JD Vance on Trump, Immigration, and Reshoring American Manufacturing

Vice presidential candidate JD Vance recently sat down for an in-depth interview covering a wide range of policy issues. As the running mate to Donald Trump in the upcoming election, Vance provided insight into their campaign's priorities and vision for the country.

On Donald Trump and the 2024 Campaign

Vance began by addressing his evolution from Trump critic to running mate. He explained that after seeing Trump's policies in action during his presidency, particularly on the economy, he changed his mind:

"If you go back to the date of my birth which is 1984, there's this chart that's really interesting and it tracks corporate profits, the wages of workers, and the size of government. For pretty much my entire life the wages of workers were stagnant, corporate profits were going up, and the size of government was going up. There was a 4-year period where the wages of workers outpaced the size of government and corporate profits - it's the four years that Trump was president."

He argued that Trump's policies "actually worked" in terms of improving wages and the economy for working class Americans. Vance also pushed back on media portrayals of Trump, stating:

"The actual reality of Donald Trump is that yeah, he remembers what you said about him because it's like part of the inputs that he takes as he tries to evaluate a human being, but most importantly he's asking like what what can you do now, how can you help the country now, how can you help me as I try to help the country now."

Vance emphasized that Trump is "much more motivated by the public interest" than by personal grievances, contrary to how he is often portrayed.

Immigration Policy and Border Security

On the contentious issue of immigration, Vance laid out a multi-pronged approach to address illegal immigration and secure the border:

"You start out with the million people who are what we call criminal migrants, people who have committed violent crimes in some form or another - get them out of our country. Yes, handcuff those people and force them out of the country. But you also do other things simultaneously. First of all, you stop the bleeding right - you undo Kamala Harris's policies that open the southern Border in the first place."

He proposed additional measures like taxing remittances sent out of the country and making it harder for businesses to hire undocumented workers. Vance framed the overall approach as "the sandwich approach" - taking it "one step at a time" rather than attempting mass deportations all at once.

Vance also raised national security concerns about the current situation at the border, noting reports of people entering illegally from countries like Iran:

"God knows why some of them want to be here. I mean, you know, given what's going on in the Middle East I do worry about military age males from Iran coming into this country through the American southern border."

He argued the Biden administration has "created this massive gap in our national security and people are taking advantage of it."

Economic Policy and Relations with China

On economic policy, Vance emphasized the need to revitalize American manufacturing and reduce dependence on China. He argued the current U.S.-China economic relationship is fundamentally imbalanced:

"Right now the relationship is fundamentally that the Chinese have figured out they can create a massively powerful producer society while America becomes a weaker and weaker consumerist society. That is the broken nature of the relationship and I think rebalancing is the right way to think about it."

Vance pushed back on the idea that manufacturing and innovation can be fully separated, stating:

"One of the real conceits of the 30 years of globalization that I think was really really deranged and in hindsight very wrong...is we had this conceit that we could separate the manufacture of things from the design of things."

He argued this approach has hindered innovation in sectors like pharmaceuticals and electronics. To spur economic growth, Vance called for reducing regulations in key sectors:

"We have massively over-regulated transportation, over-regulated energy, over-regulated home construction...I think you can get a lot more growth whether it's 300 or 150 basis points just by massively reducing the amount of regulatory burden in the real economy."

Role as Vice President

When asked about his potential role as vice president, Vance emphasized being a "second set of eyes and ears for the president's agenda." He noted that in Trump's first term, there were people in the administration who weren't fully aligned with his agenda. Vance stated their goal is to "build a team who's actually aligned on the agenda" to ensure the president's policy priorities are implemented effectively.

Closing Thoughts

Vance concluded by defending Trump's policy acumen, stating: "Donald Trump cares more about the details of public policy than almost anyone I've ever met in public life. That's actually real - he thinks about how this stuff affects the real economy and real Americans."

He encouraged voters to listen to what Trump "actually says" rather than media portrayals, expressing confidence that people will "become a believer that he can make the country great again as he promises."

Overall, the interview provided insight into how a potential second Trump administration with Vance as VP would approach key issues like immigration, economic policy, and U.S.-China relations. While some of their proposals remain controversial, Vance aimed to present their vision as practical and focused on improving conditions for working and middle class Americans.

Article created from: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eMxcM3ZcVmM