J.D. Vance Gets Brutal Fact-Check for Hypocritical Gaza Protest Rant
Ohio Senator J.D. Vance believes that people should follow the law—except when it’s convenient to his personal political cause.
In a testy exchange with CNN anchor Kaitlin Collins Wednesday night, Vance got caught up in his own loose definitions, revealing a double standard conservatives hold when it comes to the Gaza solidarity protests happening on college campuses across the nation.
“You can’t police people for being anti-Israel or pro-Israel; you can police people for violating the law,” Vance said.
“Okay, so you agree that people who break in and vandalize a building should be prosecuted?” Collins said, to which Vance replied with a quick “yes.”
“Ok, I’m just checking, because you helped raise money for people who did so on January 6,” Collins continued. “Which was, you know, impeding an official proceeding, breaking into a building that they weren’t allowed to be in, and vandalizing the Capitol.”
But Vance was surprisingly prepared to dodge the question.
“Well, Caitlin, I know this is the obsession of the national media to talk about what happened two years ago—three years ago on January 6—” Vance said, before Collins interjected to specify that it’s “not an obsession” but rather a possible “double standard.”
“Here’s been my basic argument about January 6: if you beat up a cop, of course you deserve to go to prison,” Vance continued. “If you violated the law you should suffer the consequences. But there are people who protested on January 6 who’ve had the complete weight of the Justice Department thrown at them when at worst they’re accused of misdemeanors.”
But then Vance chose to harp on something that happened four years ago, once again punching down on a predominantly peaceful protest.
“Now, again, there are people who are accused of worse offenses and that’s a problem, but you can’t have Black Lives Matters protesters who rioted and go free, when you had people who were actually peacefully protesting on January 6 who had the book thrown at them—that’s the double standard that I’m most worried about.”
KAITLAN COLLINS: So you agree that people who break in and vandalize a building should be prosecuted?
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) May 2, 2024
JD VANCE: Yes
COLLINS: Ok, I'm just checking, because you helped raise money for people who did so on January 6 pic.twitter.com/nEztSPrQlC
Nearly 2,000 January 6 rioters were charged with crimes related to assaulting officers, destruction of government property, entering a restricted federal building, conspiring to obstruct a congressional proceeding, or for impeding one. Approximately 467 of them have been sentenced to periods of incarceration, according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office.