Opinion | This Is Why MAGA Loves JD Vance

The most frustrating thing about the vice-presidential debate wasn’t the outcome.JD Vance was exactly as good as I expected.

He can be an excellent, persuasive communicator.Like many good lawyers, he’s a chameleon.

Depending on the audience, he can breathe fire — the way he does on MAGA podcasts or at Trump rallies — or he can present as a calm, reasonable man, completely at home in a lunchtime think tank discussion.No, the most frustrating part of the debate was how comprehensively deceptive it was.Voters who tuned into the debate without any knowledge of the candidates would think they were watching a contest between two civil, respectful people who agreed on many core values but merely disagreed on policy.The Vance of the infamous “childless cat ladies” comment was gone.

Nowhere did we see the version of Vance who told his supporters to “keep the cat memes flowing” when he and his running mate were fanning the flames of slander and bigotry against the Haitian immigrants of Springfield, Ohio.Absent for a moment was the bitter ideologue who once said, “I think our people hate the right people.”If this was your first look at Vance, you might even be tempted to think, “How nice that Donald Trump would have such a thoughtful person by his side in the Oval Office.”But this was not my first look at Vance, and I had a different thought: We’ve seen all this before.In 2016 and 2020, Mike Pence was the gentleman debater.

He was less polished and less effective than Vance, but he had a similar softening effect on the ticket.Pence acknowledged the humanity of his opponent.

He debated policy rather than firing off personal insults.And especially in 2016, his earnest faith and apparent kindness might have reassured voters that Trump couldn’t be that bad, not if he had chosen Pence.We know exactly how that turned out.

Pence had no positive effect on Trump.None of Trump’s best advisers could change that man.

The most they could do was throw th...