'Pathetic' J.D. Vance speech geared toward 'men radiating bitter divorce energy': analysis

Salon columnist Amanda Marcotte on Tuesday attended Sen. J.D. Vance's (R-OH) speech in Philadelphia and came away decidedly underwhelmed.

In her latest article, Marcotte described the vibe at the Vance speech as being like "a medium-sized wedding, albeit a pathetic one where no one cares for the couple."

She noted that while there were women in attendance, the majority of people who came to see Vance speak appeared to be aggrieved men.

"There was one kind of diversity in this small but weirdly intense crowd," she wrote. "Every type of white man that gets a hasty 'swipe left' on his dating profile was in attendance: 'Roided out dudes with bad tribal tattoos. Older men radiating 'bitter divorce' energy. Men with enormous beards that have never known the touch of a trimmer. Skinny fascists wearing expensive suits, despite the oppressive heat. Glowering loners staring at the two women under 40 like cats watching birds out a window."'

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Marcotte believes that the lightly attended Vance campaign is symbolic of where the Trump campaign stands right now as a whole, as she writes that it "often has the dwindling energy of a concert for a D-list band well past its prime."

In contrast, writes Marcotte, Vice President Kamala Harris's rally with newly minted vice presidential nominee, Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, was full of energy.

"The people who flooded the Temple stadium looked like any cross-section of America on any given night," writes Marcotte of the Harris event that drew an estimated 12,000 people. "There was old, young and all in-between. There were tattooed hipsters and soccer moms. There were people of every race, dressed in every which way. It could have been a crowd of people chosen at random from the streets of Philadelphia, or any city in America, really. They were brought together by the chant quickly becoming the Harris campaign slogan: 'Not going back.'"