J.D. Vance, the author of “Hillbilly Elegy,” a memoir aimed at presenting himself as a conservative intellectual who rises above toxic hyperpartisanship, is apparently scrambling for the approval of MAGAland as he jostles for outgoing Sen. Rob Portman’s (R-OH) seat in the packed-GOP primary.
CNN reporter Andrew Kaczynski flagged that Vance’s tweets from 2016 expressing disgust for then-presidential candidate Donald Trump and boosting Evan McMullin, an independent candidate in the 2016 presidential election, have been deleted:
Vance also deleted a tweet saying he found Trump reprehensible from October 2016. pic.twitter.com/sTYhOpMnPG
— andrew kaczynski (@KFILE) July 1, 2021
Deleted from the day of Access Hollywood, "Lord help us." pic.twitter.com/5ooexbNUhn
— andrew kaczynski (@KFILE) July 1, 2021
The formerly anti-Trump conservative’s scrubbing of his Twitter timeline of traces of his anti-Trumpiness reflects a broader theme among Republicans: the understanding that running for office, at least in the upcoming midterms, means kneeling at the alter of the ex-president – even after writing an autobiography that attempted to sell an overly simplified and mostly apolitical analysis of poverty in Appalachia in order to appeal to a broad electorate.
How is he going to delete all the pics of his beautiful brown wife and their gorgeous brown babies? Because that’s what’s going to keep him from winning the GOP nod in OH.
Whiteout?![:thinking: :thinking:](https://forums.talkingpointsmemo.com/images/emoji/twitter/thinking.png?v=9)
Why does the man want to run for political office? I really know next to nothing about him.
No amount of scrubbing and scouring of his past will rid him of the stench of hypocrisy.
There’s nobody left in the GQP Trump KKKult who ISN’T a pandering grifter.