J.D. Vance Is Already Making a Boatload of Money Off His V.P. Run

No matter what happens in the 2024 elections, J.D. Vance will be making money.

The Republican vice presidential nominee and Ohio senator is pulling in massive royalties from the sales of his first memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, which returned to the top spot on The New York Times bestseller list after Vance was named Donald Trump’s running mate. Meanwhile, he also has an $8 million deal for a book sequel, which he secured back in 2017, reports Variety.

According to his financial disclosures, Vance made $823,132 in royalties from his first book’s sales in 2020 and 2021, but less than $50,000 in 2023. He’s expected to rake in much more than that in 2024 thanks to his political ascendancy. According to HarperCollins, the book sold 650,000 copies in the first few days after Trump picked Vance.

Vance also got a portion of the $45 million that Netflix paid for the book’s movie rights in 2019. The movie has returned to Netflix’s top 10 in the weeks since Vance returned to the national spotlight.

These revelations shed more light on the incentives Vance had to join Trump’s ticket. Even if Trump loses the election in November, Vance still stands to make money, with another book on the horizon promising more royalties, assuming people would want to read it. Like Vance, Trump is represented by Hollywood talent agency WME, which helped the former president earn more than $400 million from NBC’s The Apprentice, and money from lucrative ad deals.

But unlike Vance, Trump’s old moneymakers aren’t popular these days. His old reality show and its spin-off, Celebrity Apprentice, aren’t available on any streaming platforms. His signature book, The Art of the Deal, was only a bestseller thanks to Trump gaming the system and has since been discredited by its ghostwriter, Tony Schwartz. He’s had to resort to making money off of new schemes, like the $300,000 in royalties he made from hawking Bibles. Will he still be able to rake in money if he loses?

Night two of the Democratic National Convention was all about building a sense of unity among Americans. The star-studded lineup urged patience as people work out their political differences to rally behind presidential candidates who will fight for the good of the American people rather than for their own benefit. But it also included several memorable quips that didn’t land anywhere near the high road.

During an impassioned speech formally endorsing Vice President Kamala Harris, former President Barack Obama cut Donald Trump down to size, referring to the Republican nominee’s act as “stale,” calling his unmoderated bloviating “dangerous,” and describing his behavior in office as singularly self-serving and intentionally divisive.

But Obama also included one jab at Trump that is likely to stick with him: a comment on his so-called “crowd size.”

“Here’s a 78-year-old billionaire who has not stopped whining about his problems since he rode down his golden escalator nine years ago,” Obama said. “It has been a constant stream of gripes and grievances that’s actually been getting worse now that he is afraid of losing to Kamala.”

“There’s the childish nicknames, the crazy conspiracy theories, this weird obsession with crowd sizes,” he added, bringing his hands together to illustrate Trump’s “tiny size” while feigning shock at the crowd’s uproar.

A group of retired Teamsters took the stage at the Democratic National Convention Tuesday night, in a move that both signaled their support for Kamala Harris and a subtle snub to their leader, who had backed Donald Trump last month.

Senator Gary Peters from Michigan initially appeared on stage, but he was just the opening act.

“On the other hand, we have Donald Trump and J.D. Vance,” Peters said, comparing the Republican ticket to Harris and Tim Walz. “And let’s be clear. If they win, if they win, working people like my friends here from the Teamsters will pay the price.”

As he spoke, more than two dozen Teamsters entered on stage, standing on either side of him.

“Their Project 2025 agenda is the same old same old. Gut overtime pay. Cut health care programs. And give billions in tax breaks to billionaires!” Peters said.

“We, we cannot let that happen. And we will not let that happen!”

Peters turned over the stage to Kenneth Stribling, a retired Teamster and president of the National United Committee to Protect Pensions. Stribling spoke about learning that his monthly pension would be reduced in half in 2025, and organizing with other retirees to make it right.

“Finally, we had a breakthrough. After 50 days in office, the Biden-Harris administration passed the American Rescue Plan, including the Butch Lewis Act. They got it done without one single Republican vote in Congress. They saved over one million pensions, including 33,000 from my state Wisconsin. 52,000 from Pennsylvania. 61,000 from Michigan,” Stribling said.

