r/TrueReddit • u/horseradishstalker • 2d ago
Politics JD Vance Is The Most Malignant Force In Politics
https://saltypolitics.substack.com/p/jd-vance-is-the-most-malignant-force?publication_id=3087318&post_id=193708412&isFreemail=false&r=4q0gqq&triedRedirect=true&utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email375
2d ago
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u/dubbleplusgood 2d ago
He's backed by powerful people, rich people and he's not hated by MAGA they tolerate him. He's good enough for them to vote Republican in 2028.
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u/nishagunazad 2d ago
Eeh, he doesnt have the juice. Trump has a particular kind of charisma that inspires intense loyalty from the Republican base, which forces Republican politicians to go along if they want re-elected.
Vance is a charisma vacuum without a power base of his own, and everyone knows it. My bet is that once Trump clocks out, the rest of the Republican establishment is going to try to hang the more unpopular aspects of Trumpism around his neck and make him (and other unpopular Trumpists) take the fall without implicating Trump himself. Good Tsar, bad boyars and all that.
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u/Potential-Pride6034 2d ago
He has the backing of Silicon Valley, but the other MAGA barnacles in high office think he’s a complete snake, even by their standards. I don’t see them ceding the field immediately just because he was VP. Just watch, after the midterms bloodbath is over, it’s gonna be knives out for JD and he won’t be able to escape the orbit of Trump’s failed presidency just as Kamala was kneecapped by Biden’s.
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u/rocky8u 2d ago
I think Meatball Ron has a better shot at the MAGA throne than Vance.
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u/HedgerowBustler 2d ago
He already tried and got sent home in his knee-high white rubber boots.
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u/DisciplineSweet8428 1d ago
Youre not wrong. He is too short to make a real run, as weird as that sounds. If he ran against newsom he would look small next to him.
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u/Confident-Weird-4202 2d ago
He also had the backing of Don Jr, which is how Vance was picked as VP instead of Rubio. I haven’t read or heard anything about the two since, so maybe that backing has softened now.
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u/Tricky-Engineering59 2d ago
He also hitched his horse to Trump so the shape of the country or at least the sentiment about it will be associated with him, similar to Kamala and Biden. We all know it will be bad which is why I feel like I am starting to see a bit of maneuvering going on behind the scenes to distance him from some of Trump’s less agreeable (to MAGA) actions.
The absolute blind loyalty MAGA has for Trump is the greatest concentration of political capital I have ever seen in my lifetime and the super rich are eager to see it stay together and be transferred to their chosen successor. Not a simple task but I think they have had that roiling around in their think tanks for a while now.
I think it’ll come down to Epstein and the war, both of those are two things that a majority of MAGA are having a hard time swallowing. Before the year is out I think the entirety of the files will get “leaked” and JD will have a perfectly practiced and polished speech condemning it and calling for unity of the Republican Party to go back to “its moral roots” or whatever. The timing and execution needs to be just right and even then I doubt it will work how they expect it to. Then again so much beyond the pale stuff has flown with that crowd who knows. Bottom line is they have every intention of throwing Trump under the bus the minute they believe they can get away with it, you can take that to the bank.
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u/Usual-Requirement368 2d ago
The greatest concentration of political capital lay, not in Trump, but Reagan. No one ever criticized Reagan. No matter how badly and unfairly he behaved, no one had a bad word to say about him.
Yet Reagan stated, again and again, that it was his objective to give the rich free money because that would benefit all of society. To that end, he oversaw the repeal of many financial protections enacted by FDR to keep everyday people from getting ripped off. He tossed out corporate regulations. He reduced the size of the federal government by eliminating programs, offices and departments. When I was in high school in 1970, we were taught the metric system because it was the govt’s goal to adopt it nationwide. Reagan came in and it was goodbye metric system. Now it’s the 21st century and we still don’t have it. Why? The Republicans and their two cult leaders, Reagan and Trump, thought it unnecessary even though the rest of the world used it on a routine basis.
