JD Vance urges voters to ‘be kind’ as he admits he’s lost friends over Donald Trump support
JD Vance is set to become US vice president in January 2025. (Getty)
Vice-president-elect JD Vance has admitted he’s lost friends over his support of Donald Trump.
“We can’t discard friends and we can’t discard family members,” Vance told Fox News. “I know myself, I’ve had a lot of friends – not a lot – I’ve had a few friends who have cast their friendship aside because I decided that I wanted Donald J Trump to be the winner in [this] election.”
Vance, a one-time a critic of Trump, whom he branded “America’s Hitler“, joined the Republican ticket in July.
Despite the number of times the junior senator from Ohio painted the LGBTQ+ community as villains, he claimed that the “basic principle” of his platform was that everyone should love one another.
“We oughta be friends with people, we ought to be family members with people, regardless of their politics,” Vance added. “That would do a lot to heal the division.”
He told reporters he wanted family members to remember what “really matters” whichever candidate they voted for in the presidential election.
“We oughta be kind to one another, we oughta treat each other with respect. And fundamentally what we’re trying to do, President Trump and I, is build the kind of country where our fellow Americans can achieve their dreams, but that’s all our fellow Americans, regardless of who they vote for.”
Despite the comments, Trump demonised minorities, including the LGBTQ+ community, during his campaign, and Vance himself perpetuated the “groomer” slur against queer people while also calling women who didn’t have children “deranged.”
His rhetoric cost him his friendship with trans Michigan lawyer Sofia Nelson, who spoke out against the him in July.
Nelson, who met Vance at Yale Law school, shared emails and texts between the pair in which he called Trump “morally reprehensible”, and expressed sympathy with various progressive groups.
In one exchange, he apologised for referring to Nelson as a lesbian in his memoir, saying: “I recognise now that this may not accurately reflect how you think of yourself and for that I’m really sorry. I hope you’re not offended, but if you are, I’m sorry. Love you, JD.”
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