Interview on Theo Von podacst episode #540

Notes:

"What changed?" - Theo Von

“I was wrong about Donald Trump.”

— 2024 vice‑presidential debate explanation of past Trump comments

Notes:

He was actually right.

“Reports now show that people have had their pets abducted and eaten by people who shouldn't be in this country. Where is our border czar?”

— Post on X (Twitter) @JDVance

Notes:

There were no such reports. It was made up with the only reference being "concerned citizens". https://apnews.com/article/vance-haitians-springfield-ohio-pets-false-claims-1c4c8a06ca7d0e1328ba6b9c1b5ca7ff

“I think what Trump should do, if I was giving him one piece of advice: Fire every single mid-level bureaucrat, every civil servant in the administrative state, and replace them with our people. And when the courts stop you, stand before the country and say, ‘The chief justice has made his ruling. Now let him enforce it.”

— Interview on Jack Murphy Live

Notes:

Vance already mentioned Curtis Yarvin before, and he was backed by Peter Thiel. This just echos their ideas for them to be in control of the government.

“This country is effectively run, in a lot of ways, by a bunch of childless cat ladies who are miserable in their own lives and the choices that they’ve made and so they want to make the rest of the country miserable too.”

— Interview with Tucker Carlson

“I'm a Never Trump guy. I never liked him.”

— A 2016 Charlie Rose interview

Notes:

He later said that he was wrong about Trump.

“There's definitely an element of Donald Trump support that has its basis in racism and xenphobia. But a lot of these folks are just really hardworking people who are struggling in really important ways. And the way that I think about it is that folks can be led by political leaders in one direction or another. They can be pushed or pulled. And what Hillary Clinton says something like that, it strikes me that she is pushing people away from what she wants them to get out of her message. And if you think as I do that Donald Trump does not have a good message either, that is maybe not the best approach to politics.”

— PBS News Hour Interview

“Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation’s highest office.”

— 2016 New York Times op-ed

“I go back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical asshole like Nixon who wouldn't be that bad (and might even prove useful) or that he's America's Hitler.”

— 2016 Facebook message later reported by the press