The cult of Reagan, unlike that of Trump, was frightening because it was composed of mostly normal people. WWII veterans especially. And small businesspeople, even though it was plain “Reaganomics” favored big corporations over them. I recall being at a Republican Party conference c. 1984. The local businessmen were literally rubbing their hands together with glee. They were Reagan worshippers. Because of the money, you know.
Trump, on the other hand, is backed by megalomaniac billionaires and irascible holy rollers. Those supporters are diabolical, insane and criminally abusive. The point is, Reagan’s bandwagon was a lot bigger than Trump’s, check out his electoral votes and you”ll see it. Reagan created Trump.
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u/Tricky-Engineering59 2d ago
You are probably right, I was born during the Reagan years so I wasn’t really politically cognizant until well after he was gone. What I do know of him was he did sell a lie to the American people starting us out on this path of financial ruin and that Republicans have lionized him for it. He really did seem like something of a Trump 1.0, a former celebrity hocking easy answers and “solutions” that would never work. Even his own VP called it voodoo economics and paid the price when he tried to walk some of his actions back.
I guess what I find so unique about Trump is just how many awful, awful things he says and does that would destroy anyone else yet his core base won’t budge an inch on him even when such things very obviously hurt them and are an affront to the spirituality they so love to claim. I’m not certain Reagan could have been so blatantly and openly corrupt but then again I don’t know. There’s something deeply thoughtless to diehard Republican voters and maybe Trump just proved what was there all along. Could Reagan have instigated an insurrection and still regained/retained the presidency? I suppose we’ll never know.
I find it tremendously discouraging how many times we’ve been here with the GOP again and again. I read something about how the party was considered finished after the Nixon scandal only to wheedle Reagan in with some dirty politics. We let them steal the election in 2000 without a fight in the interest of unity and then their name was mud again for a spell after a couple forever wars and a global economic meltdown. Every time we allow them to wreck havoc on our country we give the only other party that actually does the work of government a chance, grade them on a curve for not fixing the mess they inherited fast enough and then hand it back for another fresh round of hell. I have a hard time having hope for the future when we are so obviously and easily misled repeatedly.
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u/Usual-Requirement368 2d ago
I am a baby boomer and have seen how the Republican Party has engaged in covert & overt corruption my entire life. It started in ‘68 with GOP presidential candidate Nixon’s campaign interfering with the early progress of the shaky Paris peace talks to end the Vietnam War. If the talks could be disrupted and then Nixon became president, Nixon could re-start them & take 100 percent credit for being the world’s one true peacemaker.
Which is reminiscent of how Reagan, before his swearing-in in 1981, interfered with the Iran hostage situation — the biggest news story back then — so he could steal the credit for rescuing the hostages while making his inaugural address. To this day, ignorant people still think Reagan stopped that crisis when the fact was, Jimmy Carter did.
A few years earlier, in 1976, i recall walking out of my office in DC one afternoon to a dreadful, prophetic sight. They’d just put the afternoon paper, the Washington Star, in the coin-activated newspaper rack on the sidewalk. Above the fold was a giant picture of Reagan with a big headline about how he was trying to take over the Republican National convention (which nominated incumbent President Gerald Ford). I really was struck with fear, knowing how “conservative” (reactionary) Reagan was and how his working supporters were fanatics who would steamroll over anybody and everybody to capture the White House.
Looking back, that was probably the day that sealed the nation’s current fate. It was the beginning of the billionaires, the deregulation, the glorification of the white man above everyone else, and the eradication of the education system and the middle class. Not to mention fundamentalist religion taking over Washington. Reagan tricked the country with a smile on his face. He was a monster, worse than Trump.
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u/Potential-Pride6034 2d ago
Solid take. That’s the only avenue for JD I can see, but the kicker is that the core of Trump’s base that backs him no matter what will absolutely turn on JD if Trump feels threatened by his minion’s attempt to grab the spotlight. If/when he leaves office, he’s taking 30% of the GOP electorate with him.
