J.D. Vance once said conspiracy theories were stupid, but now embraces them

Reinvented myself

Joseph Uscinski, a professor at the University of Miami and an expert on the history of conspiracy theories, said Vance has “completely reinvented himself.” “It’s in his favor now, given what Trump has done to the Republican Party. It wouldn’t have worked 20 or 30 years ago. He would have been seen as a kook. But it makes sense, given what Trump has done to the Republican Party.”

Deny Conspiracy theories It’s not a recipe for electoral success.

Mike Pence and Liz Cheney are prime examples of what happens to people who refuse to accept such ideas. Pence, Trump’s former vice president, refused to go along with plans to overturn the 2020 election results and ran unsuccessfully in the 2024 Republican presidential primary. Former Rep. Cheney came under attack from Trump and his allies after leading the House investigation into Trump’s role in the riot. She was stripped of her leadership role in Congress and lost her House seat in the Republican primary to a candidate endorsed by Trump.

A Vance campaign spokesman said the candidate stands by many of his positions, but Immigrants in Ohio are kidnapping pets — some of which have been misrepresented by Democrats.

Vance recently suggested he’s comfortable sharing unsubstantiated claims if it helps bring attention to an issue.

“If I have to create stories in the American media to actually focus on the suffering of the American people, then I’m going to do that,” Trump said on CNN on Sunday.

Later, in the same interview, he said his claims about kidnapped pets had helped “focus” media attention on immigration issues.

From Intellectual to Conspiracy Theorist

Vance, 40, found early success and fame as the author of “Hillbilly Elegy,” a best-selling 2016 memoir that explored the plight of rural America.

In the book, Vance labels conspiracy theorists “heretic lunatics” and writes that their beliefs have spread in part because people have lost trust in the media: “When trust in the press wanes, there’s no way to stop the internet conspiracy theories from dominating the digital world.”

Vance expressed similar views to friends before writing the book.

Karen Tiernan served in the US Marines with Vance during his deployment to Iraq in 2005 and 2006. She said Vance always denied the conspiracy theories that arose in their discussions, including that the US government was behind the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

“Vance didn’t have time,” said Tiernan, a close friend of Senator Vance’s.

A review of Vance’s books and speeches shows that he first began diving into conspiracy theories after he announced his candidacy for an open U.S. Senate seat in Ohio in 2021.

He protected Jones, Infowars hostIn a 2021 speech, he said that “believing crazy things is no criterion for whether or not you should reject someone.”

A Vance campaign spokesman told The Associated Press that the candidate doesn’t agree with Jones about the Sandy Hook shooting and compared the conspiracy theories to Democratic concerns. Russia’s support for Trump 2016.

The senator also repeatedly questioned the seriousness of the January 6, 2021, riot and denied any threats against Pence’s life, as rioters searched the Capitol for the vice president and chanted, “Hang Mike Pence!”

He said the “real attack on democracy” wasn’t Jan. 6, but the fact that people charged in the riot are still in custody.

“It is an insult to all of us that so many people are rotting in prison without a speedy trial. These people are political prisoners,” he said. Written On social media in 2022.

And he probably said, Pizzagate “Conspiracy theory that Democrats are pedophiles and hide kidnapped children in pizza places”

Repercussions of the Great Substitution Theory

Vance also mentioned George Soros, one of the far-right’s favorite villains.

Soros, a Jewish financier and Democratic megadonor, is such a frequent target among conservatives that the long-standing anti-Semitic tropes reflected in the language used to describe him — that wealthy Jewish bankers secretly control the world and that wealthy Jewish puppet masters pull the strings of those in power — may be obscuring them.

In December 2021, Vance said of Soros: There is blood on his hands “George Soros helped get Larry Krasner into office as Philadelphia District Attorney, pouring millions of dollars into Krasner’s campaign and promising lenient punishments for criminals who would commit these murders.” Vance wrote to X..

Vance advocates for the “Great Replacement Theory,” which claims that Democrats are using immigrants to replace white Americans in an attempt to take control of the country. Rooted in anti-Semitism and racism, many supporters of the theory say the plan is orchestrated by powerful Jews like Soros and other Jews. “Globalists” or “elites”.

“The reason we’re seeing aggression in this country is because very powerful people are getting richer and more powerful because of it,” Vance told Fox News in 2022.

“This isn’t just bad policy,” Vance added. “It’s wickedness.”

Vance’s campaign denies that he uses anti-Semitic or anti-immigrant rhetoric, points out that he has three mixed-race children with his wife, the daughter of Indian immigrants, and says Democrats have discussed how immigration could help the party’s electoral chances.

“Many Democratic leaders have gleefully proclaimed in public that demographic change will lead to increased political power for them,” the campaign said.

But by attacking Soros and promoting the Great Replacement Theory, Vance is toying with dangerous rhetoric that has sparked violence in the past, said Amy Spitalnick, CEO of the Jewish Public Affairs Council.

Not long ago, major party candidates would have rejected such a theory for fear that voters might see it as racist or anti-Semitic, but that’s no longer the case, Spitalnick said.

“This is becoming more and more normalized and mainstream,” she said. “This is no accident, and it’s very dangerous.”