J.D. Vance’s long friendship with a transgender friend who attended his wedding has been revealed—including how he spoke about hating cops and disparaged Donald Trump and conservative icon Antonin Scalia.
Sofia Nelson, a Yale Law School contemporary of Trump’s running mate, revealed how they corresponded by text and email for years until falling out over his support for a ban on gender-affirming medical treatment for minors.
In October 2014, after the police killing that summer of Michael Ferguson, an 18-year-old Black man in Ferguson, Missouri, caused widespread protests and violence, Vance wrote to Nelson: “I hate the police. Given the number of negative experiences I’ve had in the past few years, I can’t imagine what a Black guy goes through.”
The emails, in which Mr. Vance criticizes former President Donald J. Trump both for “racism” and as a “morally reprehensible human being,” add to an already-existing body of evidence showing Mr. Vance’s ideological pivot from Never Trumper to Mr. Trump’s running mate.
And they reflect a young man quite different from the hard-right culture warrior of today who back then brought homemade baked goods to his friend after Nelson underwent transition-related surgery. The visit cemented their bond.
Nelson, now a public defender in Detroit, said they visited each other’s homes, talked on Zoom during the pandemic and exchanged long emails discussing a range of subjects, from the minutiae of daily life to weighty discussions of current events and public policy issues.
An enraging, depressing, and beautifully written story on JD Vance’s falling out with a transgender friend.
Views from 2014-17 include: Scalia is a shrill old man, support for some reparations, Trump a morally reprehensible racist, “I hate the police” https://t.co/mKSQj0yiRP
“Vance’s opposition to affirming one’s identity is complicated by his decision to change his name, not once, but twice. He was born James Donald Bowman and took the surname Hamel from his stepfather before finally choosing the name Vance to honor his grandmother, The New York Times reports. Critics argue that Vance’s childhood experience should have fostered empathy and understanding toward the LGBTQ+ community. Instead, he has used his platform to undermine their rights, leading to accusations of hypocrisy.
At breakfast today, hubs and I debated the question: “Is there any chance that Trump will dump Vance now that Vance’s past actions and verbal horrors are coming to light?”
I think “yes.” Vance would have to “excuse himself” from remaining as the orange felon’s VP running mate — claiming, perhaps, some family or personal emergency he needs to devote his time to.
This is my first time commenting after reading for 15+ years. This story really resonates with me. I had a best friend through high school and college. We were practically inseparable. He was there for my coming out and a major part of my life. He was always supportive and caring. I was his best man at his wedding along with 2 other gay men were groomsmen. However, 2 years after he married a daughter of a preacher. He was radicalized to the right. He found god and couldn’t bring himself to even come to my wedding because it would offend his god. His entire family came but him. Some can be surprised or saying that Vance is faking he’s opinions but I believe he was just radicalized. I have seen it first hand. Religion is a dangerous tool that has caused so much pain.
I have followed Gronda for a long time, before she took her long break. But she is back and her writtings while in debth and a bit long are so very interesting and well researched that they are more than worth the time to read. I love them. I hope everyone here will. Hugs. Scottie
“Let’s say Roe vs. Wade is overruled, Ohio bans abortion, you know, in 2022, let’s say 2024, and then every day George Soros sends a 747 to Columbus to load up disproportionately black women to get them to go have abortions in California.
“Of course, the left will celebrate this as a victory for diversity. That’s kind of creepy, right? If that happens, do you need some federal response to prevent it from happening because it’s really creepy?
“And, you know, I’m pretty sympathetic to that, actually.” – J.D. Vance, appearing on the podcast of far-right activist Aimee Terese during his 2022 campaign for the US Senate.
JD Vance said this on a podcast hosted by a Twitter user he follows who calls for putting “misogynists back in the Oval Office” and says “we need to stop normalising consent” https://t.co/ElrkbAf5VJpic.twitter.com/BEwX61QfpB
A Texas constable spent two years working to bring criminal charges against school librarians for distributing books he felt were obscene. KXAS’ Scott Friedman reports.
FBI Director Christopher Wray issued a warning Wednesday about how a controversial right-wing plan for Donald Trump’s second term would impact law enforcement.
In a House Judiciary Committee hearing that focused on the attempted assassination of Trump, Rep. Hank Johnson (D-GA) asked Wray about the dangers of Project 2025, a presidential transition initiative organized by the Heritage Foundation.
“What he wants to do is to force the FBI director to appoint, to report directly to him,” Johnson said of the plan. “That’s what he wants to do within the first 120 days. He also wants to eliminate the position of FBI General Counsel.”
“I think the FBI’s Office of General Counsel serves an incredibly important role, including in terms of advising our workforce,” Wray explained. “The idea of having an organization like ours, an independent law enforcement agency like ours that doesn’t have its own general counsel’s office doesn’t make sense to me.”
“That seems like it’s an attempt to neuter the FBI and render it accountable only to the president,” Johnson noted.
