Let’s dive into the latest twist in the 2024 campaign trail, where Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance is calling out what he sees as a glaring contradiction in how the Harris-Walz campaign is being presented. The issue at hand? Vance is torching the Harris campaign and the media for seemingly trying to distance her from the very administration she’s part of—President Joe Biden’s administration.
The thing is: she’s Biden’s Vice President. https://t.co/1l34XKXKQN
— JD Vance (@JDVance) August 28, 2024
Here’s the setup: Vance, who’s running alongside former President Donald Trump, kicked off a Rust Belt tour with a rally in Big Rapids, Michigan. Michigan is a critical battleground state, and while polls show Vice President Kamala Harris leading there, Vance isn’t holding back. He’s zeroing in on her record, particularly on the economy, and making a point to tie her directly to the policies of the Biden administration. At one point during his speech, he even claimed that “Kamala Harris has been calling the shots,” signaling that her influence in the current administration is significant.
We’ve arrived https://t.co/8ozBlr1NRy pic.twitter.com/ccCEmk0tVs
— e-beth (@ebeth360) August 27, 2024
Now, here’s where things get interesting. Politico ran a headline that framed Vance’s comments as an attempt to “tether Harris to Biden,” as if this were some novel strategy. But that’s where the backlash began. On X (formerly Twitter), Politico was quickly corrected by the platform’s community notes, reminding everyone that Harris is, in fact, the vice president. In other words, it’s not exactly a stretch to link her to the administration’s policies—she’s been in the White House all along.
Journalism, courtesy of Politico, The Associated Press, and The New York Times: pic.twitter.com/H0Z01TDsEy
— Steve Guest (@SteveGuest) August 28, 2024
This situation is part of what Vance and his supporters see as a broader pattern: the media’s attempt to position Harris as an outsider or somehow separate from the Biden administration. It’s a narrative that Vance is eager to debunk, arguing that every aspect of Harris’s agenda is inherently tied to Biden’s, regardless of any recent reversals or shifts in stance.
I spotted the tether. https://t.co/wv7kOx2GAv pic.twitter.com/uFDMXD8AyK
— Mary Katharine Ham (@mkhammer) August 27, 2024
Vance’s critique taps into a larger frustration among Republicans who feel that Harris isn’t being held accountable for her role in the current administration’s policies. By highlighting this perceived inconsistency, Vance is not only reinforcing his own campaign’s message but also trying to draw a sharper contrast between the Trump-Vance ticket and the Harris-Walz campaign.
Politico got owned pic.twitter.com/vax06uXoiv
— aka (@akafacehots) August 28, 2024
