WHAT THEY ARE SAYING: Donald Trump Announces Extreme MAGA Running Mate J.D. Vance Arrow

Today, Donald Trump chose MAGA loyalist J.D. Vance as his running mate, making it clear Trump is running on the Project 2025 agenda. Together, the Trump-Vance ticket will push their extreme Project 2025 plans that put the ultra-rich over working families, rip away basic freedoms, and undermine our democracy.

Here's what reporters, Democratic and community leaders, and more are saying about Trump's announcement of Vance as his running mate:

Online:

DNC Chair Jamie Harrison:"Donald Trump has named J.D. Vance as his VP pick. Vance embodies MAGA, and has championed and enabled Trump's worst policies for years. With so much on the line, it's more important than ever to reelect President @JoeBiden and Vice President @KamalaHarris."

Senator Sheldon Whitehouse: "'Mr. Trump is unfit for our nation's highest office.' -Vance, 2016"

Mini Timmaraju, Reproductive Freedom for All President and CEO:"Donald Trump selecting J. D. Vance as his pick for vice president provides even more evidence that a Trump administration will stop at nothing to ban all abortion. Make no mistake, Trump picked him because of -not in spite of- his anti-abortion bonafides. A Trump-Vance administration will be the most dangerous administration for abortion and reproductive freedom in this country's history. We must re-elect President Biden and Vice President Harris to not only restore our rights but to safeguard our democracy."

Liz Shuler, AFL-CIO President: "Sen. JD Vance likes to play union supporter on the picket line, but his record proves that to be a sham. He has introduced legislation to allow bosses to bypass their workers' unions with phony corporate-run unions, disparaged striking UAW members while collecting hefty donations from one of the major auto companies, watered down safety protections for rail workers at the request of industry lobbyists, and opposed the landmark Protecting the Right to Organize (PRO) Act, which would end union-busting 'right to work' laws and make it easier for workers to form unions and win strong contracts. … A Trump-Vance White House is a corporate CEO's dream and a worker's nightmare. Look no further than the devastating Project 2025 plan that would eviscerate unions and empty workers' pockets just to boost the profits of their corporate friends and donors. That's the Trump-Vance agenda."

April Verrett, SEIU President:"J.D. Vance may portray himself as a working class hero, but his record tells another story. The truth is that Senator Vance's loyalties lie with the Wall Street bankers and Silicon Valley billionaires who have bankrolled his political career. Together, Donald Trump and J.D. Vance will seek to protect the wealthy and corporations while enacting their insidious Project 2025 agenda. There's a stark contrast between Biden-Harris, who have backed workers and taken action to lower prices and raise wages, and Trump-Vance who side with price-gouging, union-busting corporations."

Kelley Robinson, Human Rights Campaign: "Donald Trump has been a bully for years - and his pick of MAGA clone J.D. Vance is a reminder that nothing has changed. This is anything but a unity ticket. We are not simply choosing between two campaigns. We are choosing between two fundamentally different visions of America. One, with Trump and MAGA 'yes man' J.D. Vance at the helm, where our rights and freedoms are under siege. And the other, with Joe Biden and Kamala Harris leading the way, where we are advancing toward freedom and equality for all. Everything is at stake and the contrast could not be clearer. We must defeat Trump, Vance, and their brand of chaos and division, and send Joe Biden and Kamala Harris back to the White House."

Former Congressman Tim Ryan: "At best, JD Vance is a phony and a fraud. At worst, he has extremely deranged views towards women. His political agenda is even more extreme than Trump and his history of dishonesty and opportunism means he cannot be trusted. I was hoping President Trump would have picked a VP that had a reputation of someone who consistently reached out to find common ground. JD is the exact opposite of that. Democrats must act quickly to expose him.

"In the coming hours you will see many clips and commercials from our Senate race together. I continue to stand by all I said during that campaign. Unfortunately, what I said then is even more true now."

Gram Slattery, Reuters: "Vance is very close to Heritage and even wrote the forward for a book from the think tank's president. Project 2025 is of course organized by Heritage."

Nick Corasaniti, New York Times: "[Heritage Foundation president Kevin Roberts] reacted to the news [of Vance's VP selection] 'with a broad smile on my face' and said that 'privately, we were really rooting for him.'"

Symone D. Sanders Townsend, MSNBC: "Trump selecting JD Vance as his running-mate says to me their campaign strategy is actually not trying to expand the map as they have suggested. This is a play for the base."

Lisa Kashinky, Politico: "Sen. @ewarren talks her up: 'The VP will take it to JD Vance. … She is strong, she knows what she's talking about and she doesn't give an inch.' #mapoli"

Ken Thomas, Wall Street Journal: "Biden's campaign views Trump's selection of Vance as a doubling-down and more of the same. 'Clearly, Vance won Trump's veepstakes by passing his MAGA litmus test with flying colors,' @jomalleydillon says on a call with reporters."

On the Airwaves:

On MSNBC, Peter Alexander: "If you put the [MAGA] characteristics into a computer, it would spit out J.D. Vance."

On MSNBC, Former Congressman Charlie Dent: "Well, it appears to me that Donald Trump has doubled down on his MAGA base through his selection of J.D. Vance. This does not expand the Trump base in my view. Maybe a Rubio would have done that or some other person, but this is not going to expand the base for the Republican Party. In fact, I would argue that there are going to be a lot of Republicans that are going to be unhappy with this selection because many of us believe that we ought to have a principles based conversation about the future of the party. … To me it seems J.D. Vance embraces all the things many of us are objecting to. So, I don't see how this brings a lot of new people into the fold. Particularly that Nikki Haley voter, you know, who I think articulated a vision closer to what I'm talking about."

On MSNBC, Former GOP Representative David Jolly: "You're already seeing the Biden team come out and say he's wrong on abortion services, reproductive freedom, he's wrong on health care, Social Security, January 6 and protecting democracy… The takeaway from the Vance announcement is that he's unqualified. It's a singular issue."

On MSNBC, Ari Melber: "As for Senator J.D. Vance, since jumping into Senate politics about two years ago, he has branded himself a Trump loyalist. … He auditioned as a fighter, traveled to attend Trump's criminal trial, launched political attacks that go really beyond what Trump himself would sometimes say, and he has a conservative voting record for the brief time he's been in the Senate. … Before Donald Trump won in 2016, Vance, announced today as Donald Trump's running mate, called Donald Trump noxious, reprehensible, and a, quote, 'idiot.'"

Public link

Please use the above public link if you want to share this noodl on another website.