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JD Vances vice presidential candidacy and political views

8 min read

From: allin

JD Vance, currently a U.S. Senator, appeared on the podcast as a vice presidential candidate [00:01:03]. He discussed his background, political philosophy, and policy positions on various issues, including the economy, immigration, foreign policy, and the role of government [00:01:09].

Background and “Contradictions”

A host introduced JD Vance as a figure representing “two contradictions” [00:01:36].

  • Military Service: After graduating high school in 2003, post-9/11 and the Iraq War, Vance enlisted in the Marine Corps and served in the Middle East [00:01:43]. He later realized that the Iraq War was a mistake, demonstrating patriotism and courage to serve, but also the wisdom to discern when America should not engage in war [00:01:56].
  • Economic Background: Vance worked in the tech industry and as a venture capitalist, understanding innovation [00:02:29]. Simultaneously, he comes from a very poor part of Appalachia in the Midwest and did not grow up in a privileged environment [00:02:44]. This dual perspective allows him to understand both parts of the country, making him a unique political figure [00:02:57].

Economic Philosophy and Innovation

Vance believes there’s a deep connection between the poverty he observed growing up and the less innovative nature of the U.S. economy [00:03:17]. He states that real innovation has largely been confined to software, while heavily regulated sectors (where 80-90% of his constituents make a living) have been stagnant [00:03:31].

He advocates for broadening the scope of innovation beyond software to include areas like transportation, logistics, and energy [00:03:56]. A stagnant economy, growing at 0-1% annually, creates a “zero-sum” country, leading to societal and political pathologies [00:04:12]. Conversely, an economy growing at 4-6% allows for broader prosperity [00:04:24].

Evolution on Donald Trump

Vance acknowledged that he, along with some podcast hosts, initially opposed Donald Trump [00:04:47]. However, he underwent an evolution in his views [00:05:04]:

  • Media Fabrications: He realized that much of what the media said about Donald Trump were “straight up fabrications,” citing the false claim that Trump called white supremacists “very fine people” after Charlottesville [00:06:03]. He noted Trump’s sharp memory for details [00:05:42].
  • Policy Effectiveness: He observed that during Trump’s presidency (2017-2020), workers’ wages outpaced corporate profits and government growth, a unique period since 1984 [00:06:36]. This indicated that Trump’s policies “actually work,” leading him to conclude that Trump was “a hell of a good president” [00:07:06].
  • Trump’s Pragmatism: Vance challenged the media’s perception of Trump as aggrieved and grudge-holding [00:07:40]. He stated that Trump prioritizes what individuals can do to help the country now, rather than past criticisms [00:07:59]. He believes Trump is “much more motivated by the public interest” than by grievance [00:08:27].

Role as Vice President

If elected, Vance envisions his role as a “second set of eyes and ears for the president’s agenda” [00:16:03]. He aims to help Trump build a team aligned with his agenda, ensuring the executive administration is responsive to the elected president’s policy determinations [00:16:09]. He views government responsiveness to the people’s elected president as crucial for democracy [00:17:03].

Government Efficiency and Executive Orders

Vance agrees that the government sucks up capital and is often inefficient [00:11:59]. His approach to right-sizing government involves:

  • Focusing on American Citizens: He estimates that the U.S. spends between 600 billion annually on illegal aliens through healthcare benefits, Section 8 housing, Social Security fraud, and Medicare fraud [00:13:42]. By focusing national interest on American citizens, significant savings could be achieved [00:14:10].
  • Reforming Military Procurement: He believes the government procurement process, especially for military equipment, is “really broken” [00:14:36]. He advocates for reducing “cost plus procurement” and spurring innovation, potentially cutting the defense budget while making the country stronger [00:15:08]. This would require challenging powerful defense contractors [00:15:36].
  • Utilizing Executive Orders (EOs): While acknowledging that some budgetary matters require Congress, Vance states that the Trump transition team is “thinking very deliberatively” about all the things that can be done through EOs on day one [00:18:49]. He cited Biden and Harris using EOs to open the southern border (e.g., suspending deportations, ending “Remain in Mexico” policy) as an example of EOs’ significant impact [00:18:57].

Immigration and Border Policy

Vance emphasizes the need to close the border and establish basic order before addressing “less important” legal immigration questions [00:27:20]. He views the presence of 25 million illegal aliens as a breakdown of the “entire social compact” [00:27:52]. While conservatives believe in supporting fellow Americans in need, extending this generosity to tens of millions of illegal aliens is unsustainable and erodes the social contract [00:28:07]. He criticizes Kamala Harris for eroding the social contract by prioritizing the interests of illegal aliens over American citizens, leading to division [00:28:44].

