Did J.D. Vance once call Trump “the American Hitler”?

Shortly after Donald Trump announced Sen. J.D. Vance of Ohio as his running mate for president in 2024, a claim circulated on social media that Vance had once called Trump “the American Hitler.”

“What do you think about J.D. Vance becoming Vice President to someone he believes is ‘the American Hitler’?” one Reddit post asked.

The claim was true: In a 2016 text message to his college roommate, Vance wrote: “Either you think Trump is a cynical jerk like Nixon who’s not all that bad (and maybe even useful), or you think he’s the American Hitler. Does that disappoint you?”

The recipient of the messages, Josh McLaurin, now a Democratic senator from Georgia, made the text messages public in 2022 and several reputable news outlets corroborated their legitimacy at the time. Vance has since acknowledged past comments comparing Trump to an “American Hitler” and stressed that his view of the former president has changed.

For example, in a statement to VICE in 2022 in response to an article titled, “Trump-endorsed candidate J.D. Vance once said Trump might be ‘American Hitler,’” Vance’s campaign manager said:

It’s laughable that the media is treating JD’s dislike of Trump six years ago as breaking news when they’ve already covered it extensively since the campaign began. President Trump clearly believes JD is a true convert and has endorsed him of all the Republican candidates, concluding that he is the strongest America First conservative in the race. …Despite the left-wing media’s obsession with this old news, JD is proud of his support of President Trump and intends to stand with him to fight back against the radical left and establishment Republicans as Ohio’s next Senator.

After President Trump announced Vance as his running mate in July 2024, the 2016 text messages were cited again by various reputable news outlets, including Reuters, the BBC and the Guardian.

In a July 16, 2024 interview, Fox News’ Sean Hannity asked Vance about past comments he’d made about Trump, including his “American Hitler” remark. Vance did not deny the allegations, saying, “I make no secret of that,” and noted that he’s on record as being skeptical of Trump in the past. But having Trump in the White House “changed my mind,” Vance said (emphasis added).

SEAN HANNITY: But you didn’t say much good. [Trump] That was in 2016, but it seems like ages ago now. Look, you literally just said in a text to a friend that Trump is a cynical asshole like Nixon but not as bad and maybe even useful, and that he’s the American Hitler. And you likened Trump to cultural heroin in The Atlantic Monthly. I’ll tell you Trump’s response, but you said it at the time. What do you say to people who say, “Wait a minute. What did he mean?”

J.D. Vance: Sean, I won’t hide. thatBack in 2016, I was skeptical of Donald Trump, but President Trump has been a great president and he has changed my mind. I think he has changed the minds of many Americans because he has brought peace and prosperity. If you look back at what I was thinking in 2016, Sean, another thing that was going on was that I believed the lies and distortions of the media. I believed the idea that somehow he was so different and would be a terrible threat to democracy.

McLaurin, who was Vance’s roommate while at Yale Law School, posted to X on July 15, 2024, “I am the person to whom JD Vance sent a text message in 2016 saying ‘American Hitler.’ He was my roommate in law school.”

He originally texted public An archived version of that post (see below) shows the account was set up via a different handle (@JoshforGeorgia), which no longer existed in July 2024. McLaurin said in an email that someone had hacked it, so he deactivated the account and started a new one (@JoshMcLaurinGA).

(archive.org)

We recently looked into a similar claim Vance once tweeted: “America’s hospitals are overwhelmed. It’s time to take this seriously. First, fire the thousands of nurses who refuse to get vaccinated. It will help.”

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