A racist, xenophobic video posted by author and Ohio senatorial candidate J.D. Vance was met with considerable backlash on Twitter.
The Hillbilly Elegy author posted a video, going after Republican Senator Ben Sasse of Nebraska, whom Vance claimed attacked him on television for saying America should focus on getting Americans out of Afghanistan over refugees.
You can see his rant here:
Here is my message to Ben Sasse and other establishment Republicans who seem to care more about bringing 30,000 unvetted Afghan refugees into our country than getting our own people out safely.pic.twitter.com/PSfoc2swdC— J.D. Vance (@J.D. Vance) 1629734349
In the video, Vance mocked Senator Sasse for saying he "would welcome the Afghan refugees to his neighborhood with open arms" declaring "a lot of liberals would say very nice things about him."
Vance then went on to say the issue wasn't whether or not to help Afghan refugees, but "how do we do it in a way that doesn't destroy our own sovereignty" and if we do welcome Afghan refugees, they must be "properly vetted."
Vance then cited a statistic which claimed 40% of people in Afghanistan believe suicide bombings to be an acceptable means of solving problems. The makeup of the poll respondents was not shared.
Vance then asked if we should be letting such people into the United States.
" So yes, let's help the Afghans who helped us, but let's be sure we are properly vetting them, so we don't get a bunch of people who believe they should blow themselves up in a mall because somebody looked at their wife the wrong way."
"Real leadership is accepting the tradeoffs of the situation, putting our own citizens first, and not dealing in worthless platitudes because it gets people in the media to say nice things about you."
The video seemed to be a fairly blatant—if not desperate—attempt not only to attract the same Ohio voters who helped Donald Trump win Ohio in both the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, but also as a way of earning an endorsement from Trump himself.
Vance had been vocally critical of Trump until he decided to run for Senate. Then the author and venture capitalist did an about face, deleted all social media content critical of Trump and apologized for ever criticizing him.
His abrupt change left many wondering if his newfound bigoted rhetoric reflects sincerely held beliefs or if he's simply pandering to the MAGA minions.
In what has already proven to be a contentious primary race, the former President has yet to endorse any of the Republican candidates, with Vance being one of five.
With his opponents frequently promoting Vance openly criticized Donal Trump in the past, Vance has since taken to frequently espousing the same, far-right rhetoric of the former President. He's even gone so far as to claim his change of heart—just in time to run for office—was because "he proved me wrong".
But not everyone was fooled by Vance's blatant fear-mongering, as countless Twitter followers wasted no time in condemning his hateful, White nationalist rhetoric.
Vance says the Afghans we're helping include "a bunch of people who believe they should blow themselves up at a mall because somebody looked at their wife the wrong way."\n\nWhile veterans work nonstop to help our Afghan allies, he remains an embarrassment to the entire community.https://twitter.com/JDVance1/status/1429835612341874691\u00a0\u2026— Brandon Friedman (@Brandon Friedman) 1629739025
Pretty revolting video— Louis Anthony Loftus (@Louis Anthony Loftus) 1629734534
All this humiliation to end up finishing in a distant 3rd in the primary smdh— Charlie (@Charlie) 1629734550
it's so funny to gain all your fame as a messenger for beleaguered hillbillies and then use all that heat to morph into the millionth republican whining about how capital gains taxes limit our freedomshttps://twitter.com/JDVance1/status/1429835612341874691\u00a0\u2026— Garbage Ape \ud83e\udda7 (@Garbage Ape \ud83e\udda7) 1629737664
The US already has a vetting system for refugees and SIVs. I don\u2019t think your reaction to seeing parents pass babies over barbed wire to get them to safety should be to suspect that they\u2019re sleeper terrorists.— Leah Libresco Sargeant (@Leah Libresco Sargeant) 1629734756
man has both the charm and the build of a funko pophttps://twitter.com/JDVance1/status/1429835612341874691\u00a0\u2026— Brandy Jensen (@Brandy Jensen) 1629736831
Dude. Seriously, just stop. Live with some integrity.— Nancy Hilliard (@Nancy Hilliard) 1629734809
\u201cVote for me, I\u2019m more racist!\u201d— ZaxxonGalaxian (@ZaxxonGalaxian) 1629734973
Here is a reminder that someone threatened to blow themselves up in front of US Capitol building last week and someone blow themselves up and half the block in Tennessee few months back. Neither were from Afghanistan BTW.— Anil Gurcan \ud83d\udeb4\ud83d\ude84 \u267b (@Anil Gurcan \ud83d\udeb4\ud83d\ude84 \u267b) 1629736482
As to be expected, one apt follower—like Vance's opponents before them—called out Vance's hypocrisy by digging up an old interview where Vance condemned Trump for the former President's anti-Muslim rhetoric.
Going through my notes of old Vance interviews from 2016. Vance voted for Evan McMullin and one of his main critiques of Trump was he appealed with \u201ccultural heroin\u201d of bashing Muslims/immigrants. He called Trump \u201creprehensible\u201d for this and said it led the party to a dark place. https://twitter.com/jdvance1/status/1429835612341874691\u00a0\u2026pic.twitter.com/CEKi1C0jth— andrew kaczynski (@andrew kaczynski) 1629737417
Since posting the xenophobic video, Vance did secure the endorsement of Trump's former national security advisor, Robert O'Brien.
Only time will tell if his hate speech will secure him an endorsement from Donald Trump or a seat in the Senate.
