Vance: Before and After

Trump has a way of turning his most vocal enemies into his most ardent sycophants. Hypnosis? Black mail? Some satanic possession or some other diabolical spiritual overwhelming of their mind and spirit? Or perhaps simple greed and ambition?

But we’ve seen it time after time with people like Lindsey Graham. One minute they’re denouncing him and warning of the evil he will reign down in given power…the next they’re his best buddy singing his praises.

Vance is a prime example. Ten years ago he referred to himself as a “never Trump guy” and called Trump “America’s Hitler,” “unfit” for office and “leading the white working class to a very dark place.” The Atlantic just reposted an article Vance wrote back then where he called Trump “cultural heroin.” Here’s a couple of excerpts. Judge for yourself who’s telling the truth; the J.D. Vance of a decade ago or the heir apparent of Trump, Vice President Vance:

“During this election season, it appears that many Americans have reached for a new pain reliever. It too, promises a quick escape from life’s cares, an easy solution to the mounting social problems of U.S. communities and culture. It demands nothing and requires little more than a modest presence and maybe a few enablers. It enters minds, not through lungs or veins, but through eyes and ears, and its name is Donald Trump.”

“Imagine…the vengeful joy of a Trump rally. That brief feeling of power, of defiance, of sending a message to the very political and media establishment that, for 45 years, has refused to listen. Trump brings power to those who hate their lack of it, and his message is tonic to communities that have felt nothing but decline for decades.”

“What Trump offers is an easy escape from the pain. To every complex problem, he promises a simple solution. He can bring jobs back simply by punishing offshoring companies into submission…he can cure the addiction epidemic by building a Mexican wall and keeping the cartels out. He will spare the United States from humiliation and military defeat with indiscriminate bombing. It doesn’t matter that no credible military leader has endorsed his plan. He never offers details for how these plans will work, because he can’t. Trump’s promises are the needle in America’s collective vein.”

“Trump is cultural heroin. He makes some feel better for a bit. But he cannot fix what ails them, and one day they’ll realize it. I’m not sure when or how that realization arrives: maybe in a few months, when Trump loses the election; maybe in a few years, when his supporters realize that even with a President Trump…their faith in the American Dream continues to falter. But it will come, and when it does, I hope Americans cast their gaze to those with the most power to address so many of these problems: each other. And then, perhaps the nation will trade the quick high of ‘Make America Great Again’ for real medicine.”

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2016/07/opioid-of-the-masses/489911/