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PODCAST

J.D. Vance’s Stunning Admission About Trump Spells Trouble for MAGA

Trump’s running mate once admitted that MAGA is truly toxic. Sarah Longwell, the prominent Never Trumper, explains how Vance’s MAGA stench could help drive swing voters to Democrats.

Donald Trump and J.D. Vance stand side by side
Al Drago/Bloomberg/Getty Images
Former President Donald Trump and Senator J.D. Vance during the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, on July 15

Now that Ohio Senator J.D. Vance is Donald Trump’s running mate, everyone is combing through his old quotes, and a striking one has surfaced: In 2016, Vance warned that Trump threatened to take the white working class to a “very dark place.” In short, Vance once understood that MAGA ideology, at its core, is really, really toxic. And that’s a big political vulnerability. We talked to Sarah Longwell, the pollster and prominent Never Trumper, about how the Vance pick will showcase the worst aspects of MAGA throughout this race and how Democrats can try to use that to win swing voters. Listen to this episode here.