Vance forced to confront his previous criticism of Trump on debate stage – and blames the media
The Ohio senator claimed he’d been misled by ‘dishonest’ news stories when he compared Trump to heroin and Hitler
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Donald Trump's running mate JD Vance has blamed the media for his savage past criticisms of the former president.
Speaking in a televised debate against his Democratic opposite number Tim Walz, the Ohio senator claimed that he was misled by "dishonest fabrications" when he compared Trump to Hitler and said he had "thoroughly failed to deliver his economic populism".
"I've always been extremely open about the fact that I was wrong about Donald Trump," Vance said on Tuesday night. "I was wrong first of all because I believed some of the media stories that turned out to be dishonest fabrications of his record.
"But most importantly, Donald Trump delivered for the American people. Rising wages, rising take-home pay, an economy that worked for normal Americans, a secure southern border; a lot of things, frankly, that I didn't think he'd be able to deliver on.
"And yeah, when you screw up, when you misspeak, when you get something wrong and you change your mind, you ought to be honest with the American people."
Vance was once a prominent 'never Trump' conservative, who called the capricious mogul everything from "a fraud" through "a moral disaster" to "cultural heroin", as well as privately worrying that he might be "America's Hitler".
But in 2021, with the help of his old Silicon Valley colleague Peter Thiel, Vance began to reconcile with Trump as he sought to become a Republican senator, ultimately charming the former president enough to become his vice presidential pick.
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments