Former President Donald Trump may have been impeached twice, but he remains unimpeachable in the minds of his supporters, often at the expense of reality.
Trump remains the favorite to win the GOP's nomination for President in 2024 and Republican candidates in the 2022 midterms are leaping to ingratiate themselves with the former President in hopes of winning his endorsement.
Among those candidates is J.D. Vance—the author and venture capitalist who's currently running to represent Ohio in the United States Senate.
Vance brands himself as a pro-Trump Republican now, but he frequently slammed the former President in the early days of Trump's campaign and presidency.
Newly discovered Twitter messages between Vance and a friend during the first summer of Trump's presidency, uncovered by CNN's KFile, show Vance calling Trump a "moral disaster" while discussing the American Health Care Act—the failed Republican legislation to replace the Affordable Care Act.
Most notably, Vance wrote:
"Can you imagine running as an anti-AHCA populist who thinks Trump is a moral disaster? Where's my constituency?"
These messages come on the heels of resurfaced sentiments where Vance agreed that Trump was a "fraud" and since-deleted tweets calling Trump "reprehensible," for which Vance apologized.
According to social media users, Vance is now peddling the same fraudulent image he accused Trump of embodying.
People are divided on whether Trump will support Vance's Senate bid in light of the author's critical comments.
@cnn, @DanaBashCNN, @AlisynCamerota , I predict that Trump will support the candidacy of J.D. Vance for simple trumpian reasons: he likes the initials, and he loves the idea of being the champion of "hillbillies" everywhere.
— Mike in Pasadena (@SweeneyME) July 2, 2021
Only time will tell.
