JD Vance's law school roommate on shift from Trump skeptic to VP pick

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After Trump endorsed Vance in 2022, McLaurin publicized a text message he said was sent by Vance in 2016.

“We are, whether we like it or not, the party of lower-income, lower-education white people, and I have been saying for a long time that we need to offer those people SOMETHING (and hell, maybe even expand our appeal to working class black people in the process) or a demagogue would,” Vance allegedly wrote. “We are now at the point.”

The text continued: “I go back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical (expletive) like Nixon who wouldn’t be that bad — and might even prove useful — or that he’s America’s Hitler. How’s that for discouraging?”

As Trump’s popularity grew, McLaurin said Vance shifted to identify closer with Trump.

https://www.ajc.com/politics/state-senator-reflects-on-former-roommates-rise-to-a-lead-trump-vp-pick/UMBEIWLGPZHHJONKSA2R6FABDE/