A new ad released ahead of Tuesday night’s vice presidential debate brands Donald Trump’s running mate, Ohio Sen. JD Vance, as possibly tops on Trump’s list of “biggest failures.”
The ad recaps Trump’s most notorious business failures, including Trump Shuttle (his airline that went under), Trump University (his fraudulent educational venture that ended up in lawsuits), Trump Steaks (which disappeared from store shelves), and Truth Social (his faltering social media network).
It ends with a recap of the negative reception Vance has faced since Trump announced him as his pick for VP. A selection of audio clips play over footage of Vance, with snippets like “They think he’s the worst,” “weird,” “twisted,” and “creepy authoritarian.”
The ad ends with the awkward exchange between Vance and a donut shop employee that went viral, with the unimpressed worker responding “okay” when Vance introduced himself and announced he is running for vice president.
The rollout of Vance’s candidacy has not gone well for the GOP, but on Tuesday Republicans released a video promoting him along with the hashtag #HillbillyEnergy, a reference to his memoir “Hillbilly Elegy.”
The video has a lot of work to do, as Vance’s favorability ratings have been underwater since he made his debut alongside Trump.
In an aggregate of polls, Vance’s unfavorable rating outpolls his favorable rating by 11 points. By comparison, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, Vice President Kamala Harris’ running mate, has a net positive favorable rating, with favorable ahead of unfavorable by 3.7 percentage points.
Much of Vance’s problem can be attributed to resurfaced comments he has made over the years. He complained that the Democratic Party is run by “childless cat ladies” and said people who choose not to have children are “psychotic.” Vance also promoted the false claim that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio, were stealing and eating people’s pets, even after officials reportedly told him the story was not true.
Walz has been more closely associated with championing the rights of women and the LGBTQ+ community. One of his signature achievements in his home state of Minnesota was signing legislation that made school meals free.
The Harris campaign also released an ad slated to air as part of the campaign’s $370 million ad buy in multiple states. Titled “Concepts of a Plan,” the ad focuses on Trump’s failure to articulate a vision on reforming health care during his disastrous debate performance against Harris.
When he was in the White House, Trump tried to repeal the Affordable Care Act, aka Obamacare, along with congressional Republicans. His allies behind the extremist government blueprint known as Project 2025 have also suggested ideas like cutting health care coverage and curtailing access to abortion care.
In several speeches, Vance has suggested that a second Trump administration would seek to “deregulate” health care. Democrats have responded to the idea by accusing Trump and Vance of scheming to undermine protections for preexisting conditions that were put in place under the Obama administration.
The Biden-Harris administration reversed course from Trump and sought to expand coverage for people under the federal health care law. Harris was similarly the key swing vote that led to passage of the Inflation Reduction Act, which capped insulin costs and allowed Medicare to negotiate on drug costs for millions of consumers.
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