Opinion

This Is the Most Extreme Presidential Ticket in Modern American History

THE NEW ABNORMAL

What does J.D. Vance offer beyond more of the absolute same? The New Abnormal co-hosts Andy Levy and Danielle Moody are here to get to the bottom of it.

opinion
A photo illustration of J.D. Vance and Donald Trump.
Photo Illustration by Thomas Lev/Photo Illustration by Thomas Levinson/The Daily Beast/Getty

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America found out on Monday that Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) is former President Donald Trump’s pick for running mate. But just who is Vance? Not just a racist with a full head of hair—he’s also, after some recalibration, as MAGA as MAGA can be. That’s according to The New Abnormal’s Andy Levy and Danielle Moody, who are here to pitch that as a potential silver lining.

“You could probably make the argument, at least in, in modern America, that this is the most extreme presidential ticket that we have had,” Andy says. “I think you’d have to go back a really long way to maybe find an example to the contrary, and I’m not sure that works.”

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Then, Rep. Jared Huffman (D-CA) joins the pod to discuss what it could look like to move a new nominee onto the Democratic ticket. Provided President Joe Biden decides to step aside, Huffman says, he doesn’t want to see a gaggle of party insiders anoint their favorite man for the job. Rather, he likes the idea of a so-called “mini-primary,” a process Rep. James E. Clyburn (D-SC) outlined earlier this month.

“I’m kind of excited about that scenario. It would reinvigorate this race,” Huffman explains. “It would change the narrative. It's all anybody would be talking about for the next month.”

Plus! Dr. Shawn Ginwright, the Jerome T. Murphy Professor of Practice at Harvard Graduate School of Education, stops by to talk about his book, The Four Pivots: Reimagining Justice, Reimagining Ourselves, which “everyone and their mother and their mother’s mother should be reading,” as Moodie puts it.

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

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