J.D. Vance melts down over questions about his military record

MicroWave@lemmy.world to politics @lemmy.world – 625 points – J.D. Vance Melts Down Over Questions About His Military Record
newrepublic.com

Despite lobbing the same questions at Tim Walz, J.D. Vance lost it when pressed about his own military service.

Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance seems perfectly happy to dish out criticism of Minnesota Governor Tim Walz over his military record, but he just can’t take it. 

Vance blew up at CNN anchor Brianna Keilar on Thursday, after she called Vance an “imperfect messenger” to criticize Walz over his military service. 

“At what point did military service become a liability?” Keilar asked rhetorically on CNN’s Inside Politics. “I also think that J.D. Vance as a messenger on this may be an imperfect messenger.”

Vance served a single four-year enlistment in the public affairs section in the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, and according to his memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, the Republican nominee was “lucky to escape any real fighting.” Still, that hasn’t stopped Vance from accusing Walz, who served with the Army National Guard for 24 years, of exiting the service before his unit was deployed to Iraq.

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I mean....if you don't want people asking questions about your military service, maybe, just maybe, don't question the military service of your opponent.

This is just me, never served but have relatives who did...

If you don't have a purple heart and the dude you're talking about isn't claiming to have one, maybe stfu about Stolen Valor.

Walz served for 24 years, was deployed during operation enduring freedom, was a the ranking member of Veteran Affairs, has been key to bipartisan legislation for veteran suicide prevention, and he retired a year before he would’ve been deployed to Iraq.

Vance slimy weirdo who knows his base would rather eat up lies than confront the fact that they’ve been conned by a billionaire huckster for a decade.

Also, 4 years is a pretty standard enlistment period for the guard. He did an extra 4 years after finishing his 20, and instead of doing 28 years he retired and ran for Congress, which also required him to retire due to the Hatch Act.

Guard can actually extend for any arbitrary amount up to 6 years, and initial contracts are 6. It's possible he just did 3 6 year extensions. If he really did a 6 year at his 18 year mark that's pretty fuckin patriotic. Like goddamn.

Initial contacts are always 8 years with a period served in active service and the remainder as inactive. 6/2 is the most common but I've also seen 4/4 and 3/5.

6/2 is normal for guard/reserve and 4/4 is normal for active (which I'm sure is what vance did). Never heard of 3/5 but it's probably for when numbers need to go up.

“When were you ever in war?” Vance demanded at a Michigan rally on Wednesday. “What bothers me about Tim Walz is this stolen valor garbage. Do not pretend to be something that you’re not.”

How do you consistently fuck up this bad every time?

It does look like Walz misspoke years ago when he was making a point about how some weapons only belong in war and not anywhere else. I don't think it's that big of a deal to make, especially coming from someone else who also didn't see combat but more importantly doesn't seem to understand that service is far more than combat.

I don't think that's a misstatement at all. Nobody needs an M2 Browning in their backyard, as cool as they are.

If Walz did say "the weapons I used in war..." then he did misspeak a little - even though I get why as it's a more powerful word choice when arguing about gun control.

How is that misspeak? Even if you're not in active combat you still train to be able to use weapons of war. Its not like COs never touch a weapon again in their service.

Of course, but "I used in war" has a different implication than "I trained with for war" for example. It's splitting hairs, but they are struggling to find an angle on Walz.

i can see how it can be frustrating to see every q&a session has a military-related question couched in.

but seriously, does he not melt down to anything? even the softest of balls he gets asked pisses him off for some reason.

Reporter: "what makes you laugh?"

Vance: "well i laugh at bogus questions like this from lamestream media!"

Reporter: "why would people want to have a beer with you"

Vance: "because i like beer... maybe a little too much. I'M SURE THE MEDIA'S GONNA JUMP ON MY THROAT FOR THIS TOO"

like Jesus Christ dude calm the fuck down they're trying to help you and you can't stop being a weirdo for a goddamn second.

For me, the most surprising thing about him has been how bad he is with the media.

I knew he was going to be a fascist piece of shit. I'm shocked at how incompetent a public speaker he is.

He's a fucking Senator and can't answer the most softball possible question.

If this is how he responds to softballs, can you imagine how he responds to hardballs? I can't wait to see the debates!

can you imagine how he responds to hardballs

I picture him crying like Kavanaugh.

His balls get hard when they are pressed down against plush cushions wrapped in italian leather.

as Emma Vigeland said, it's karmic justice that he basically got desantis reincarnated as his VP candidate. they have the same charisma suck, the same uncomfortable laugh at things that clearly bother them.

It's impressive how JD Vance seems to be the best player on Kamela's team.

Honestly he reminds me of Paul Ryan, who did not do Romney any favors.

I still remember the time Ryan bizarrely barged into a homeless shelter, took pictures of himself cleaning bowls that were already clean, and left, to the utter bewilderment of the people running the shelter.

I’m shocked at how incompetent a public speaker he is.

Such is the way of authoritarian regimes.

Being a part of the GOP when Trump took over really came down to just agreeing with the man blindly and letting him treat you how he pleased. Trump can't stand to share the spotlight with anyone else meaning people in the GOP most likely aren't getting any experience as most of them share their big moments with the orange man who takes over immediately.

Most of these people have no personality outside of supporting Trump and they aren't capable of much either because they would make Trump nervous.

He's literally only been in politics for like 2 years lol shit can't get any more stupid.

I'm not saying Vance is throwing the election on purpose to fuck with Trump...

But if he was, what would he be doing differently?

he would probably fuck that up somehow and help him win

That is a fair answer to that question.

Now I'm picturing Vance trying intentionally the say the most racist thing he can think of and instead of doing something like dropping the Hard R while giving a speech in the middle of Harlem about how "We're gonna reinstate slavery baby!"