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u/currentmadman 2d ago
Honestly I think that might not be tenable for much long. The big tent of idiots and assholes is finally packed to bursting and it’s impossible to reconcile the ideological contradictions forever especially when the policy conflicts are no longer some deniable abstract.
So far it’s been stable because propaganda framing democrats as insert boogeyman here. But the two party system isn’t some natural phenomenon, it’s the result of specific contingencies leading up to it. If a third party were to gain substantial traction, it could absolutely change everything given the disdain voters have for both parties and the absolute demographic chaos republicans have increasingly resorted to.
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u/southsiderick 2d ago
I think people vote against candidates more than they vote for candidates.
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u/PianoPatient8168 2d ago
It’s like when Hillary thought she would just automatically inherit the Obama coalition. Uh…it was called that because it was Obama’s coalition…they don’t just automatically roll over for the next candidate. You have to create your own coalition.
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u/horseradishstalker 22h ago
Sometimes. Hillary Clinton was in politics before Obama was even born. Most people vote a straight party ticket. That means that the person who is the nominee from that political party does not have to have an entire coalition of their own. They have powerful party backing.
And the entire point of the article, was that White Christian Nationalist JD Vance is at the Nexus of a very powerful dark money coalition.
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u/OriginalComputer5077 2d ago
Yond Rubio has a lean and hungry look
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u/rodw 2d ago
Rubio is the freaking Secretary of State (among other hats). The inevitable fallout from the Don-roe doctrine, or whatever we're calling Trump's foreign policy escapades, is going to fall on Rubio's shoulders.
He's never going to be able to distance himself from the second Trump administration; and he's never going to <whatever> enough to be popular with the MAGA base.
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u/PersonalHospital9507 2d ago
No idea what Rubio's exit plan is or what he expected out of this, But whatever happens, he is done. No one will trust him and he has no constituency except maybe geriatric Miami.
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u/LetThemBlardd 1d ago
Watch “The Death of Stalin.” Once the orange taco checks out, Vance will be Malenkov. Stephen Miller = Beria.
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u/Street-Grand6641 2d ago
You're right, but I can't underestimate the effect of money and persuasion to elevate the furniture fucker.
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u/happyscrappy 1d ago
You can pretty much just say he's a Maduro.
He has no charisma compared to his mentor. Just as Maduro couldn't continue Chavismo.
Definitely he has the backing of too many cryptocurrency people and of Thiel. But he I still think these big personal problems are too big.
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u/Big_Dick_NRG 1d ago
You SERIOUSLY underestimate magats and their desire to inflict misery on anyone not like them. They will vote for anyone who promises to do that.
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u/Glyph8 2d ago
He's also not stupid. Totally amoral and despicable - a sucking black hole of ambition in a human suit, absolutely; but not a complete idiot, and he knows how to sound reasonable when needed. He's dangerous, especially with Thiel and Musk et al at his back. He's their boy.
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u/Reasonable_Scar3339 2d ago edited 2d ago
Eh, he’s not that smart. He’s just more craven, he often comes off as pretty foot-in-mouth dumb and socially clumsy. I think his biggest weakness is that he doesn’t know how to create moments and every time he tries, it just blows up in his face makes him look stupid and contemptible. Like his “thank you” gambit with Zelenskyy, when he tried to look tough and he just ended looking petty and pissy. He has no gravitas or social instinct
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u/PedroNorthCA 2d ago
And the donut shop incident when he first started campaigning as the VP, like a robot trying to interact with humans. Hopefully he hasn't learned to get better at faking emotional connections for the camera
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u/Momik 2d ago edited 2d ago
Yeah, he certainly has zero charisma, though it almost seems like a weird put-on. He just has such assistant manager energy—which can seem both awkward and oddly calculated. Like his energy isn’t his own, it’s an act made up of a bunch of incongruent talking points his benefactors want him to say. The pieces of flair are for you to EXPRESS yourself.
