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.








