No, I’m not talking about the article Ursula posted here on Politizoom last night about Vance skewering his boss on rising prices. This is about something completely different (and stupid) Vance said on TV. There’s a now long running and not actually funny joke about Trump and the GOP having killed Irony. Some including me have remarked on how these asshats keep digging up poor ole irony just to abuse its corpse. I’ve realized Trump VP pick J.D. Vance is trying to show leadership and provide a new thing for conservatives to kill – CLUELESSNESS. Vance is a walking, talking example for clueless. Each week he comes up with yet another boneheaded, tone-deaf, out-of-touch statement that proves he doesn’t have a freaking clue!
Think about it. Childless Cat ladies. People without kids not having any “physical” skin in the game of making America (by his definition) “great.” (Pete Buttigieg cut him down to size noting when HE and his fellow soldiers without kids ‘went outside the wire’ – as in into actual combat looking for the enemy – while serving this country it sure as hell was “physical.”) People with children should have more votes. The couch humping thing which proved not to be true but it still rings as plausible – probably as I saw somewhere while people bought his book not many read the thing. Then there are statements that go beyond flip-flopping his views on Trump and delve into ‘Does he realize which candidate he’s running as VP for? Stuff like his attacks on Tim Walz’s military service while touting a DRAFT DODGING CHICKENHAWK like Trump for example.
Well, Vance has gifted us with a new doozy. It seems Congressman Jamie Raskin got under Vance’s (and/or Trump’s) during his convention speech. As HuffPost reports Vance didn’t like Raskin taking him to task and questioning both why he was running with Trump and more pointedly why the job of being Trump’s running mate was open in the first place:
Raskin ― in his Democratic National Convention speech on Monday ― mocked the Ohio senator by poking fun at Trump’s relationship with former Vice President Mike Pence, who refused to block the certification of electoral votes amid the former president’s efforts to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
“They tried to kill your predecessor,” declared Raskin, in a likely reference to Capitol rioters chanting “Hang Mike Pence!” on Jan. 6, 2021.
It makes sense Vance would get asked about that. Hell, the idiot fictional Ted Baxter from the Mary Tyler Moore show would know to ask Vance that question. In real life it was CNN’s Jake Tapper who posed it to Vance later that evening if he had “any reservations at all” about being Trump’s running mate given what happened with Pence. My god did Vance screw the couch pooch with his answer:
Vance said he couldn’t help but laugh at Raskin’s remarks.
“I just don’t understand a person in American politics in 2024 who is whining about what happened to them, instead of using their leadership and influence to make the lives of American citizens better,” Vance said.
Vance’s object lesson in cluelessness puts the spotlight right back on something Trump wants everyone to forget! It makes you wonder if Vance wishes he was in Tim Walz’s position. Or, being a young guy hoping that in a decade or so he can try to rehabilitate his reputation with some lame narrative about how having realized he was wrong to get on the couch… oops in bed (oops again) with Trump he decided to subtlety sabotage Trump’s campaign. Naw. Vance is just clueless. Hey, he graduated from an awfully good college and got a Yale law degree so he’s not stupid. However we’ve all known people who were smart and completely lacking in common sense. Just downright oblivious to their surroundings to the point of saying and doing really, really stupid stuff. Still, Vance said what he said. See it for yourself:
Vance: I just don't understand a person in American politics in 2024 who is whining about what happened to them instead of using their leadership and influence to make the lives of American citizens better. pic.twitter.com/BGL02Ht1aX
— Acyn (@Acyn) August 22, 2024
If you’ve got a few minutes check out the linked article from HuffPost. I’ve already given you the highlights but there’s a whole series of tweets mocking Vance (and by extension Trump) you’ll find entertaining. For the moment we are looking forward to tonight and the conclusion of the Democratic National Convention. Democrats have plenty to feel good about but this time tomorrow we’ll need to be looking to translate all the energy into enough votes to overwhelm Trump, Trumpism and the GOP no matter how many lies they tell, and how many votes they try to suppress whether it’s keeping people from voting in the first place or refusing to count and or certify their votes.
In the meantime, I’m sure that once a week or so Vance will provide yet another ‘What the hell was Trump thinking picking THIS guy?‘ moment.
I’m not sure how to couch this comment, but ‘Hang in there’ JD, like Mike Pence did. Trump’s got your back.
Maybe “Hang Loose” as it at least gives Vance a chance to wriggle out of the noose that the J6 rioters never managed to hand around Pence’s neck.
“Hey, he graduated from an awfully good college and got a Yale law degree so he’s not stupid.”
I’m going to have to disagree. We’ve seen some pretty stupid people with a Yale law degree so we don’t have a situation of “a leads to b.” Some names to consider with a “Yale law degree” include Samuel Alito, Josh Hawley, Brett Kavanaugh, Kris Kobach, John Bolton, Alan Dershowitz, John “Torture Advocate” Yoo, Pat Robertson. Most of these folks’ only “smartness” consists of “how to use fancy words to present some very stupid arguments.”
Don’t forget George W Bush was a Yale grad.
In his case he was a beneficiary of privileged white affirmative action, and got his degree via a whole bunch of what were known as “Gentlemen’s Cs.” He’ll be the first to admit he didn’t take his undergrad studies seriously. He was much more studious when attending Harvard for an MBA.
You left out Clarence Thomas. Most of these people were in fact good students who actually earned their degrees. It’s the choices they made after because of their character defects that have been stupid. As with being born to or acquiring great wealth, some people look at their good fortune and elect to use it to benefit others. Some however choose to use it for self-serving and even nefarious purposes. And some with academic gifts really are pretty clueless or lacking in basic human decency to recognize the scope of opportunities they have and make what you and I would consider the right choices. When part of them realize they could have and should have done better the game of rationalization kicks in, and maintaining their willful ignorance leads to ever more stupid choices.
Vance:
When it came to VP candidates, the Democrats had a very long list of excellent options, whereas the Republicans had to immediately disqualify 60-70% of their potential choices because either they would never want the job, or they weren’t MAGA enough and/or loyal enough for Drumpf. That leaves the imbeciles like JD “Just Dumb” Vance as one of the few remaining people willing to debase themselves in service of that orange sociopath. And as bad as Vance is, who would have been any better? Anyone “qualified” was out right off the top so it was only the worst of the worst who would be considered and the worst of those who would accept. Drumpf got exactly what he deserved in a running mate. Karma at work.
“Only the best people”, as always, right?