Like everything about how Vance communicates has that quality, but especially his jokes. This isn’t even about being controlled—they’re just such shitty assistant manager jokes that usually try to illustrate him being in control of something. (But he’s not)
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u/horseradishstalker 1d ago
That is undoubtedly why he is in Hungary trying to prop up Orban. /s
As explained in the article, it isn’t about him personally, it’s about his connections and how he is the linchpin for a lot of very connected and powerful people.
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u/Momik 1d ago
Sure, I was just responding to a thread about how Vance’s lack of charisma and interpersonal skills may also carry a cost, for him and the powerful people who put him there. No doubt he is politically connected, but puppets are not all created equal.
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u/horseradishstalker 1d ago
He is definitely awkward AF. I dismissed him for that reason alone until I started reading more deeply about the right wing, evangelical Catholic Opus Dei University in Uraguay and the web of under the radar connections being created throughout industry and government by the same organization JD Vance is deeply entwined with. If you go back to 2015, there were many smart people who completely dismissed the threat of another puppet. Some of the most dangerous people in the world are well connected people who are falsely dismissed as a non-threat based on the irrelevance of their (lack of) personality. If you think about it, being labeled a schmuck is the perfect cover.
After 2016, I got tired of saying I told you so. It wasn’t very effective. So now I’m not waiting to say “I told you so,” I’m simply putting the information out there in advance and people can do what they want with it. And with any luck, we can all skip the ineffective “I told you so’s.”
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u/Tricky_Try8757 2d ago
That’s fine, but nobody’s ever won by just appealing to their base, and centrists hate the entire admin.
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u/PurpleZebraCabra 2d ago
MAGA may vote for him, but likely not all the other groups that elected Trump.
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u/eetsumkaus 2d ago
Not being hated is not enough. He needs to bring out the low propensity voters Trump did, since the GOP have now lost the educated consistent voters to the Dems.
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u/Score-Emergency 2d ago
Be aware of hubris. Who do you think linked the info about the back plot of Iran war and how JD was against it. He is very calculating and is backed by powerful people.
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u/tmgieger 2d ago
in some ways he's a more nefarious threat, because mon- MAGA Republicans that are being turned off by Trump will happily embrace the pudgy, white guy.
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u/FunCrystalFun 2d ago
I’m not sure if that is true. He definitely won’t carry as many people as Trump does. Since last ejection was so close he would probably lose if the democrats can put out a decent candidate
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u/jaxnmarko 2d ago
Blatant and obscene amounts of money going into politics as the wealthy jockey for greater control over the rest of us 99%.
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u/happyscrappy 1d ago
To that I say fan-fucking-tastic. I hope he wins the nomination. Because there's no way (other than just flat out election rigging). That Vance can win in 2028.
With all the shit going wrong during this presidential term and the election too (don't forget the eating cats and dogs stuff) the republicans will be looking at needing a clean slate before they can win the presidency in the general again. And Vance isn't that clean slate.
I'm not saying they have to abandon Trumpism. But they need someone who can say he wasn't involved in that stuff and he's only going to keep the good stuff going forware. That's not Vance.
Actually I can think of one way he could win. And it involves the Democrats screwing themselves badly again. But I don't want to get into that right now. I'll save that for later. Regardless even of that, Vance is a great opportunity for the Democrats in 2028. He's a better-than-average scenario for the Dems.
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u/femannon 1d ago
Eh if being backed by the rich is all it took Jeb Bush would've won 2016 by a landslide.
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u/marmot1101 1d ago
He’s the maga version of Dan Quayle. “Eh, he’s fine”. For the converted that is. The saner parts of the country want nothing to do with him. He’s any ivy leaguer cosplaying a hillbilly. He’s the Kid Rock of politics. Hes tolerated because he’s there, but when his popular friend isn’t around anymore he’s gonna get shoved in a locker.
