Is the Republican Establishment Trying to Politically Kill JD Vance?
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What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
Hey everybody, welcome to NextUp with me, your host, Marc Calvert, also editor-in-chief of the live interactive video platform, Two Way, and your guide to everything coming next up. Happy to have you here, glad that you're here. Two great guests and my reporting on a bunch of stuff. Joining us today is my Two Way colleague, Ethan Supley, host of Lifelong. And if you're someone who's ever struggled with some combination or individually weight gain and addiction, You're going to want to hear Ethan's message and how he talks about these things. It's unlike anything I've seen. And I think he's going to be part of leading a revolution in this country about being healthier. And then also Fred Ryan, chairman of the Ronald Reagan Presidential Foundation and Institute, used to be the guy who ran Politico and also at The Washington Post.
Now also the director at the Center on Civility and Democracy. He's got a new book called The Civility Handbook, A Guide for All Americans. And it is an important stake in the ground to try to turn this country around so that we can have conversations that are spirited, important and civil. And we talk about the benefits of that and how to bring it about. Grateful to them for being here. Looking forward to talking to them both. But before that, before they're here, my reported monologue. On J.D. Vance, keying off of his interview with Joe Rogan, which has gotten a ton of attention, and pegged also to the reality that the presidential race is coming, 100 days to the midterms, and then shortly after that, you'll start to see people announce they're running for president.
We'll be towards the early primaries before too long. And I get accused at times of rushing this process, but there's no rush, folks. This is happening. And it's happening on each side, the Democratic and the Republican side in different ways. On the Democratic side, the thing is more chaotic than even I had thought. I've talked about it being a weak field. I do my eight for 28 and have had a bit of a hierarchy. The new polling out of New Hampshire and nationally demonstrates what I've been feeling for a bit. This thing is so wide open. The vacuum at the top is massive. We've never had a race with so many candidates who are seen as either boom or bust. That Democratic Party process will play out particularly as the DNC puts its calendar together of the early nominating states.
So on the one hand, you've got folks eyeing the race, and on the other hand, they don't know where they're going to be competing early on. And as you know from history, those early states are so important. So the Democratic race for president in 2028, to define the presidential campaign, to define the Democratic Party, to define America, that's a wide open mess. The Republican side is totally different. The Republican side, it's about one man right now. It's about J.D. Vance. It's binary. He'll be the nominee or he won't. I think if he wants to be the nominee, he's still celebrating the birth of his fourth child. If he wants to be the nominee, I think he'll get the nomination pretty easily with the support of President Trump.
but this has been a watershed week and it's grown to this. I've been trying to do my reporting this week on Iran, trying to do my reporting on the midterms, but the fallout from the JD Vance interview last week of a piece with the trends we've talked about here before forced my reporting to be about JD Vance, in part because I find what's happening so interesting. And in part because of incoming from Vance supporters and Vance detractors. And the support and detraction, is that a word? It's coming from inside the Republican party. I'm not talking about how Democrats feel about JD Vance, although I think eventually if he does run, that'll be a big issue. Can JD Vance be someone who unites the country?
We had three straight two-term presidents, Clinton, Bush, and Obama, who aspired to unite the country and failed. President Trump talked about it, but really his campaign was not geared towards unity in 2016 or in 2020 or in 2024.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:02–6:10
2
Did J.D. Vance’s Joe Rogan interview trigger an intra‑party backlash?
6:10–30:36
3
What specific Israel and influence claims did Vance make on Rogan?
30:36–53:16
4
Who in the Republican establishment and media criticized Vance and why?
53:16–1:06:19
5
Are supporters calling the negative coverage a coordinated 'establishment op' against Vance?
1:06:19–1:12:55
6
How has Vance’s standing in the polls and with Republican voters changed after the controversy?
1:12:55–1:17:55
Speakers
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