Author and announced Republican candidate for the US Senate J.D. Vance says that he now regrets posting tweets that criticized Donald Trump, his lifestyle and his policies, as Vance faces criticism himself for flip-flopping, CNN reports.
Vance has been genuflecting at the altar of Trump in hopes of getting The Donald’s endorsement, which could attract a significant portion of the GOP base to his campaign for the Ohio Senate seat opening up due to the retirement of Republican Rob Portman.
Democratic Congressman Tim Ryan, who is vying for the Democratic nomination for the seat, tweeted, “.@JDVance1 and I have exactly one thing in common — neither of us voted for Donald Trump.”
CNN’s Andrew Kaczynski was the first to report that Vance deleted a number of tweets from 2016 in which he slammed Trump and his campaign. According to CNN, Vance deleted posts including one in which he said he was voting for Evan McMullin, and another calling Trump “reprehensible” because of his views toward “Immigrants, Muslims, etc.”
“Like a lot of people, I criticized Trump back in 2016,” Vance said trying to whitewash his past. “And I ask folks not to judge me based on what I said in 2016, because I’ve been very open that I did say those critical things and I regret them, and I regret being wrong about the guy. I think he was a good president, I think he made a lot of good decisions for people, and I think he took a lot of flak.”
Vance then played the victim, saying he was being attacked for his support of Donald Trump. “I think that’s the most important thing, is not what you said five years ago, but whether you’re willing to stand up and take the heat and take the hits for actually defending the interests of the American people.”