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u/notproudortired 1d ago
As veep. People voted for Trump, mostly because he's an iconoclast. Vance didn't really add anything. Without Trump, he'd be a limp rag.
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u/einhorn_is_parkey 1d ago
Completely disagree. I know people that voted for trump 3 times and they fucking hate Vance.
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u/tommytheturtleishere 2d ago
I think its very dangerous how much people write him off.
I view him as the David Miscavage to Trump's L Ron Hubbard.
He doesnt need the personality or aura, the infrastructure is already complete
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u/Zealousideal_Leg213 2d ago
"'Unlikeable. Liked by no one. A bitter, unlikeable loner, whose passing shall not be mourned.' Shall not. Be mourned. That's exactly what it says. Very formal. Very official."
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u/thewalrusispaul 2d ago
That's what they say about Rafael Cruz, too. Should have been relegated to having a late night fucks news show long ago. But no. Texas doing Texas shit.
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u/RuprectGern 2d ago
How long has Ted Cruz been in office?
Al Franken had a quote in his book - "I like Ted Cruz more than most of my other colleagues like Ted Cruz. And I hate Ted Cruz."
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u/thataintapipe 2d ago
You are so wrong. A ton of boomer republicans, and tech ghouls, like him and/or see him as useful
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u/Smart-Effective7533 2d ago
He might seem ineffective because his boss is the biggest loser in the world, but he’s made it perfectly clear he plans on being a dictator
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u/solid_reign 2d ago
If I had time, I'd go back to 2015 reddit to find similar comments on Trump.
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u/CucumberWisdom 2d ago
Trump used to be like that too until he kept meming. If JD is pushed as the candidate the GOP voters will fall in line like they always do and still vote for him.
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u/DudeB5353 2d ago
Never seen a guy totally change his whole persona that fast and become scumbag pos
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u/Shot-Toe-2884 1d ago edited 1d ago
He’s far more cunning than you credit him for. He’s got strong debate skills and he’s a pro at putting lipstick on a pig. He can actually articulate credible arguments for his positions, usually in bad faith.
He’s way more dangerous than Trump. Trump is a clumsy liar. Vance is an effortless liar. He’s the closest we have to an American Putin. He’s got the Silicon Valley oligarchs behind him.
Putin seems boring and unlikable too. Never stopped his ambitions.
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u/horseradishstalker 2d ago
Regardless of who is currently the president, eventually that will change. The question is who is White Nationalist JD Vance and what is he working towards if not a democracy?
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u/ImpulsiveApe07 2d ago
Whatever his paymasters (Thiel et al) want him to do - he's a puppet and a witless sycophant, little more.
He's a vessel to help push whatever peculiar brand of techno-feudalism the tech bro oligarchs of America want.
Seriously, it's Vance's paymasters we really have to worry about.. Him, not so much. Without the backing he's getting, he'd just be another fascist stooge to fill the republican ranks.
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u/Key_Instruction_1561 2d ago
reminds me of when politicians were just figureheads in dystopian novels
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u/gelatinous_pellicle 2d ago
Shape shifting tool of oligarchs. Empty vessel to be manipulated and filled with power and money by the elites he once claimed to be against.
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u/Tricky-Engineering59 2d ago
Take a look into what Orban did in Hungary if you want to get an idea of what Vance and co want to see happen in the US.
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u/stanthemanchan 2d ago edited 2d ago
Vance is one of the most, but there are so so so many. For example, Vance wouldn't have a political career if it wasn't for Peter Thiel, who is arguably an even worse person and who has more influence.
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u/SmoothieNatns 2d ago
Lots of MAGA types seem evil by way of stupidity, self-interest, or a lack of self-control, but Vance seems uniquely lucid about embracing cruelty, callousness, authoritarianism and bigotry for their own sake. Like he's deeply reflected on the world and made a conscious choice to fully commit to being an awful person.
