JD Vance's law school roommate on shift from Trump skeptic to VP pick

[Dulcinea]

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After Trump endorsed Vance in 2022, McLaurin publicized a text message he said was sent by Vance in 2016.

“We are, whether we like it or not, the party of lower-income, lower-education white people, and I have been saying for a long time that we need to offer those people SOMETHING (and hell, maybe even expand our appeal to working class black people in the process) or a demagogue would,” Vance allegedly wrote. “We are now at the point.”

The text continued: “I go back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical (expletive) like Nixon who wouldn’t be that bad — and might even prove useful — or that he’s America’s Hitler. How’s that for discouraging?”

As Trump’s popularity grew, McLaurin said Vance shifted to identify closer with Trump.

https://www.ajc.com/politics/state-senator-reflects-on-former-roommates-rise-to-a-lead-trump-vp-pick/UMBEIWLGPZHHJONKSA2R6FABDE/

[appalachiablue]

2. Tx. Also: Trump Picks JD Vance for VP, Guy Who Called Him 'America's Hitler'

Daily Kos, July 15, 2024.

Donald Trump announced on social media Monday that he has picked Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance as his vice presidential running mate for the 2024 campaign. Vance once called Trump “America’s Hitler” and wrote an op-ed titled “The Opioid of the Masses” in which he compared the Republican candidate to heroin addiction.

But that was before Vance made the cynical decision to become one of Trump’s most reliable surrogates and sycophants to further his own political career...More,
https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2024/7/15/2254427/-Trump-picks-JD-Vance-for-VP-the-guy-who-called-him-America-s-Hitler