Who says Donald Trump was a ‘failed’ president? J.D. Vance.

When Democrat Tim Walz and Republican JD Vance take the stage for the vice presidential debate on Tuesday, Vance can be counted on to sing the praises of his running mate, former President Donald Trump.

That’s what vice presidential candidates do.

Unfortunately for Trump — and Vance — the Ohio senator’s praise for the former president will ring hollow.

On the signature economic issues that both Republicans hold dear, the Republican Party’s vice presidential candidate is now on record as having given his boss an “F” grade.

“Trump has equally failed to deliver on his economic populism (disjointed China policy aside),” Vance wrote in a direct message to an acquaintance in February 2020, as then-President Trump ended his term in White House. House completed.

Trump was elected in 2016 on the promise that he would make the American economy work for working families. But his presidency was the antithesis of what he promised as a candidate. Trump focused his energy instead on serving the billionaire class. He supported massive tax cuts for the wealthy, filled top positions with business insiders and Wall Street flunkies, refused to support efforts to organize workers, and neglected efforts to keep factories open in struggling communities. As Shawn Fain, president of the United Auto Workers, says, “The bottom line is that Donald Trump doesn’t care about working-class people, and he showed that when he was president.”

Republicans have tried to push back on such criticism. But now a cache of previously unreported direct messages from Vance, referenced by the recipient of the messages The Washington Post– reveals that Democrats, labor leaders and economists weren’t the only ones tearing up Trump’s record.

Vance, a millionaire venture capitalist who wrote a cynical book about his Appalachian roots, has, like Trump, long tried to portray himself as a champion of America’s working class. Once a fierce critic of Trump, who suggested the billionaire real estate developer was a “reprehensible” human being who might be “America’s Hitler,” Vance changed his tune as he began pursuing a career in Republican politics.

The suddenly enthusiastic Republican claimed to have changed his position after being impressed by Trump’s presidency. “I’ve been very open about saying those critical things and I regret it, and I regret being wrong about the man,” Vance signaled in 2021 while bidding for the U.S. Senate seat in Ohio which he eventually won in 2022. with Trump’s support. “I think he was a good president, I think he made a lot of good decisions for the people, and I think he took a lot of criticism.”

Now we learn that Vance privately remained a critic for almost the entirety of Trump’s presidency.