Vance tries out new defense in scramble to 'deflect unfavorable attention'

Buffeted by past comments and low approval numbers in key states needed to win back the White House for Republicans in November, Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH) is now trying out a new strategy to get the attention off of himself and back on presidential candidate Donald Trump.

According to a report from Politico's Jared Mitovich, the embattled GOP vice presidential candidate has been attempting to push back on attacks against him centered on his previous demeaning comments about so-called "childless cat ladies" and his links to the unpopular Project 2025.

As Mitovich explained, Vance is now attempting to diminish his role in the campaign by admitting his place near the top of the GOP tickets isn't really very important at all.

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"Now, he’s downplaying his own relevance to the election entirely, " Mitovich wrote while pointing to an interview with the conservative Ohio Republican released on Friday.

While being interviewed on the "Full Send Podcast," Vance explained, "My attitude is, it doesn’t really matter, as much as this hits my ego. People are going to vote primarily for Donald Trump or for Kamala Harris. That’s the way these things go. I think my job over the next few months is to just drive home the message that Kamala Harris has been a bad vice president, and she’d be a worse president.”

According to the Politico report, this is a big change in strategy, noting it, "represents one of the campaign’s most direct attempts yet to deflect unfavorable attention away from him."

Vance's attempt to diminish his own stature falls in line with recent comments made by Trump who told reporters this week, "Historically, the vice president, in terms of the election, does not have any impact. I mean, virtually no impact … virtually never has it mattered.”

Adding insult to injury, Politico reports, "Trump also didn’t directly answer a question from Fox News anchor Harris Faulkner about whether Vance was ready to serve as president, should the opportunity arise in the future."

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