He somehow manages to not only endear black people to Trump and vice verse, but is actually successful in one speech at ending racism forever.

or if you wanna go really crazy... he develops a charisma, and people start liking him. he starts acting like a human and stops being a weirdo creep.

i think your scenario is more likely though.

Inflation and housing and healthcare are huge issues which no one is addressing amidst the name calling and virtue signaling.

I don’t care about military records from any candidate! Address the issues, talk about what matters.

Harris and Walz address those issues in their speeches.

What you're missing is that the media isn't covering those statements. The silly schoolyard BS drives clicks and, for far too many people, it affects their voting choices.

Walz, who spent years as a school teacher, understands the mindset of T**** and Shady Vance and is using their tactics against them in a very efficient way.

If you look at it from a teachers POV, T**** is the school bully and Vance is the nose picking stooge who desperately wants the same power and attention.

Thank you for not using that arsewipes name. Wish more people would do the same.

lol he's not voldemort. Trump is a bitch.

It's because algorithms pick up his name, and then feed into the volumes of shit news that is fed out.

Trump raped a 13 year old.

Oops, hope that doesn't get picked up and spit out anywhere else.

No, you don't understand, I don't pay attention to politics, which makes me better than you. But that means I have to invent issues and hope that nobody else pays attention to politics, because otherwise I would look pretty stupid.

Sure, but the media serves up what gets clicks. Why don’t people ask for better?

Edit: also this is something the candidates should say, that the media needs to bring attention to the issues. Enough with the schoolyard stuff.

Ah yes, we simply need people to ask for better!

I mean, I definitely agree with you - we should have an educated, engaged population that is able to critically assess what they're being told and realize when people are trying to distract them from important issues. Of course! That's still the destination, though, and it's a ways off.

Why don't people ask for better?

Because education funding is too low.
Because grocery bills are too high.
Because folks are working multiple jobs just to try to get by.
Because we've had to watch Trump/the GOP be weird little gremlins while pretending to have the moral high ground and GOD does it feel good to watch them melt down over being called on it.

"Asking for better" is a healthy salad, and watching someone get dunked on is a greasy fast food burger.
Sure, everyone should pick a healthy salad... but this is America.

I agree, life is hard. The problem is that people who’re making it hard won’t stop out of the goodness of their hearts.

The annoying thing is that people interested in policy issues have already committed to a party. What’s left are swing voters who (when polled) come up with the most ridiculous reasons for voting for/against a candidate.

What's left are how many people are going to bother with voting.

Agreed, but again I would argue that pro interested in policy are likely to vote no matter what.

They don't address it because they know Republicans will never win on policy. Also they know their voter base sees politics as a team sport and only cares about hate and personal attacks. Talking about policy isn't enough to get them riled up.

Lol, this was my FIRST reaction/comment the other day when I read about his comments here on Lemmy. The GOP is full of fake soldiers and draft dodgers. They don't care about the military. Just listen to Trump's own comments about our dead heroes.

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Vance was such a perfect pick for VP, they couldn't have anyone better. He's perfectly a little bitch in comparison in every single way with absolutely nothing redeeming about him, to the point it's hilarious. Couch fucker.

Apparently this Peter thiel nonsense is real. Hopefully will die off this election.

Finally someone in the military community with a microphone is clapping back. J.D. Vance wants to talk about commitment? He left after 4 years. While the war was still going on. He wants to talk about combat? 90 percent of his job was in an air conditioned office behind multiple layers of security. He wants to talk about one time Walz misspoke? How about the multiple times J.D. Vance has claimed he saw combat?

As an old Infantryman with a Combat Infantry Badge and a Purple Heart I feel secure in saying the only one here doing a Stolen Valor is the 4 year carpetbagger trying to tear down the record of a man who served honorably for 24 years and reached the highest possible enlisted pay grade. A man who was retired and decided to activate prestige mode after 9/11.

If we let that happen successfully then we will have cheapened us all.

Look, he DID see combat.

In pictures.

In the articles he wrote in his office securely in the middle of the base.

To be fair we know he went out at least once to take pictures of the civil affairs guys doing their thing. And he did have to get to and from the base at the beginning and end. So ... 3 times? 3 times from secured area to secured area on a route cleared by someone else, with no expectation to stay and fight unless several redundancies have failed.

Huh. When I get asked about mine, I'm very up-front about all of it.

Weird.

There's nothing wrong with being weird. I don't think I like your new friends.

The GOP loves the vets... but only the ones that didn't actually do anything...

99 % of deployed soldiers never saw combat and 99% of those who claim to have did not.it can really piss off all those who had to deploy and worked hard jobs to basically be told they weren't enough by someone like Vance.

I have to wonder if Vance would’ve had the same reaction if the anchor was a man, and not a woman?

What does "an imperfect passenger?" Mean in this context?

The article said he was an "imperfect messenger". It means that a candidate with a history of pooping in bed should think twice before leveling criticism at his opponent for snoring.

He's calling out Walz service history when really he has so much less service history than Walz. And as far as I can tell the "stolen valor" stuff is made up.

Walz retired before his unit received deployment orders so it wasn't like he was evading a deployment. Walz was a sergeant major when he retired but upon retirement was downgraded to a master sergeant because he hadn't completed all the sergeant major courses required within 3 years of his promotion.

So Republicans are saying he "stole valor" by claiming to retire as a sergeant major but to anyone whose been in the military (like me) this is really nothing like stolen valor...He did serve as a sergeant major and retire while a sergeant major but he is NOT a retired sergeant major. A distinction that's obviously a bit confusing and normally nobody would care.