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Why J.D. Vance Is Giving Serious Jeb Bush Vibes

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The New Abnormal team believes J.D. Vance has echoes of Jeb Bush: a man who was meant to be the next big thing for Republicans but who failed to capture the public imagination.

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Jeb Bush and J.D. Vance
Photo Illustration by Erin O’Flynn/The Daily Beast/Getty Images

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J.D. Vance has faced criticism from many quarters since being announced as Donald Trump’s running mate. He is being skewered for past comments about childless cat ladies and even things he hasn’t said, ahem, about getting intimate with a couch.

All this is conjuring up memories of Jeb Bush for The New Abnormal team—a man who was meant to be the next big thing for the Republican Party but who failed to capture the public’s imagination, and whom Trump famously dubbed “Low Energy Jeb.”

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“It is the weirdest thing to me,” Vance said while speaking about voter ID laws at a rally in Virginia. “Democrats say that it is racist to believe, well, they say it’s racist to do anything. I had a Diet Mountain Dew yesterday and one today. I’m sure they’re gonna call that racist too, but it’s good. I love you guys.”

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“It was giving Jeb (Bush) vibes! What a crazy guy. He’s so sad and pathetic and unless you called the Mountain Dew colored, I’m pretty sure no one would think it was racist. But they do think you’re a fucking idiot,” said The New Abnormal co-host Danielle Moodie.

“I mean, good for him that he drinks Diet Mountain Dew. I guess. I cannot imagine anyone gives a shit,” fellow co-host Andy Levy said. “Look, every generation gets the ‘please clap’ it deserves and I think whatever soda he’s drinking that the slogan could be ‘The Please Clap of a New Generation.’”

Plus! Journalist Joe Conason joins the podcast to talk about his new book, The Longest Con: How Grifters, Swindlers and Frauds Hijacked American Conservatism.

Listen to this full episode of The New Abnormal on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Amazon, and Stitcher.

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