Emails to a former friend and Yale Law classmate of J.D. Vance reveals the fledgling vice Republican presidential nominee was open about hating the police and called Donald Trump’s supporters racists before he seemingly transformed into a MAGA devotee overnight.
Sofia Nelson, who identifies as transgender, gave an exclusive interview with CNN’s Erin Burnett Monday, detailing Vance's radical transformation from the person she knew.
“What I’ve seen is a chameleon. Someone who is able to change their position and their values depending on what will amass them political value and wealth and I think that's really unfortunate because it reflects a lack of integrity,” Nelson said during the broadcast. “This isn’t someone who evolved on one or two issues with new information. This is someone who has changed their opinion on literally every imaginable issue.”
Read also: Flip-flop: Remembering J.D. Vance's criticisms of Donald Trump
Nelson shared several emails from Vance with CNN, including one from 2014 where Vance wrote, “I hate the police,” a 180-degree flip from his pro-police talking points at recent campaign rallies.
“Given the number of negative experiences I’ve had in recent years, I can’t imagine what a black guy goes through,” Vance wrote in the 2014 email shared with CNN.
In 2016, Vance wrote, “I hate [Trump] and what he represents,” and also described Trump’s supporters as racists, according to the emails shared with CNN.
“I really see the racially offensive views of Trump's supporters (not all of them, of course, but it's certainly disproportionate) as coexisting rather than driving his support. Nov 2016,” Vance wrote in the email, according to CNN.
For Nelson, this is a complete departure from their old law school friend, who they described as compassionate and kind. In recent years, Nelson says they watched Vance transform both in the public eye and privately, adopting the rhetoric and attitude of Trump.
“When J.D. decided to run for the Senate in 2022, he started adopting that similar persona,” Nelson said. “It was reflected in our interpersonal communications and the end of our friendship .He just started talking in this dismissive, divisive way about people who are different from him."
“I don’t see any of the man I got to know and cared about,” they said. “It’s really heartbreaking.”
Watch the clip below or at this link.
