"We used to fight Nazis," wrote Nebraska state Sen. Megan Hunt, an Independent. "Not vote for them."
"There are so many reasons this is ridiculous, but here's one," replied Vance. "Who do you actually think the gross majority of the men who stormed the beaches at Normandy would vote for? The answer is obvious: Donald J. Trump."
Vance said he'd be willing to bet "a lot of money" that more than 75 percent of living World War II veterans would vote for Trump in November.
"These guys weren't fighting to open the borders of their own nation or give taxpayer-funded sex changes to illegal aliens," Vance wrote. "Sorry!"
Vance's comment contains implied falsehoods about Democratic presidential nominee Vice President Kamala Harris — and a questionable characterization of World War II veterans' views.
Harris is not running on an open border policy platform — her campaign boasts of low border crossing rates under President Joe Biden's administration and she has pledged to pursue bipartisan control policies. The transgender comment is apparently referring to her expressing support for providing gender-affirming care to incarcerated people.
What's more, several veterans of World II — Democrats and Republicans — have said on the record they would never vote for Trump.
Edward Good, a then-95-year-old World War II veteran and Republican, spoke in support of Biden at the 2020 Democratic National Convention and against Trump, whom he called the “worst” president in U.S. history, the Independent reported in 2020.
Private Dan Crowley, then 98, told the political group Vote Vets in 2020 that he was disgusted with Trump's insults of the late Sen. John McCain, whose service the candidate denigrated in a 2015 rally by saying, "He’s not a war hero...I like people that weren’t captured."
"I was a prisoner of war, slave labor for 42 months," said Crowley. "None of the fellows I served with who are no longer with us are 'suckers.' They are not 'losers.'"
The Journal News, a local paper in New York state, spoke in 2021 to several World War II veterans who said they were disgusted by Trump's allies attacks on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6.
“That’s stupid and idiotic,” Armando Galella, a then 100-year-old Pearl Harbor survivor who voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020, told the outlet. “I don’t know what happened to Trump...I wouldn’t vote for him again.”
Alan Moskin, who helped liberate a Nazi concentration camp, said of the Capitol riots, "We fought to get rid of all that garbage. We thought we would never see that again.”
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Moskin and veteran Bernard Bernstein both said they were shocked to see symbols of bigotry, such as the Confederate flag, among the protesters.
“You see the racism," said Bernstein. "You see the hatred."
Now in 2024, Mac Deford, a U.S. Coast Guard veteran, is saying his grandfather First Lt. Robert B. Deford didn't fight in World War II to protect the values Trump promotes.
"My grandfather and millions like him didn’t risk his life for his descendants to be ruled by a dictator," said Deford. "He fought for freedom and democracy, not for some wannabe authoritarian to tear it all down."
And Jeff Crosby, the son of World War II hero Harry "Croz" Crosby, is sharing the campaign message he felt his late father would champion.
"My dad hated war, but he hated racism, antisemitism and fascism even more," said Crosby.
"Even J.D. Vance got it right the first time when he called Donald Trump America's Hitler."
Correction: The original version of this report stated Nebraska state Sen. Megan Hunt was a Democrat. It has been updated to reflect she is an Independent.
