FALSE PROPHET
J.D. Vance
U.S. Senate Candidate, Ohio
J.D. Vance is the Republican nominee for US Senate in Ohio. He rose to prominence as a venture capitalist and as the author of the bestseller Hillbilly Elegy, which one reviewer called "a list of myths about welfare queens repackaged as a primer on the white working class.” Vance converted to Catholicism and firmly believes the state should resemble Catholic teaching.
Professor Kristin Kobes Du Mez, author of the book “Jesus and John Wayne,” says Vance’s defense of toxic masculinity -- including his praise of the Kenosha murderer Kyle Rittenhouse -- “is closely linked to Christian nationalism.”
In 2016, Vance called Trump an "idiot" and potentially "America's Hitler," but six years later, Vance now openly campaigns with Trump and fellow False Prophet Marjorie Taylor Greene at bizarre QAnon rallies, eagerly accepting the ex-president's endorsement. He has also flip-flopped on the violent, white nationalist Charlottesville march, dismissing criticism of the event as a "ridiculous race hoax." Vance is also endorsed by Tucker Carlson and right-wing billionaire Peter Theil.
Vance’s Christian Nationalist Rhetoric
Misrepresented and critiqued feminism, tweeting, “If your worldview tells you that it’s bad for women to become mothers but liberating for them to work 90 hours a week in a cubicle at the New York Times or Goldman Sachs, you’ve been had.”
Linking faith to policy, part one: “Importantly, talking about policy views, I’m a very pro-life person. It was always very meaningful to me that Catholics were always very firm on the life question. So, on a lot of these moral questions, I just saw that particular part of Christianity as a really good home for me and for my family, and that’s where we are."
Linking faith to policy, part two: “My views on public policy and what the optimal state should look like are pretty aligned with Catholic social teaching. That was one of the things that drew me to the Catholic Church. I saw a real overlap between what I would like to see and what the Catholic Church would like to see.” (Despite this quote, Vance does not follow Catholic social teaching on the environment or immigration.)
Suggested that people in violent marriages should not get divorced
Released a nativist campaign ad that began: “Are you a racist? Do you hate Mexicans? The media calls us racist for wanting to build Trump’s wall.”
Has appeared on Christian nationalist movement leader and fellow False Prophet Steve Bannon’s show ‘War Room’
Signed a deal with HarperCollins for a second book titled "A Relevant Faith: Searching for a Meaningful American Christianity." The book was dropped without explanation in May 2022.
Vance’s Christian Nationalist Policy Positions
Echoes Tucker Carlson (who has endorsed him and is a False Prophet Dishonorable Mention) in calling immigrants “dirty” and supporting racist Great Replacement theory: “Our people aren’t having enough children to replace themselves,” and “You can’t have so many people coming to the country at a time when our own families aren’t replicating themselves.”
Blames America’s issues on the “childless left” who “have no physical commitment to the future of this country”
Talks about seizing the “institutions of the left” and replacing them with “loyalists of the New Right”
Opposes LGBTQ equality, saying he would vote against the Respect for Marriage Act
Has said he believes the Big Lie that the 2020 election was stolen, called Joe Biden a “fake president,” and cruelly mocked reporters traumatized on January 6, thus supporting similar stolen-election conspiracy theories and lies as spread by fellow False Prophets and Christian-nationalist movement leaders Rev. Franklin Graham, General Michael Flynn, Bishop Joseph Strickland, strategist Steve Bannon, and Pastor Tony Perkins