Is the alleged Trump campaign 271-page vetting document of JD Vance as a possible Vice Presidential candidate for real? Ken Klippenstein believes it is. He is a journalist who wrote for The Intercept and the Young Turks and just released the alleged white paper on his substack account.
Even if you don’t believe that this is the actual vetting document, it’s pretty believable because almost all of it cites sources and quotations that are on record. So, whatever its origin, it’s a damning indictment of Vance’s abject hypocrisy. For more that 130 pages, Vance lacerates Trump and Trumpism.
Given that Vance’s wife is a first generation Indian-American — and Trump openly scorns and vilifies Kamala Harris’s Indian background, he notably attacked Trump as a racist when Trump first ran for president:
In 2017, Vance Criticized Trump For Changing The Focus Of The White Working Class To Pointing The “Finger At Mexican Immigrants, Or Chinese Trade.” J.D. VANCE: “I think that this election is really having a negative effect especially on the white working class, right. Because I think a lot of these grievances are legitimate, but what it is doing is it`s giving people an excuse to point the finger at someone else. Point the finger at Mexican immigrants, or Chinese trade, or the Democratic elites or whatever else. And sometimes these villains are legitimate. I think it`s totally fair to say that the policy elites of the Democratic Party haven`t been totally concerned about the white working class. But at the same time, fundamentally what`s going on and what Donald Trump has done is change the focus of the white working class from a sort of engaged and constructive politics to a politics of pointing the finger.” (PBS’s “The Charlie Rose Show,” 8/30/17)….
Vance: “A Lot Of People Think Trump Is Just The First To Appeal To The Racism And Xenophobia That Were Already There, But I Think He’s Making The Problem Worse.” “Finally, what did watching Donald Trump’s speech last night make you think about the future of the country? Well, I think the speech itself was a perfect microcosm of why I love and am terrified of Donald Trump. On the one hand, he criticized the elites and actually acknowledge the hurt of so many working class voters. After so many years of Republican politicians refusing to even talk about factory closures, Trump’s message is an oasis in the desert. But of course he spent way too much time appealing to people’s fears, and he offered zero substance for how to improve their lives. It was Trump at his best and worst. My biggest fear with Trump is that, because of the failures of the Republican and Democratic elites,the bar for the white working class is too low. They’re willing to listen to Trump about rapist immigrants and banning all Muslims because other parts of his message are clearly legitimate. A lot of people think Trump is just the first to appeal to the racism and xenophobia that were already there, but I think he’s making the problem worse.” (Rod Dreher, “Trump: Tribune Of Poor White People,” The American Conservative, 7/22/16)
If you don’t believe this was a Trump campaign document, then it’s one heck of an opp research job, because it is all basically internally footnoted as to sources.
The other reason it might be the real thing is that it goes on to cite how Vance actually agrees with Trump policies to starve Social Security, eliminate Medicare, oppose to child care for low-income Americans, and his approval of so many more of Trump’s cruel policy proposals. It is Vance’s support of these utterly odious Project 2025 positions that no doubt attracted him to Trump, despite his long history of scathingly excoriating Trump.
Even if you doubt its origins, the alleged hacked (supposedly by Iran) document is well worth the read because it cannot be refuted since it uses Vance’s own words, writings and affiliations.
You can read the document by clicking here and scrolling down to download the .pdf.
By the way, Elon Musk has blocked access to this vetting paper on “X,”which could be considered confirmation of its authenticity.