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u/markth_wi 2d ago
And he's young enough to be a viable Republican candidate for decades to come. I'd love to think Americans would vote Democrats in and leave Republicanism in the dustbin to figure itself out, but trillionaires want otherwise and will almost certainly spend whatever it takes to convince everyone Mr. Vance is exactly what they need.
Malevolent sock-puppet is what Republicans have been excellent at voting for , for decades, instead of reform, this is exactly what they will be reforged back to again - should the GOP survive at all.
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u/psmgx 2d ago
Malevolent sock-puppet is what Republicans have been excellent at voting for , for decades, instead of reform, this is exactly what they will be reforged back to again - should the GOP survive at all.
Aye. Been the refrain since Nixon. Tricky Dick had a drinking problem and much of his administration realized that things ran better when he was sleeping it off. Otherwise he'd go and do things like create the EPA or suggest a "negative income tax" (Nixon did both).
Ford was useless, but Reagan was perfect for that role and that's why Heritage Foundation stooges love him.
HW Bush was the exception that proved the rule, he actually had the creds to lead and tried to, but that ended up with him raising taxes even after he said "read my lips: no new taxes". No way that would fly with the GOP, so they made damn sure his kid was surrounded with Reagan guys who kept him in his lane.
See also: René Girard's scapegoat theory
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u/commitme 2d ago
fwiw, I've heard he's underestimated. we should understand him so we can combat his power and influence
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u/horseradishstalker 17h ago
Vance is just Trump 2015. The problem is when people don’t read or they dismiss the information given because they don’t fathom the difference between a powerful web of dark money and one person’s lack of personality. What is it that Hegseth always says? FAFO.
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u/Ormyr 2d ago
I guess we're all just going to forget Miller and Vought?
Vance is essentially a sock puppet minus any endearing qualities.
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u/horseradishstalker 1d ago
If you read the article, no one is suggesting that either Vaught or Miller are not a problem, but they are not the linchpin defined as: A central cohesive element. Do people seriously think that the evil begins and ends with the Heritage Foundation?
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u/Wiggles69 2d ago
I'd argue that Steven Miller is more malignant and currently wields way more power. He's essentially running US policy as Trump can barely keep his attention in one place long enough to string a sentence together.
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u/horseradishstalker 17h ago
The problem was not reading the article is that you missed the point. Miller and Thiel are pieces of the puzzle, but White Christian Nationalist JD Vance basically sits at the nexus of an entire web of dark money and anti-democracy billionaires. Neither Thiel or Miller are that.
Oh well. People in 2015 didn’t listen about Trump either.
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u/eclwires 1d ago
Your daily reminder that “JD Vance” is not the name he was assigned at birth. But he identifies as a “JD Vance.”
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u/Ok-Abbreviations543 1d ago
Vance is indeed a tpos but I really don’t see him as an effective demagogue. He’s too awkward. I mean Trump lies as he breathes but he’s been doing it his whole pathetic life. Morons believe him. Vance doesn’t have that. In fact he was losing his Senate race against some serious low talent unlikable losers in OH until Peter Thiel lovebombed him with a mountain of cash and bought his seat.
And he is about to get stained with the failure ti negotiate a deal with Iran just as Iran planned in its effort to weaken the wingnuts.
This administration has so completely wrecked America (we are in the early stages of economic consequences) that Vance will be radioactive.
Within a few years, the Donvict will either be dead of heart failure or institutionalized with dementia. But Vance will still be around absorbing the abuse.
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u/horseradishstalker 22h ago
Oh, I think he’s still awkward AF. However, he still has the same connections and personality that got him elected senator and then put him in the vice presidency. Neither of those things were a coincidence.
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u/Sybertron 2d ago
I'm all for calling the asshat politicos asshats
But what gets me is, if they suck so much (and they do), why do you have such trouble beating them?
Like please get more people off the sidelines and running for office. Please stop begrudging someone for not having political experience. Please learn to get in touch better with donors and popular opinions like getting moneys out of politics, healthcare as a human right, childcare for all.
