Donald Trump attempted assassination

AP reports that while Vance is now one of Trump’s most steadfast allies, he was previously critical. Vance wrote in an Atlantic opinion piece in July 2016 that Trump was “cultural heroin” for the masses.

“He makes some feel better for a bit,” he wrote. “But he cannot fix what ails them, and one day they’ll realize it.”

He declared Trump “unfit for our nation’s highest office” in an August 2016 New York Times op-ed headlined “Why Trump’s Antiwar Message Resonates with White America.”

Vance also sent a message that year to his law school roommate, Josh McLaurin, saying that he went “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.” McLaurin had reached out to Vance about writing an opinion piece together at the time.

BBC recalled these comments by Vance in interviews and on Twitter in 2016, when the publication of his memoir Hillbilly Elegy catapulted him to fame.

"I'm a 'never Trump' guy. I never liked him."

"My god what an idiot."