In a Sunday interview with CNN’s Dana Bash, sad hillbilly novelist and Republican Ohio Senator JD Vance summarized his position on fat former President Trump being on trial with “You can’t throw somebody in prison in the middle of presidential election because you think he did something bad ten years ago.” Math problems aside, as it was seven and a half years ago, that’s about as convincing that Vance thinks he needs to be here in a mainstream media interview: It’s not that it’s morally or ethically or legally wrong or somehow unconstitutional for the Manhattan District Attorney’s office to be prosecuting Trump for interfering in the 2016 election, “you” just “can’t” do it.
In a different CNN clip of Vance we stitched onto the end, Capitol Hill reporter Manu Raju on Thursday heard JD sound off on Nikki Haley, plainly sharing the Trump campaign’s evident nervousness over the level of support the former South Carolina governor is still attracting in 2024 presidential primaries despite having dropped out more than two months ago. The reasoning was similar to his stance on the trial: That Haley should endorse Trump because she should do it.