On deportation, Vance advocates a “sandwich approach” [00:33:41]:

  1. Prioritize Criminal Migrants: First, deport the “million people who are what we call criminal migrants” [00:33:44].
  2. Stop the Bleeding: Undo policies that opened the southern border, such as Kamala Harris’s policies [00:33:57].
  3. Disincentivize Illegal Presence: Implement measures like taxing remittances sent to other countries and making it harder to hire illegal labor, which would encourage some to leave willingly [00:34:09].

From a national security perspective, Vance noted a shift in origin countries of illegal migrants from Central/South America to places like Iran and other parts of Asia and Africa [00:35:00]. He expresses concern about military-aged males from Iran entering the country through the southern border [00:35:38].

Political Realignment

Vance highlighted a significant political realignment:

Vance attributes this realignment to asking who has benefited and who has been harmed by the “bipartisan consensus” of the last 30 years [00:20:49]:

  • Policies promoting offshoring of manufacturing jobs benefited figures like Dick Cheney and Kamala Harris and their donors, but harmed working-class people [00:20:59].
  • Working and middle-class kids, not the “leadership class,” fought “ridiculous wars” [00:21:17].
  • Historically, counties with 80% of U.S. wealth voted Republican, while 20% voted Democrat [00:21:43]. Now, 70% of wealth goes to Democrats and 30% to Republicans [00:21:54].
  • Wealthy people increasingly direct money to Democrats, while working and middle-class people direct money to Republicans [00:22:31].
  • “Big Tech” has become increasingly pro-Democrat, while “little Tech” (startups, crypto, small AI companies) leans pro-Republican [00:23:07].

This suggests that those who have benefited from the “American decline” are becoming Democrats, while those who have suffered and are pushing back are Republicans [00:23:31].

Big Tech and M&A

As a former venture capitalist, Vance believes Lena Khan (Chair of the FTC) is correct that “Big Tech really is a threat” due to its control over free speech and capital investment [00:24:35]. However, he thinks she goes too far in blocking mergers and acquisitions (M&A) [00:24:49]. He argues that “singles and doubles” — smaller acquisitions where medium-sized companies buy smaller ones — are necessary to provide liquidity for founders and return capital to venture funds for reinvestment [00:24:51]. He emphasizes the need to distinguish between “little Tech” and “big Tech” when considering M&A policy [00:25:27].

Foreign Policy and China

Vance advocates for a rebalancing of the U.S. relationship with China [00:39:27].

  • Energy Independence: He stresses that opening up American energy production is crucial for reshoring manufacturing and supporting industries like crypto and AI [00:38:02].
  • Rebalancing Trade and Capital Flows: While not advocating for an end to trade, he views the current relationship as problematic, where Americans borrow from Chinese “peasants” to buy Chinese-made goods [00:38:47]. This has made China a “massively powerful producer Society” and America a “weaker, weaker consumerist society” [00:39:20].
  • Manufacturing and Innovation: He challenges the “conceit” that the manufacturing of goods can be separated from their design and innovation [00:41:08]. He argues that countries doing the manufacturing are becoming better at design, and that a high-tech, high-growth economy requires “native manufacturing” and “self-reliance” [00:41:34]. He cited the lack of new antibiotic development in the U.S. as a potential consequence of offshoring manufacturing [00:41:42].

Economic Growth Strategy

To achieve higher U.S. growth (e.g., 4-5% compared to 1-2% stagnant growth), Vance’s primary solution is “massively reducing the amount of regulatory burden in the real economy” [00:40:17]. He specifically points to overregulation in transportation, energy, and home construction [00:40:06]. He expressed optimism about the potential for technological innovation, including crypto, blockchain, web3, and AI, to drive growth [00:40:27].

Conclusion

The podcast hosts praised JD Vance for his thoughtful answers [00:43:14]. They highlighted his youth, experience in venture capital, humble beginnings, and belief in meritocracy as positive attributes for a vice president [00:43:26]. One host noted that Vance serves as a “great counterbalance” to Donald Trump’s high-vibration statements, offering a more practical approach [00:44:08]. Another host found his career trajectory inspiring, stating that he was “not supposed to be here” [00:44:26]. Vance concluded by emphasizing that Donald Trump cares deeply about public policy details and encourages listeners to hear Trump directly [00:45:08].

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