One of the most tone-deaf and bizarre lines of attack to come out of the 2024 presidential campaign was the one directed at Vice President J.D. Vance and his background.
Vance wrote about growing up poor in Appalachia, raised by his grandparents because his mother struggled with drug addiction. Vance put himself through college by joining the Marines, then went to Yale Law School.
It is, quite literally, the American dream.
But J.D. Vance is an eeeeeevvvvvviiiiiiilllll Republican, you see, so it was okay to attack his upbringing, his mother (and her sobriety), and even his attendance at Yale.
The Democrats appear to be framing the 2028 election as a showdown between Vice President Vance and California Governor Gavin Newsom, so they're doubling down on the attacks against Vance and his upbringing:
Gavin Newsom’s dad was the personal attorney for the billionaire Getty family. They gave young Gavin money to start a winery in Napa.
— Robert Sterling (@RobertMSterling) August 17, 2025
JD Vance grew up in a broken, drug-addicted home in the rust belt. He joined the Marines to pay for college.
These guys are not comparable. https://t.co/VN5GbaPiX2
Which American teenager do you think the majority of voters can identify with? The rich, privileged son of a billionaire or the nerdy guy having fun with his friends? Which story resonates more? The guy born with a silver spoon in his mouth or the guy who worked his way up from nothing to be the Vice President of the United States?
I know which one I identify with. Like Vance, I grew up poor. I have dozens of pictures of me, overweight, acne-riddled, and bespeckled, doing stupid things with my theater friends.
Sometime before the 2024 election, the Democratic Party stopped even pretending to be the party of the working and middle class. Instead, they've become the party of criminals, illegal immigrants, and the rich elite. They're dismissive of J.D. Vance and his accomplishments -- he didn't build that, after all -- and claim his 'white privilege' gave him an advantage.
Beyoncé, Taylor Swift, Oprah, and a slew of other celebrities endorsed Kamala Harris, who spent $1.5 billion on her campaign in 107 days. Wealthy New Yorkers back commie Zohran Mamdani in New York. In D.C., Leftists demand that the poorer neighborhoods just deal with crime and the blight it brings, so they can virtue signal about how tolerant they are.
And now Gavin Newsom and the Democrats have decided to dunk on Vice President Vance and his upbringing -- an upbringing that resonates with a vast majority of Americans in a way the spoiled, affluent Gavin Newsom's childhood never will. But they think Newsom's rich upbringing is now what makes him qualified for the White House, a place where he'd undoubtedly demand we tax the rich and end the oligarchy.
This is not a one-off, either. Newsom himself weighed in on the pic, fully embracing the snobbery:
I miss that scarf. https://t.co/SPPkYRrV6U
— Gavin Newsom (@GavinNewsom) August 18, 2025
I'm sure you do, Gavin.
By the way, that Burberry scarf cost $150-$200 in 1985. That same year, the average weekly income was $344. And it gets even better. In his rush to dunk on Vice President Vance, Gavin Newsom quoted a literal Nazi account:
Ladies and gentlemen: Gavin Newsome reposting a (literal) Nazi account.
— Frank McCormick (@CBHeresy) August 18, 2025
Vanity truly is Satan’s favorite sin. pic.twitter.com/vF04XG0jVY
Bang up job there, Governor.
There's another demographic this won't play well with: men. Democrats already have a problem with male voters, and they only enjoy moderate support among men ages 65+. Men ages 18-29 favor Republicans by 44 points. Gavin Newsom is every bully who made those men's high school lives a living hell, and they won't forget it.
I stand by what I said the other day: 2028 is too far away to assume Newsom will be the nominee, and if he is, he will lose precisely because of elitist messaging like this.
