It seems J.D. Vance’s “No BS Tour” is skipping a stop in Minnesota. The Ohio Senate hopeful, currently polling in third place, was slated to speak at the Minnesota GOP’s annual Lincoln-Reagan dinner fundraising event. Then, without explanation, he was pulled.
Scheduled on April Fool’s Day with no apparent sense of irony, the invite went out in late February and almost immediately, Minnesota Republicans pushed back against Vance’s selection. Brian McClung, former spokesman for Gov. Tim Pawlenty tweeted:
Michael Brodkorb, former deputy chair of the Minnesota Republican party, observed that “numerous Republican operatives” were “fuming” about the selection of Vance as the keynote speaker, highlighting Vance’s ill-informed and callous (not to mention electorally stupid) comments about Russia’s invasion of Ukraine as a primary reason for their ire. Though maybe the objection is really about Vance being Vance.
For those who may have forgotten: Vance went on Steve Bannon’s War Room and said “I gotta be honest with you, I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another” during a clumsy attempt to show that his real priority is the U.S.-Mexico border and stopping shipments of fentanyl.
He then kind of, sort of, walked back his statements a few days later.
But then he cashed in one of infinite invitations to go on Tucker Carlson’s show to un-walk back the walk-back. The banner on his campaign webpage features the following fundraising appeal: “Secure our Southern Border and NOT Ukraine’s Border! Stand with Tucker Carlson and JD Vance.”
In other words: J.D. Vance is gonna J.D. Vance. It’s what he does.
But he has other problems, too. Vance is also under fire for investing in the platform Rumble with his political sugar daddy, Peter Thiel. Rumble, if you’re not familiar, is YouTube for those who have been “canceled” by Big Tech.
Mostly that means your garden-variety far-right, white-nationalist types. But Rumble is also the new home to RT, the Kremlin’s propaganda channel.
Poor guy can’t catch a break.
Apparently, Vance didn’t know that there is a very large Ukrainian American community in Ohio either which was a very stupid mistake. He clearly didn’t read the electorate properly .
He’s not doing well in his race, despite all the money in the world. And it’s not because he’s too MAGA crazy. Josh Mandel who is running against him grovels before Dear Leader even more obsequiously and he’s way ahead. I think he’s just creepy. I didn’t think any level of creepiness was too much for GOP voters but apparently even they have their limits.