JD Vance 4.0 Is Here
The latest upgrade to JDos aims for a chaotic-good character alignment. Not sure how well MAGA is going to take to that.
1. The New New
Last night JD Vance, late of cat-lady and pet-eating fame, slid into a normie skinsuit.
It worked great. Vance was charming and deft. He won nearly every interaction, owned nearly every question. He parried and pivoted with the skill of a Clinton.
This was the fourth version of JD Vance to appear in public life.
Vance 1.0 was a memoirist and Hillbilly whisperer.
Vance 2.0 was a Never Trump pundit.
Vance 3.0 was a MAGA edgelord.
Vance 4.0 is something like a cross between 2010 Elizabeth Warren and 2016 Marco Rubio, with some light nativism sprinkled in.
A reminder: Vance just turned 40. Even Sohrab Ahmari must be impressed with the pace of the JDos update cycle.
Bill Kristol says that Vance was road-testing “a kinder, gentler MAGA” and I think that’s right. Vance’s plan for the debate was clearly to create distance between himself and Trump and establish him (Vance) as the brand leader who will eventually inherit—or take—Trump’s coalition from him.
And I want to stipulate that Vance accomplished this mission as well as possible. It was a great performance.
Also: I want to stipulate that no one will care about Vance’s shapeshifting and he will pay no price for his serial evolutions. He’s Rollo Tomasi. He’s the guy who gets away with it.
But at the same time, I think Vance has made a category-level mistake and that this error suggests that Vance doesn’t actually understand MAGA politics.
Because here’s the key question: Do Trump voters want a kinder, gentler version of MAGA?