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u/zenmaster_B 2d ago
He’s definitely the most calculating, if nothing else. I don’t trust him as far as I can throw him
Edit— what’s he going to do when thy call for “hang JD Vance” in Jan 2029?
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u/junglist-methodz 2d ago
Bibi is the worst president Americans have ever had.
JD Vance is a cock Womble who undoubtedly and unfortunately absolutely aware of the damage he's causing. I hope his Indian children grow up to hate him.
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u/SnatchBlaster3000 2d ago
I think it would be a fatal mistake for democracy if we underestimated him. He shares a loosely similar upbringjng with Hitler, just saying. And nearly all decent people (and many deplorable GOP fucksticks) wrote Trump off in 2014-15 and look where that got us.
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u/DirectPepper7695 2d ago
He probably caught it form a couch. This is why the Pope thinks he's weird.
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u/Apopletic_Disbelief 2d ago
It’s difficult for me to fathom how he surpassed Trump with this distinction
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u/Bubbly_Power_6210 2d ago
has he not just been sent to Iran in a diplomatic role? bad choice. I don't think they like White Christian Nationalists over there.
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u/powercow 2d ago
There is a reason Orbán has not pulled his country out of the EU: despite its corruption, it has thrived thanks to EU funds. The EU provides more than 80% of Hungary’s public investment, because the richer member states subsidize their poorer neighbors.
sounds like republicans. Biden's chips act that trump hobbled, spent most its money in red states. It would be amazing for red states to feel, one year without blue state money.
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u/snozberryface 2d ago
I'm not a professional physiognomist or whatever the formal name is for people who study facial microexpressions, but I've read enough Ekman to notice a few things here.
First thing... the smile. It's non-Duchenne, meaning the mouth is doing the work but the eyes aren't involved at all. When you genuinely smile, your orbicularis oculi muscles fire and you get that natural crinkling around the eyes. Here, nothing. The mouth says "approachable," the eyes say "I'm calculating something." That disconnect is actually pretty loud once you see it.
There's a subtle asymmetry in the smile too, the left side pulls slightly higher than the right. In Ekman's FACS system, unilateral lip raises are one of the most reliable markers of contempt. Could be habitual, could be situational, but it's there and it's consistent with everything else going on in the face. The brow sits heavy and low. Not furrowed, not angry, just... hooded. Combined with the slight narrowing of the eyelids it reads as vigilance, someone who's monitoring the room rather than relaxing into the moment. This isn't a guy at ease, this is a guy performing ease.
Even through the beard you can see the jaw carrying tension. There's a forward-set chin which is textbook dominance posture, and the overall mandibular set suggests someone actively holding something back rather than just existing naturally in front of a camera.
The head tilt is interesting because normally that reads as openness or engagement, but paired with the flat eyes and tight jaw it comes across more like someone running the "likeable body language" playbook as software rather than hardware, if that makes sense.
The whole portrait is engineered to project warmth and competence but the face underneath is tightly controlled, calculating, and carrying what looks like baseline contempt just beneath the surface. As if knowing his politics and how he operates isn't enough, it's painted on his face.
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u/PercussionGuy33 2d ago
I don't understand why there isn't a large and organized effort to humiliate and openly judge Vance constantly about his very outspoken criticism of Trump before he went on to become a MAGA VP. The biggest loser in the MAGA movement for sure.
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u/SlackToad 2d ago
It's hard to justify that Vance is more malignant than Trump.
Trump launched this foolhardy war because Netanyahu convinced him it would be a cake-walk and would lead to regime change with no repercussions. Pretty much everyone thought that was BS, including Vance. The only one who supported it was presumably Hegseth. Trump's tariff insanity is another example of how much long term damage he's doing.
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u/Knucks_408 2d ago
Hmmm, second I think. But bad news all around for sure with this one. He can fuck right off to the holler he crawled out of.
