Report: JD Vance Sought to Advise Clinton's 2016 Campaign Against Trump
A new Vanity Fair profile reveals that US Vice President JD Vance sought to advise Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign on defeating Donald Trump, a claim firmly rejected by his office.
US Vice President JD Vance, currently one of President Donald Trump's closest allies, attempted to contact senior figures in Hillary Clinton's 2016 campaign to offer advice on how to defeat Trump, according to a sweeping profile published by Vanity Fair detailing Vance's past and his years at Yale University.
According to the report, an individual who served as a mediator between Vance and the Clinton campaign at the time stated that Vance called and asked, "Can you connect me with Jake Sullivan?" Sullivan, who later served as national security adviser to President Joe Biden, was a senior policy adviser to Clinton during that period. According to the source, when Vance was told Sullivan was too busy, he reached out again. "I hate Hillary. But I hate Trump more," Vance was quoted as saying. "Trump can't win. He can't win. Hillary is going to lose, but she doesn't have to."
Vance's Strategic Advice to the Clinton Campaign
Vanity Fair reported that Vance did not stop at general opposition to Trump, but rather offered concrete strategy to the Clinton campaign. He urged her to quickly reach out to swing states in the American West — Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin, and Pennsylvania — and speak directly to working-class voters in areas hit hard by the Iraq War and its aftermath.
"Instead of being with Beyoncé in Miami," Vance demanded that Clinton visit the Western states and apologize for her support of the Iraq War. He asked her, according to the report, to speak to communities where "sons and fathers died and everyone just forgot about them."
Clinton, who served as a senator from New York, voted in 2002 in favor of the resolution authorizing President George W. Bush to use force in Iraq.
According to Vanity Fair, Vance and Sullivan did speak directly about six weeks before the election. A source close to Sullivan told the magazine that he does not recall Vance explicitly speaking about the "Blue Wall states," but he did remember that he pressed the campaign to repair the damage caused after Clinton called some of Trump's supporters a "basket of deplorables." According to the source, Vance's message was that Clinton "must focus."
Office of the Vice President Rejects the Claims
The Office of the Vice President rejected Vanity Fair's portrayal of the affair. Vance's spokeswoman, Taylor Van Kirk, told the magazine that "a lot of people asked the Vice President for advice in 2016. He never worked for any campaign, but he urged both Republicans and Democrats to pay attention to working-class towns like Middletown, Ohio. We 100% reject the characterization that he tried to help Hillary win."
Vance's Past Criticism of Donald Trump
Vance ultimately did not vote for Clinton in 2016. According to Vanity Fair, he voted for independent candidate Evan McMullin. That year, he was one of the most prominent critics of Trump within the conservative camp.
In an interview with National Public Radio (NPR) in August 2016, Vance said he was unable to "stomach" Trump, called him "toxic," and said he was leading the white working class to "a very dark place." He even said at the time that if he thought Trump had a realistic chance of winning, he might have to "hold my nose and vote for Hillary Clinton." In the end, as noted, he did not do so.
During that period, Vance also described Trump as unfit for the presidency, described him in an Atlantic article as a kind of "cultural heroin," and even wondered privately to a friend whether Trump was "America's Hitler." Vance has since stated that he changed his mind after Trump's first term, arguing that he had misjudged him.
The high-profile magazine article explored at length how Vance transitioned from a fierce critic of Trump to his ally and eventually his running mate in the White House.
