JD Vance’s old classmate from Yale law school has spoken up about the Republican vice presidential nominee and the fact that Vance does not seem to have a firm stand on many issues.
Transgender public defender Sofia Nelson described Vance as a chameleon and shared dozens of emails she and Vance had exchanged between mid 2014 and early 2017.
At that time, Vance was very critical of Donald Trump, he also said he hated the police.
He was also very concerned for Nelson saying that perhaps he had not described her correctly in his book, Hillbilly Elegy.
In an interview with CNN, Nelson said, “I don’t see any of the man that I got to know and care about. It’s really heartbreaking to see him become so callous and divisive.”
The emails between Nelson and Vance were exchanged during the time Vance was a venture capitalist, political commentator and best-selling author.
Gender affirmation
In fact, Nelson said Vance was so considerate at that time that when his book was published, he sent her an excerpt saying,
“I send this to you not just to brag, but because I’m sure if you read it you’ll notice reference to an ‘extremely progressive lesbian.’ I’m sure most readers will have no idea who it refers to you, but you will.”
Nelson said that Vance had even said that his description had come from a place of ignorance, and that he did not intend to offend and that he was sorry if it was offensive.
To which Nelson had responded, “My identity is complicated and a topic for another day, but progressive lesbian is probably a pretty spot-on assessment for mainstream consumption. If you had written gender queer radical pragmatist nobody would know what you meant!”
Nelson said that Vance had sent baked goodies after their gender-affirmation surgery.
Nelson said that they still cared for both Vance and his wife and hopes that he will “snap out” of whatever he is going through.
“I knew JD to be a genuine, thoughtful person. He was compassionate to people who were different from him. And that email, I believed at the time, genuinely reflected his views,” said Nelson.
Nelson said the friendship crumbled when Vance backed criminalizing gender-affirming care for minors. He introduced the Protect Children’s Innocence Act bill last year on a federal level.
Trump-bashing
That’s not all. In December 2015, Vance had written that he wanted Trump to tone down the racism.
He wrote in October 2016, describing Trump as a bad man who was morally reprehensible.
Dislike for police
In 2014, Vance told Nelson that police officers should be required to wear body cameras.
“I hate the police. Given the number of negative experiences I’ve had in the past few years, I can’t imagine what a black guy goes through,” he had said.
Looking at all this, it is clear Vance has done a 360 on a number of issues since then. Nelson said that it was clear Vance was all about getting political power and material interests.
No clear stand
“What I see is a chameleon – someone who is able to change their position and their values depending on what will amass them political power and wealth. And I think that’s really unfortunate, because it reflects a lack of integrity.
”This isn’t someone who evolved on one or two issues with new information. This is someone who has changed their opinion on literally every imaginable issue that affects everyday Americans in this country and changed the way they speak about people,” said Nelson.