'Behaving like a jerk is aspirational': Analyst explains 'dark' reason MAGA loves JD Vance

Sen. J.D. Vance's popularity problem hasn't stopped former President Donald Trump from placing him front and center on his reelection campaign, which one political analyst suggested reveals a disturbing truth about conservative thinking.

Salon's Amanda Marcotte expressed surprise in her latest column that the growing number of questionable soundbites — including a conversation on the "whole purpose of the postmenopausal female" — and support for ultra-conservative views — among them that hunger is a "great motivator" to the unemployed — have not shaken conservative confidence in Trump's running mate.

"Everyone in reality-based America agrees: Sen. JD Vance of Ohio is not well-liked," Marcotte wrote. "Yet, if you listen to people in the MAGA Republican world, you'd think Vance is a superstar."

Marcotte then listed off a slew of comments from conservative pundits and Trump himself praising Vance's performance on the 2024 campaign trail.

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Conservatives such as National Review editor Rich Lowry and Fox News' Laura Ingraham praise Vance's energy, humor and poise — even as his likability ratings plummet below those of the late Sen. John McCain's notoriously disastrous running mate Sarah Palin, Marcotte reported.

"Despite early speculation that Trump would 'regret' picking Vance, the New York Times reports that 'Trump could not be happier' and 'has privately praised Mr. Vance by comparing himself to Vince Lombardi, telling people that his eye for political talent was now on par with the Hall of Fame football coach,'" Marcotte wrote.

"In the same article, Sen. Steve Daines of Montana, who oversees Republican Senate campaigns, says Vance has 'really been very impressive.'"

This characterization of Vance's campaigning technique did not resonate with Marcotte, who reminded readers of his ties to Project 2025, the controversial Republican policy platform Democrats contend Trump would champion if reelected, and his assertion that childless Americans are sociopaths.

This disconnect presented two possibilities to Marcotte. Either Vance is picking up the slack for a lagging Trump — who Marcotte posited is unwilling to campaign far from his Florida social club stomping ground — or something "darker" is happening, she wrote.

"The darker possibility is Republicans actually like Vance," Marcotte wrote.

"His personality traits that alienate average Americans — his contempt, his pomposity, his unvarnished misogyny — are attractive in the upside-down world of MAGA. These are the same folks who listen to an elderly man in orange makeup whine for hours and somehow read that as 'virility' and 'strength.' Petulance is an admirable quality in the MAGA universe. Behaving like a jerk is aspirational. They don't seem to get that bullies are usually overcompensating. People like Vance always punch down and kiss up, which is why he's always fawning over Trump, a man he once privately compared to Hitler. This is weak and spineless behavior, but because it's cruel, it reads as 'mighty' in the sadistic alternative universe of MAGA.'"