Changing Minds

Kurt Schlichter at Townhall.com today tells us, in his opinion, The Real Reason Trump Chose JD Vance. Schlichter starts out with exactly my own journey to voting for Trump. I was a Ted Cruz guy too. I didn't believe that Trump would do what he said he would do.

Why did Donald Trump select JD Vance? Obviously, their current policy views are simpatico, but JD Vance was not supportive back in 2016. He was pretty harsh about Donald Trump the candidate. You know who else was? Me. Dig back through my columns and you’ll see. I was never a Never Trumper. I was always going to vote for the GOP nominee, and I did vote for the nominee. But I was a Ted Cruz guy because I didn’t think Donald Trump was actually going to do the things Donald Trump said he was going to do and I said so. In fact, CNN used to have me on as the conservative Trump-doubter…until I had it with Don Lemon’s nonsense. I was a traditional conservative, and I thought Donald Trump was a NYC liberal and that he would govern like one. But you know what?

I was wrong.

So, I changed my mind about him. I’m now a ferocious Trump supporter. And so is JD.

Schlichter is talking about what any mature person does. It is the basis of the "scientific method," and it is how people adapt as they grow older. We have a belief, then evidence shows our beliefs to at least be suspect. More evidence convinces us to change our minds. Only people in thrall to an ideology cannot change their minds despite contrary evidence.

JD Vance is a very interesting VP choice. He was not my first choice to be the nominee for vice-president because I thought that Glenn Youngkin might bring more to the table in terms of building an electoral coalition. JD was, however, my first choice for actually being the vice-president. If and when he wins, I’m going to be thrilled.

But now I’m rethinking my initial assessment of his strengths as a candidate. I may have underestimated them. How? First of all, I have grown to trust Donald Trump’s instincts when it comes to politics. After all, this guy came out of nowhere and beat all the geniuses and professionals in 2016. Worst case, he nearly beat them all in 2020. And right now, according to all the polls, he’s beating that desiccated corrupt old husk. So, he had to have a reason for choosing JD Vance and it was probably a good one.

There he goes again, changing his mind based on evidence.

But Schlichter is right. JD Vance has a good story coming from a very poor background, becoming a Marine, then getting into Yale law school and editing the Yale Law Review. He has been successful in marriage, in business. He is also a faithful Catholic He is also solid on the Second Amendment, certainly sympathetic to the plight of the workers and middle class. This ties in with the first night speech by Sean O'Brien, president of the Teamsters Union. The elites may feel that they can have good lives even if their neighbors are struggling. But for the rest of us, that is not the case. If one is suffering, truly we all are suffering too.

Gentle readers should read the entire article by Kurt Schlichter.