Janice R. Andrews
Senator J.D. Vance was honest when he said he would no longer talk for Donald Trump on sensitive political topics because of a disagreement they had over a national ban on abortion. In a recent debate, Trump said that he didn’t agree with Vance’s views about the issue and that he and Vance had never talked about it.
Tensions rose when Vance said that Trump would veto any proposed government ban on abortion, which Trump later said was not true. According to Vance, he “learned my lesson” about speaking for the former president without first getting permission. He said this on NBC’s “Meet the Press” on Sunday. This admission came after a big moment in the last debate, when Trump was questioned about Vance’s earlier comments, which caused them to differ on how they felt.
The Ohio senator, who is Trump’s running mate in the 2024 election, made it clear that he still thinks Trump would be against a national abortion ban, but he won’t say anything about it until they’ve talked about it directly. He said again that he and Trump both want to leave abortion choices up to the states instead of making a national rule.
During the Philadelphia debate, Trump didn’t take a strong stand on the subject. He told the moderator that he wouldn’t have to veto a national abortion ban because it was unlikely that Congress would ever pass such a bill. He made it clear, though, that he hadn’t talked about it with Vance.
“To be fair, I didn’t talk about it with J.D. “He was talking for me, but I really didn’t talk about it,” Trump said, separating himself from what Vance had said before. This caused the Ohio senator to take back what he said, but they still said that their ticket doesn’t want the federal government to get involved in abortion decisions and instead supports decisions made at the state level.
In August, Vance said things that made it sound like he was sure that Trump would kill any such bill. But on Sunday, the senator said that the talk hadn’t happened and played down the chances of a national ban ever happening.
Vance also supported Trump’s position on state power over abortion laws, saying that it shows how different people feel across the country. He said that one of the great things about the U.S. system is that different states, like Alabama and California, automatically make different choices about abortion. Vance said, “We’re a big country, we can disagree.”
This event shows how hard it is for the GOP to find the right political balance as the 2024 election draws near, especially when it comes to controversial topics like abortion. Vance’s honest admission that he was wrong shows that he will not be as close to Trump in his messages going forward. Even so, Vance and Trump both still think that the states should decide how to handle abortion laws.
As the campaign goes on, this episode serves as a reminder of how hard it can be to reflect a divisive person like Trump, even for someone as close as Vance.
