Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) admitted that he had been “wrong” with his past opinions about former President Donald Trump, noting he had “believed” some of the “dishonest, fabrications” about Trump’s record from the media.
When asked during the vice presidential debate between Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz (D) about his previous comments made about Trump, Vance explained that while he has “disagreed” with Trump, he has been “extremely open” about his past views of Trump.
“Sen. Vance, in 2016, you called your running mate Donald Trump, ‘unfit for the nation’s highest office,’ and you said, ‘he could be America’s Hitler,'” CBS News moderator Margaret Brennan said. “I know you’ve said — you’ve been asked many times — and you’ve said you regret those comments and explained you then voted for Donald Trump in 2020, but the Washington Post reported new messages last week in which you also disparaged Trump’s economic record while he was president, writing to someone in 2020, ‘Trump thoroughly failed to deliver his economic populism.’ You’re now his running mate, and you’ve shifted many of your policy stances to align with his, if you become vice president why should Americans trust that you will give Donald Trump the advice he needs to hear and not just the advice he wants to hear?”
“Well, first of all, Margaret, because I’ve also been open and sometimes, of course, I’ve disagreed with the president, but I’ve also been extremely open about the fact that I was wrong about Donald Trump,” Vance explained. “I was wrong first of all because I believed some of the media stories that turned out to be dishonest, fabrications of his record. But, most importantly, Donald Trump delivered for the American people rising wages, rising take-home pay, an economy that worked for normal Americans, a secure southern border — a lot of things frankly that I didn’t think he would be able to deliver on. And, yeah, when you screw up, when you misspeak, when you get something wrong and you change your mind, you ought to be honest with the American people about it.”
Prior to the 2016 presidential election, Vance previously described Trump as an “idiot” and as being “reprehensible,” according to Reuters.
During an interview with Fox News in July, Vance admitted that he had criticized Trump, explaining that Trump had been “a great president” and that he changed Vance’s mind.
