Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), a Trump critic-turned-supporter, was confronted Tuesday on Fox News with a handful of his prior statements about the former president, including how Trump could be “America’s Hitler.”
On Special Report, Fox anchor Bret Baier read Vance’s own words back to him. Besides Vance’s February 2016 musing about whether the then-candidate was the United States’ version of the Nazi dictator, Baier mentioned how Vance wrote a few months later that Trump was “cultural heroin.”
Additional quotes from Vance that Baier cited were how he once called Trump “noxious” and “reprehensible.” Vance also once said he was a “never-Trump guy.”
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Baier then asked Trump’s potential running mate about that material being used by Democrats against the GOP ticket—assuming Vance is selected.
“Those are things that the left is going to come after you [with], and they’re probably going to be put in ads,” Baier said. “How do you deal with them now?”
Vance admitted—as he did during his Senate campaign in 2022—that he was “wrong” about Trump years ago.
“Well I think the simple answer is you have got to respect the American people enough to just level with them. Look, I was wrong about Donald Trump. I didn’t think he was going to be a good president, Bret. He was a great president, and it’s one of the reasons why I’m working so hard to make sure he gets a second term,” Vance said.
“I think you should—when you are wrong about something—you should change your mind and be honest with people about that fact.”
As for whether Trump has contacted him about being on the ticket, Vance said no.
“But if he does, I’d certainly let you know,” Vance said, claiming moments later that he is “not auditioning for the job.”
The freshman senator vigorously defended Trump during his hush-money trial in New York last month. In addition to numerous television interviews, Vance even attended trial proceedings one day, sitting not far from the defendant in what MSNBC anchor Lawrence O’Donnell dubbed the “vice presidential nominee audition bench.”
