I can see the electoral rationale for this if you consider Vance as a way to try and plug some holes in Trump’s public image for the campaign.
His USMC service means Trump can use him to distract from the ‘suckers and losers’ or lack of support from veterans attack line. Vance’s whole hillbilly elegy working class hope shtick (yeah it’s bullshit) counters Trump’s NYC spoiled billionaire reality. The fact that Vance used to talk mad shit about Trump doesn’t just mean that Trump can use him bending the knee as a sign of strength, but Vance can distance himself from those comments, especially after the shooting, and play into the whole unity and calmer rhetoric thing.
Plus I imagine it comes with an absolutely blank cheque from Peter Thiel and a lot more of silicon valley.
Doesn’t Silicon Valley money tend to lean pretty heavily D? I wonder if the assassination was an organized attempt and now that it has failed deals are being made
From what I’ve seen reported and what I’ve heard from people I’ve worked with who either have been or still are in that world, including some serious big companies everyone knows, there’s a bit of a split. Of course the biggest names give to everyone, but apparently a lot of ‘socially peogressive’ types are pretty hardcore libertarians who give heavily to Republicans for a lack of oversight, regulation, and of course tax and profit offshoring. Some of those definitely got colder feet about it while the Republicans were pulling tech CEOs into hearings to demand they ban criticism online, Chinese plots etc. But as Trump has indicated he’ll be more hands off, the Dems have forced all sorts of faux-moderation these sites don’t want to do or open up to, and the more right wing political lobby arm of silicon valley has got its shit together (think Ajit Pai fronting for a bunch of investors trying to force the firesale of TikTok or be banned for example) a lot more of that money is flowing Republican again compared to years past.
I can see the electoral rationale for this if you consider Vance as a way to try and plug some holes in Trump’s public image for the campaign.
His USMC service means Trump can use him to distract from the ‘suckers and losers’ or lack of support from veterans attack line. Vance’s whole hillbilly elegy working class hope shtick (yeah it’s bullshit) counters Trump’s NYC spoiled billionaire reality. The fact that Vance used to talk mad shit about Trump doesn’t just mean that Trump can use him bending the knee as a sign of strength, but Vance can distance himself from those comments, especially after the shooting, and play into the whole unity and calmer rhetoric thing.
Plus I imagine it comes with an absolutely blank cheque from Peter Thiel and a lot more of silicon valley.
Doesn’t Silicon Valley money tend to lean pretty heavily D? I wonder if the assassination was an organized attempt and now that it has failed deals are being made
From what I’ve seen reported and what I’ve heard from people I’ve worked with who either have been or still are in that world, including some serious big companies everyone knows, there’s a bit of a split. Of course the biggest names give to everyone, but apparently a lot of ‘socially peogressive’ types are pretty hardcore libertarians who give heavily to Republicans for a lack of oversight, regulation, and of course tax and profit offshoring. Some of those definitely got colder feet about it while the Republicans were pulling tech CEOs into hearings to demand they ban criticism online, Chinese plots etc. But as Trump has indicated he’ll be more hands off, the Dems have forced all sorts of faux-moderation these sites don’t want to do or open up to, and the more right wing political lobby arm of silicon valley has got its shit together (think Ajit Pai fronting for a bunch of investors trying to force the firesale of TikTok or be banned for example) a lot more of that money is flowing Republican again compared to years past.