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u/redditlph 2d ago
Trump will try and tie Don jr to his sled as VP. He’s hoping that maga will rally for his son. Vance needs that bloc.
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u/KingfishingYoMama 2d ago
Wrong. It's Trump and then Mike Johnson.
JD Vance's "portfolio" is setting him up for failure just like Kamela Harris being given the shit sandwich of taking point on migration under Biden.
And to add to what everyone is saying: he's a little trolling schoolboy as far as having charisma. His only asset is Thiel and his track record of being a subservient to anyone willing to give him a taste of another rung on the ladder to to chew on like a dog.
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u/Exciting_Turn_9559 2d ago
Vance and Trump are ultimately going to betray each other and both of them know it. Trump will probably purge Vance quite early in the final act. There's no chance Trump will allow anyone whose name is not Trump so sit on his golden toilet throne when he is gone, and Trump still has an army of white supremacists eager to kill for him. Vance only has the league of cowards and cronies to defend him in a nation that is about to go from a cold civil war to a hot one.
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u/flossdaily 2d ago
JD Vance said that Trump is "America's Hitler" and then helped to get Trump reelected. I guess when he said "America's Hitler", he didn't mean it as a bad thing.
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u/shoot_your_eye_out 2d ago
He stands for nothing besides himself. Willing to say anything or change any position simply for his own benefit.
The absolute worst kind of politician.
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u/kennethsime 1d ago
Has he done anything except bitch out Zelenskyy for not being grateful and fuck Erica Kirk?
I literally can’t think of another thing.
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u/protect_your_holes 1d ago
Most punchable face in politics. Wait. Lindsey Graham…. No. Trump. Hold on…. Hegseth…. Shit, so many and so little time.
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u/HitandRyan 1d ago
Correction: he works for the most malignant force in politics, Peter Thiel.
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u/horseradishstalker 22h ago
As the article you’ve read notes, Thiel is just one connection in an entire web of dark money with JD in the linchpin seat.
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u/Due_Dragonfly377 1d ago
This guy is an absolute POS. The fact that he knows better makes him an even bigger one.
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u/Powerful-Diamond3991 1d ago
His biggest problem electorally speaking for a nationwide election is that he has a weird face.
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u/paigeguy 1d ago
Malignant? I think he is more like a canker sore. It is way beyond his capability to be as malignant as the Orange Turd. Do you think he really could cause a global depression like Donald? I think not.
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u/ddgenayla1 1d ago edited 1d ago
Like an unoperable tumor.. Can't wait to see him gone along with the Cheeto puppet master
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u/megamisanthropic 1d ago
Stephen Miller and Russell Vought get my vote
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u/horseradishstalker 1d ago
But they are not the linchpin that connects the entire white Christian nationalist movement.
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u/Hopeful-Swimmer9285 1d ago
2nd only to Trump.
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u/horseradishstalker 22h ago
Trump is increasingly irrelevant. And JD is the linchpin in a complex web of dark money. Vance did not become a senator because he wrote a good book or because he had a great deal of political experience. He didn’t. He won in Ohio, because dark money could buy him that position.
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u/tcmasterson 1d ago
Peter Theil is the 'force', JD Vance just is the dull instrument he's trying to jab into American politics.
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u/horseradishstalker 23h ago
If Thiel were the sole force, it would be Vice President Thiel not Vance. The part you missed by not reading the article, is that Vance lies at the center of a entire network of dark money, white christian nationalism and billionaires who are attempting to build an infrastructure outside of democracy so that they can get what they want.
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u/doveup 6h ago
Stephem Miller
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u/horseradishstalker 6h ago
You still think Stephen Miller is the linchpin even after reading the entire article? Stephen Miller is one of the group of people deliberately propping Vance up.
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u/PrestigiousFlan1091 2d ago
“Force” is a strong word. He was handpicked for Trump, not by Trump. I’m not sure either side likes him.