Wray acknowledged that he served at the pleasure of the president but said Project 2025 would undermine FBI independence.
“We need to be able to do our work in a way that is free from political interference,” he pointed out.
“You wouldn’t be able to do that by reporting everything you do to the president and getting his authority and approval before you take action, correct?” Johnson asked.
“I don’t think that would be a wise approach,” Wray agreed.
He also refused to endorse a plan to replace 38,000 civil servants in the FBI with what Johnson called “a MAGA group that has pledged its allegiance to Donald Trump.”
“It would be crazy to take 38,000 MAGA loyalists and put them at the FBI,” Johnson argued. “That’s frightening.”
“That’s what Project 2025 proposes and I’m glad to know that you are not with that program.”
This is a repeat of history. 1930s German with an authoritarian leader with a compliant congress with a plan to take over the government functions to end rights and liberty for some people while making others a superior race. Damn it people wake up. We have seen this movie before. The fascist are the bad guys. We had to stop them then, we have to stop them now. They did not have permits yet they marched and paraded anyway. They vandalized public property, costing taxpayer money to repair. They threatened people, rule by violence, by gang thugs, brownshirts, tRump soldiers. Hugs. Scottie
For the second time in just nearly as many weeks, a hate group stationed themselves in downtown Nashville and passed out flyers against those who were Jewish and in the LGBTQ community.
NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WTVF) — For the second time in just nearly as many weeks, a hate group stationed themselves in downtown Nashville and passed out flyers against those who were Jewish and in the LGBTQ community.
The group kept passing out flyers that labeled Jewish people as pedophiles and screaming that those who are LGBTQ needed to “get the f—k home.” Their shirts read “pro white” on the front. On the back of the shirt, it read “whites against replacement.” They stood alongside a Nazi flag and a sign that said Let’s Go Brandon, a moniker against President Joe Biden.
“Joe Biden’s cabinet is 80% Jewish,” one of the group told our camera crew.
Men in the group were raising their arms in the same salute as Nazi soldiers did to Adolf Hitler during his fascist rise of power in the 1930s and 1940s.
“The Holocaust never happened,” they told our camera crew.
Justice Kennedy/WTVF
A man holds a flyer in the face of another while a hate group stood at Third and Broadway in Nashville, Tenn., on July 14, 2024.
Those at Third and Broadway identified themselves as the Goyim Defense League, and they are defined as a hate group by the Southern Poverty Law Center. They are a group that primarily lends their hate to the Jewish community, though the group on Broadway was screaming about the Jewish, LGBTQ and the Black community.
“It’s time for white people to stand up for themselves,” the group told pedestrians walking by.
We captured a woman who was gay screaming at the group for being out there in front of her child. They screamed at her that she shouldn’t have any children.
“My daughter is scared of you!” the woman screamed, who said she had just come out of a restaurant.
Metro Nashville police officers were near the group on Lower Broadway.
The Jewish Federation of Greater Nashville posted on Sunday about hate groups continuing to hand out flyers that show hatred against Jewish people, including Saturday night in Nashville.
“The Jewish Federation of Greater Nashville is disgusted that once again our beloved city has been sullied by antisemitic instigators,” Jewish leaders said in a statement. “Last night, a group of roughly 15 Jew-haters handed out antisemitic literature in downtown while spewing loathsome rhetoric. We condemn this activity in the strongest possible way and denounce the perpetrators. Antisemitism — the irrational hatred of Jews — continues to escalate here in Middle Tennessee and around the country (and world). We are in constant contact with local law enforcement and thank them for their hard work and partnership in ensuring that the hateful words being espoused do not turn into violent actions against our community members or institutions.”
Previous hate groups in Nashville
The hate group the Patriot Front didn’t have a permit to march in the city, but they did so anyway last weekend.
The group went through the streets of downtown Nashville a “Reclaim America” banner, American flags, a Confederate flag and passing out flyers while chanting on their way to the front of the Capitol. Some also held red, white, and blue shields.
They also spray-painted their logo under the Woodland Street Bridge, which is vandalism.
In February, the group defaced the retaining wall in Brentwood on the side of Interstate 65. The Tennessee Department of Transportation had to paint over it.
Other racist flyers were passed out in downtown in February.
On Sunday, once again, a hate group put on a demonstration in downtown Nashville. This time, it was the neo-Nazi “Goyim Defense League,” shouting “Hitler was right!” and other vile words! 1/ pic.twitter.com/CcP59f7mIk
'They see Tennessee as a battleground.' New data points to dramatic rise of hate in Tennessee (From my “Hate Comes to Main Street” investigation) 3/3 https://t.co/23UouVF05H
JUST IN: Video of a fight in downtown Nashville involving the neo-Nazi Goyim Defense League. MNPD was on the scene. It’s unclear if any arrests were made. https://t.co/EOmA1VwGBvpic.twitter.com/PHJdaFYr7m
