Just as the 2016 campaign was beginning, JD Vance was texting his roommate his fears that Donald Trump could be "America's Hitler." Now, Vance is demanding that people stop using the word "Nazi" to attack those on the far right.
As Vance said in North Carolina on Wednesday, "If you want to stop political violence, stop telling your supporters that everybody who disagrees with you is a Nazi."
Several online commentators couldn't help but notice that Vance's statement contradicts his previous position on the issue.
"The only major politicians who’ve called trump hitler: j.D. vance and rfk jr. [sic]," remarked former Rolling Stone editor Marlow Stern.
The Republicans Against Trump made the same observation, "Fun fact: in 2016, Vance called Donald Trump 'America’s Hitler.'"
“I go back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical asshole like Nixon who wouldn’t be that bad (and might even prove useful) or that he’s America’s Hitler. How’s that for discouraging?” Vance wrote in a text message to Rep. Josh McLaurin, his then-rommate, according to The Ohio Capitol Journal.
MSNBC columnist Michael A. Cohen added that Vance also said, "If you want to stop political violence, do what the president does and tell your supporters that people who disagree with you are radical left lunatics."
Activist Catherine Zoltan, who works against child exploitation, remarked, "Oh, JD Vance is nothing like a NAZI," and posted a headline of Rolling Stone that read, "JD Vance Defends False Claims Against Haitians: 'If I have to create stories...that's what I'm going to do.'"
Several people asked the X chatbot Grok to recall Vance's comments and the reports from the attacks he is alleged to have made in 2016.