'Ivy League hypocrites': Columnist slams Trump VP hopefuls for unconvincing masquerade

Many contenders to be former President Donald Trump's running mate in 2024 have one particular trait in common, according to a scathing new editorial from the Daily Beast: they're "hypocrites."

Writer Nell Scovell delivered Tuesday a thorough breakdown of Trump's Republican running mate hopefuls and an aspect of their backgrounds many have tried to hide.

"Not everyone who craves Trump’s approval can convincingly rebrand themselves as 'poorly-educated,'" Scovell writes. "Many of the GOP politicians eager to serve as vice president hold degrees from elite universities, creating a sad spectacle as they try to distance themselves from their Ivy League pasts, dragging down their dreams of a bright future."

It's an act Trump himself pulls off, being a Wharton graduate who "slithered through ... by the alligator skin of his father’s wallet, but [whose] anti-intellectual bona fides are strong," wrote Scovell — but others can't do it so convincingly.

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One of the most infamous is Sen. J.D. Vance (R-OH), who went this week to the Manhattan courthouse where Trump faces criminal charges because, in his words, he thought Trump was "lonely."

Vance "received his undergraduate degree from the unpretentious Ohio State University, but later J.D. earned a J.D. from Yale, where he served as editor of the Yale Law Journal.

"As a law student, Vance was encouraged by memoirist Amy Chua to write his own memoir — and his Hillbilly Elegy wound up at #1 on the ultra-elitist New York Times bestseller list," wrote Scovell. Govs. Doug Burgum (R-ND) and Ron DeSantis (R-FL) have similar academic pedigrees, being alumni of Stanford and Yale.

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"And then there’s Trump fanatic Elise Stefanik (R-NY), who confusingly bragged about being a Harvard alum while attacking the institution for spewing hate. And she did it all with ease on her constituent page," Scovell continued.

"Stefanik received her B.A. from Harvard in 2006 and remained affiliated with Harvard’s Institute of Politics until 2021 when the Dean of Harvard’s Kennedy School asked her to step aside from the Senior Advisory Committee, writing: 'My request was not about political parties, political ideology, or her choice of candidate for president. Rather, in my assessment, Elise has made public assertions about voter fraud in November’s presidential election that have no basis in evidence…'"

"Should one of these lettered candidates grab the VP slot, they’ll probably only whisper of their fancy educational accomplishments in university clubs where the hoi polloi isn’t allowed," Scovell concluded. "Meanwhile, in public, when they’re tossing books on the bonfire, they may chuck their prestigious diplomas on there, too."