"When Vice-President J. D. Vance skipped this year's 9/11 commemoration ceremony, in New York, and instead spent the day escorting Charlie Kirk's casket from Utah to Arizona on Air Force Two, the decision seemed to make sense, both in terms of substance and in terms of spectacle. Kirk, of course, had just been murdered -a horrific act of political violence that set the country on edge. President Donald Trump, unlike his predecessor, has never shown much aptitude for serving as Mourner-in-Chief."
"(In October, 2024, during an onstage interview with Kirk in North Carolina, Vance told the crowd, "Don't reward the party of Liz Cheney and Dick Cheney and Kamala Harris," and also called Harris an "empty vessel" for "the prevailing ideas that are governing in Washington, D.C.,", including "that we should use our young people as cannon fodder for foreign military misadventures.")"
Vice-President J. D. Vance skipped the New York 9/11 commemoration to escort Charlie Kirk's casket from Utah to Arizona, framing the choice as both substantive and spectacular. Charlie Kirk had been murdered, an act of political violence that heightened national unease. President Donald Trump displayed little aptitude for ceremonial mourning, leaving Vance to serve as the Administration's chief eulogist. Vance's selection as running mate was intended to mark a break from bipartisan post-9/11 consensus, aligning him with hardline, anti-interventionist messaging and sharp criticism of figures associated with the old guard.
Read at The New Yorker
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