Opinion | The author's opinion does not necessarily reflect Sarah Palin's view.
Senator J.D. Vance, a potential 2024 running mate for Donald Trump, was highly critical of Joe Biden bringing out actor Robert De Niro to attack Trump supporters outside the Manhattan courthouse where Trump is facing trial.
Vance argued this demonstrated the political nature of the prosecution and was meant to intimidate jurors.
He viewed it as confirming Trump’s claims that Biden was behind these prosecutions for political purposes.
Vance noted De Niro calling supporters “gangsters” and “clowns” was insulting voters, like Hillary Clinton’s “deplorables” comment.
“Well first of all, what business does the president have at the show trial of his chief political rival? The impartial administration of justice requires that jurors not feel intimidated. Would you feel intimidated if the president sent a bunch of hacks to yell outside of the courtroom? The Biden administration’s entire argument up to this point is that this is a local case in New York,” Vance said.
“They’re not involved at all. So they decide to show up during closing arguments and stage a campaign rally?”
“De Niro is of course a joke. His wild gesticulation, what he said. He’s a washed up actor campaigning for a washed up president. We’ve been saying this entire trial is political theater for Joe Biden. And he decides to send a literal actor to a campaign rally on the day of closing arguments? It’s like the Democrats are trying to make our argument for us,” he said.
He argued Trump’s populist message of fighting for jobs resonates with working-class voters being disrespected by elites like De Niro.
Vance warned that if actions against Trump go unpunished, it could set a precedent normalizing politically-motivated prosecutions against all Republican officials, threatening the rule of law.
“That’s exactly what I thought. It’s rule one of American politics: attack the candidate, attack their campaign, attack their policies, but don’t attack the voters. The whole idea of an election is to persuade voters, not insult them. So you have a rich actor stand before a courthouse and call people names? That’s the Biden administration’s campaign strategy? It’s no wonder they’re flailing,” Vance said.
“One of the things that occurred to me as I watched De Niro make a fool of himself is that Trump voters, and especially rural white people, are the last group of people in the country it’s OK to insult. Can you imagine if De Niro called any other group of voters “gangsters?” It would be a career ending move,” Vance said.
“I think it does give Trump a huge opening. His connection to these voters has always been very powerful, and I think it rests on two things. The first is that Trump says what he thinks. Agree or disagree with him, it’s obvious he’s not selling a load of [expletive]. Working people are blunt because they respect one another to be honest and direct.”
“The second thing Trump has going for him is that people can tell he actually likes them and respects them as human beings. For a long time, a lot of Democrat and even many Republican politicians were ashamed of normal Americans. They think their values are backwards, their patriotism is tacky, and their jobs are part of the old economy. But here’s the thing people are waking up to: if a politician disrespects you, is he ever going to fight for you, your job, or your family? A campaign that dispatches an actor to call you a gangster doesn’t give a [expletive] about you. When they ship their job to China they won’t even feel guilty about it,” he added.
“Trump has an opportunity to say: I am your champion. I am the guy who will fight for your wages, your job, your public safety, your local community. Don’t entrust the guy who insults you with more power. Entrust me, the guy who actually respects you. It’s a huge opportunity for him to sweet working class voters in Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.”
“De Niro has gotten rich playing gangsters on the big screen and now he wants to call the people who build our buildings and make the things we use every day gangsters?” Vance pressed.
“Sometimes we overcomplicate this stuff. Robert De Niro and other Hollywood elitists like illegal immigration because they gets cheaper servants at their mansions without ever having to meet a normal citizen of their own country. Wall Street likes cheap labor because they get rich from it. And Democrat politicians get more votes.”
He expressed optimism that Trump will defeat Biden in 2024 by emphasizing these contrasts and respecting voters.
“Some issues really are Democrats versus Republicans. But this is about whether we’re a corrupt country,” Vance said. “Do we want the standard to be that you can try to throw your political opponents in jail for winning elections they should have lost? Do we want the president sending his attorneys to a local prosecutors office to go after his rival? And then following it up with a campaign rally on jury instruction day? If this isn’t political, why hold a campaign rally the day the jury deliberates on the verdict?”
“This is a mask off moment for the Biden regime, and I use that word carefully. For the first time in my life, we have an administration that is willing to shred nearly three centuries of legal tradition to gain power. Our ancestors fought, bled, and died to give us the kind of country where ‘equal justice under the law’ meant something. Biden and his cronies are willing to throw it all away to win an election.”
“I’m optimistic because I don’t think it will work. I really do think Trump will win. But then we need to have courage as Republicans to make sure that those who corrupted our system of justice are punished for it. If these guys suffer no consequences for what they did to Trump, they will eventually do it to every Republican elected official in the country. That’s how banana republics work. It never stops with just the guy on top,” he said.
