JD Vance Ripped in Home State Newspaper: ‘Lap Puppy’

Ohio Senator JD Vance was ripped in a “letter to the editor” published by The Columbus Dispatch on Wednesday.

The writer, who was identified as John Meyer of Worthington, Ohio, described the senator as “a second-in-command lap puppy” and argued that Vance would not offer much to former President Donald Trump‘s administration. Trump selected Vance as his vice president nominee on Monday ahead of the former president’s formal nomination as the Republican Party’s presidential pick for 2024.

Meyer wrote in his letter to the Dispatch that he doesn’t “believe U.S. Ohio Sen JD Vance will do much to ‘help Donald Trump reclaim the White House.’ Trump is capable of doing that all by himself in today’s America.”

“In Vance, Trump would gain a second-in-command lap puppy at best,” he continued. “The ‘fake hillbilly’ who once, appropriately, likened Trump to Hitler, will be only too happy to brandish his born-again bona fides as the person best suited to do absolutely nothing as Trump leads us down the path toward his ‘retribution.'”

Meyer concluded his letter by saying, “We will have to wait at least four more years for the Republican Party” led figures such as former President Ronald Regan or Ohio Governor Mike DeWine. DeWine has endorsed Trump for reelection.

Newsweek reached out to Vance’s team via email for comment.

Vance was born in Middletown, Ohio, roughly 38 miles north of Cincinnati. His rise in the political field began after the release of his 2016 memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, which focused on his experience growing up in white, working-class America. At the time, Trump was running for his first term in office, and Vance was vocal about his disdain for the former president. The senator also once privately compared Trump to Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

By 2021, however, while running for Ohio’s open Senate seat, Vance flipped his opinion on Trump and won his election with the former president’s endorsement.

Several voters have criticized Trump’s choice of Vance. University of Dayton Professor Christopher Devine wrote in a letter to the Dispatch earlier this week that the senator “will have limited appeal to voters outside the Republican Party base.” Devine added that Vance “Vance probably will not help Trump win—and might cost him votes.”

Dispatch columnist Jordan Barkin echoed in an op-ed published Wednesday that Vance only “appeals to the MAGA demographic that was going to vote for Trump anyway,” adding that the senator “espouses a blend of economic populism that appeals to white working-class males.”