Rachel Maddow Admits What She Got Wrong About Vance in 2024

When Senator J.D. Vance (R-OH) was named as Donald Trump’s vice president, the media and Democrats went nuts.

They latched on to some controversial statements made by Vance, hoping to scare voters away from Vance, but it didn’t work.

Got It Wrong

MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow was among those leading the fearmongering train against Vance.

She was sure that the words of warning and fearmongering would lead to a victory for Democrats.

To that point, she stated, "I thought people would be more unnerved by JD Vance. Less the cat lady thing and more the ‘Americans [are] going to have to get over dictatorphobia’ Mencius Moldbug' thing.”

More recently, the narrative around Vance has been the complete opposite, especially after some holiday videos that Vance posted.

Holiday Video

Over the Christmas holiday, Vance just about broke the internet when he posted a video with his daughter.

He and his little girl were making biscuits from scratch, and the video was about as cute as could be in terms of a father-daughter moment. It was just JD Vance and his daughter doing something that taking place in kitchens all across the country over the holiday.

While I was watching the video, I could just sense that liberals were having a meltdown because of how likable it made JD Vance appear.

That one moment put to bed many of the weird theories about Vance and his home life. The media had been digging up old videos and quotes from Vance to try to wreck the campaign, but it clearly did not work.

Well Spoken

The other reason that Vance has gained in popularity is because of how well-spoken he is. This was seen on the world stage when Vance took on Kamala Harris during the vice presidential debate.

I am kind of neutral about Vance, with my biggest problem with him being his close relationship with Donald Trump Jr. and Vivek Ramaswamy, two people whom I do not respect.

Having said that, Vance has proven time and again that he is always well prepared and eloquent when speaking, something the Democrats did not have on their side with Kamala Harris, who was a word-salad disaster throughout the campaign.

I am more than willing to give Vance a chance, especially since he will be the early favorite in the 2028 presidential election, but he will have to prove to people that he can deliver and back up all those speeches he gave during the campaign.