Vance: 'Pissed Off' Biden Dropped Out, Harris 'Million Times Worse'
Submitted by MAGA
Posted 46 days ago
Republican Senator JD Vance expressed his disappointment at not being able to debate Vice President Kamala Harris, after President Joe Biden ended his re-election campaign. Speaking at his first solo event as former President Donald Trump's running mate in Middletown, Ohio, Vance said, "I was told I was going to debate Kamala Harris. And now President Trump is going to get to debate her? I'm kind of pissed off about that, if I'm being honest with you."
Vance's remarks came a day after Biden dropped out of the presidential race, following pressure to step aside amid questions about his fitness for office and ability to run a winning campaign. Biden endorsed Harris to replace him as the Democratic nominee, a move that Vance criticized as an affront to democracy.
"Elite Democrats got in a smoke-filled room and decided to throw Joe Biden overboard," Vance said. "That is not how it works. That is the threat to democracy, not the Republican Party."
Vance also took aim at Harris, accusing her of not sounding grateful enough when she speaks. "If you want to lead this country, you should feel grateful for it," Vance said. "You should feel a sense of gratitude, and I never hear that gratitude come through when I listen to Kamala Harris."
At his second campaign event of the day, in Radford, Virginia, Vance went even further, calling Harris "a million times worse" than Biden. "The Biden record is the Kamala Harris record," Vance said. "And given what we know about Joe Biden, Kamala Harris probably did a lot more than Joe Biden does."
Trump's campaign is hoping that Vance's upbringing in the industrial Midwest will help them win over voters in three key states that Biden flipped in 2020: Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin. Vance framed his Ohio speech around working-class voters in places like Middletown, railing against trade deals that made it easier for corporations to move jobs to other countries and emphasizing Trump's long-standing opposition to such pacts.
Vance also leaned into culture war issues, warning of "indoctrination" in public education and accusing Democrats of believing that "it's racist to do" or believe "anything." "I had a Diet Mountain Dew yesterday and one today — I'm sure they're gonna call that racist, too," Vance said, drawing laughs from the audience.
The event drew a large crowd, with more than 1,000 people inside the Middletown High School auditorium and another 1,000 left outside. Vance went out to greet those who couldn't get in before he spoke.
Vance's remarks were filled with expressions of gratitude to his hometown, and he was high on nostalgia as he spoke. "I might make the Secret Service take me to Central Pastry afterwards," he said.
The mix of Trump die-hards and locals loyal to Vance, or at least curious about the hometown boy chosen for the GOP ticket, lined up hours in advance. Their queue snaked past the high school and the neighboring middle school, nearly reaching the college campus a half-mile away.
"I know what the kids here deal with," Jenny King, a teacher at the middle school, said as she waited to get inside. "And I think it's fantastic to be able to say that, you know, he went through here and, you know, we're here to support."
"I can look back at yearbooks and say I knew him when, which is kind of cool," King, 53, added. "I never had him in class. But, you know, it is really neat to be able to say that … Middletown City Schools, you know, he's a product of it."
Mike Smith, a lifelong Middletown resident, said he was a fan of Vance's book and the Netflix movie adapted from it. "Never been to one of these things before," Smith, 68, said as he waited in line. "Just kind of curious. … It's kind of a rags-to-riches kind of thing and everything."
Not everyone in the crowd was starstruck, however. Steve Albert, a retiree from nearby Cincinnati, where Vance now lives, said he's voting for the Democratic ticket "but wanted to come see the circus."
"I think I'd be concerned about how he's flip-flopped about his positions and how he's flip-flopped about his support for Trump," said Albert, 67, referring to Vance's past criticism of Trump. "But someone might label him [an] opportunist."