Former president Donald Trump and his Republican running mate, JD Vance, once again seem to be reading off entirely different scripts.
Lately, Trump has doubled down on disturbing rhetoric about his political rivals, dubbing journalists and Democrats his sworn “enemies” and floating vague future punishments.
Meanwhile, Vance struck much softer note at a town hall with NewsNation on Thursday, when asked how the winner of November’s election should approach the losing side. “We have to set the tone,” Vance said, without a trace of irony. “We’re all Americans, we’re all in this together and we’re all part of the same American family.”
It’s not the first time that Trump and Vance have appeared out of step on the campaign trail—perhaps on purpose. The Ohio senator and vice presidential nominee has recently emerged as a one-man clean-up crew for his running mate’s more offensive rhetoric, re-interpreting Trump’s off-the-cuff bombast for undecided voters and skeptical journalists.
In recent weeks, for instance, Vance has attempted to explain Trump’s comments about Vice President Kamala Harris’s racial identity (“What I took it as was an attack on Kamala Harris being a chameleon.”); Trump’s repeat disparagement of Detroit (He “was just talking honestly about the fact that Detroit has been left behind.”); and his threat to use the military against his political enemies (“Donald Trump is unfiltered…he speaks from the heart sometimes.”).
That role has apparently come at personal cost for Vance. During his discussion of tone-setting and “American families” on Thursday, the VP nominee mentioned that some of his and his wife’s friends have gotten “very personal” about their political differences. “If you’re discarding a lifelong friendship because somebody votes for the other team,” he said, “then you’ve made a terrible, terrible mistake and you should do something different.”
Vance famously and vocally opposed Trump before he launched his own political career— something that one of his close former friends has spoken out about. Trump and Vance are, however, perfectly in sync on the subject of Trump now.
Later in Thursday’s town hall, Trump called in to ask Vance an “easy” question: “How brilliant is Donald J. Trump?”
“First of all sir, you’re very brilliant,” Vance said. “We both agree…that it’s important to have very smart people running our government.”