“As president, I know Kamala Harris will have our backs. She will fight for our retirement, social security, and Medicare.”

Last month, Sean O’Brien, the president of the International Brotherhood of Teamsters, became the first union leader to speak at the Republican National Convention, during which he painted Trump as an “ally for the working class.” A month or so later, Trump praised Elon Musk for firing striking workers, and O’Brien condemned the comment, calling it “economic terrorism.”

O’Brien reportedly did not hear back from the DNC about his request to speak.

As of Tuesday, two local Teamsters unions and a regional council on the West Coast had announced that they had endorsed Harris, despite the fact that Teamsters International has not endorsed her—a clear sign of dissension with O’Brien.

Former Trump White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham had a lot to say about Donald Trump at the Democratic National Convention on Tuesday. Taking the podium, Grisham who described herself as an original “true believer” and one of Trump’s closest advisers, said that “behind closed doors Trump mocks his supporters” and calls them “basement dwellers.”

It also seems like Trump believes his followers aren’t too bright either. “He used to tell me ‘it doesn’t matter what you say, Stephanie, just say it enough and people will believe you.’”

“He has no empathy, no morals, and no fidelity to the truth,” said Grisham. She also explained that her decision to never hold a White House briefing had to do with Trump’s lack of care about the truth. “Unlike my boss, I never wanted to stand at the podium and lie.”

She also exposed texts between herself and Melania Trump during the January 6 insurrection. “Do you want to tweet that peaceful protests are the right of every American, but there is no place for lawlessness & violence?” Grisham texted. Melania Trump allegedly replied with just one word: “No.”

Other Republicans speaking at the DNC include Ana Navarro-Cárdenas of The View, host of night two of the convention, former Illinois Representative Adam Kinzinger, former Pence adviser Olivia Troye, and a three-time Trump voter working in construction, Kyle Sweetser, who spoke earlier Tuesday.

“I started to see Trump’s tariff policy in action, costs for construction workers like me were starting to soar,” Sweetser said. “I realized Trump wasn’t for me, he was for lining his own pockets.”

“Now I’m not left-wing, period.” he added, “but I believe our leaders should bring out the best in us. Not the worst. That’s why I’m voting for Kamala Harris.”

The Georgia state elections board is making changes to its voter certification process, and the Republican National Committee is in full support.

On Monday, the Georgia board approved a new rule by a 3–2 vote to allow local officials to investigate vote totals after Election Day, opening the door for new obstacles in certifying election results. Now, any member on a county’s board of elections can “examine all election related documentation created during the conduct of elections prior to certification of results,” which could create chaos after an election.

The Republican National Committee’s co-chair, Michael Whatley, praised the measure in a statement, saying, “These steps by the State Election board are critical to securing the election in Georgia and correcting its long history of chaos.”

Three Republicans on the board have been praised by Donald Trump, who lost the state in 2020 and famously told Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger to “find” him 11,780 votes to overturn the results. Those same three members were hit with an ethics complaint last week by a former chair of the Fulton County Board of Elections, Cathy Woolard, who accused them of breaking the law in their efforts to help Trump disrupt the coming election.

Since 2020, Georgia has had the highest number of certification refusals anywhere in the country—and remains the likely epicenter for Trump’s claims of election fraud in 2024. Trump still faces charges for allegedly trying to overturn his 2020 election results in the state, but the case is currently in limbo over efforts to oust Fulton County prosecutor Fani Willis. 

The RNC is totally under Trump’s control, having backed Whatley and his daughter-in-law Lara Trump to serve as the committee’s co-chairs. The RNC’s support of Georgia’s new rule means that the former president and convicted felon is also applauding the move.

The RNC is sparing no effort to lock up Georgia in the GOP’s favor, also backing the state’s Republicans in a federal lawsuit over the alleged removal of nearly 1,000 voters from the rolls. With elections less than three months away, Democrats should be keeping a close eye on the GOP’s legally questionable efforts in Georgia.