Details About JD Vance's Friendship With Donald Trump Jr.

With Donald Trump selecting J.D. Vance, junior senator from Ohio, as his vice-presidential running mate, it appears that Donald Trump, Jr.'s friendship with Vance may have been an instrumental part in that decision. 

Their relationship seems to have started a few years ago as Vance eyed his run for Ohio senator in 2021. He and Donald sat down for a meeting together; Don Jr. was also in attendance. That meeting may have been what helped to kick off the bromance as well as marking a clear switch from Vance's previous public stance on Donald. Before Trump was first elected president in 2016, Vance was very clear about his dislike of Trump. 

It could be tempting for cynics to assume that Vance and Don Jr.'s friendship came out of a place of calculation on Vance's part. In an interview with Time magazine published in early July 2021, Vance said that Donald was "the leader of this movement, and if I actually care about these people and the things I say I care about, I need to just suck it up and support him." But Trump Jr. certainly seems to find him to be a true friend. In a statement to The New York Times, Don Jr. said, "In the world of politics you make a lot of acquaintances, but there are very few actual friends. J.D. has become a close friend of mine." The two are such close friends that they apparently are in communication with each other pretty much every day.

Donald Trump, Jr. seems to be an admirer of J.D. Vance's eloquence. He apparently liked J.D. Vance's memoir "Hillbilly Elegy," which came out in 2016 and is about his family and the struggles of white working-class people in Appalachia. Don Jr. was also reportedly impressed by how often and how well Vance later went on TV to publicly advocate and defend his father in the media. The move proved that, after enough time and public displays of support, bygones will be bygones when it comes to the Trump family — and politics and loyalty is key.

When asked at the Republican National Convention by CNN what he thought about his dad picking Vance as his running mate and what he might have said to convince his dad to choose him, Don Jr. said, "I've seen him on TV. I've seen him prosecute the case against the Democrats. I think no one's more articulate than that." Don Jr. may be good buddies with Vance, but he's also clearly thinking about him in terms of his father's electability.

Trump Jr. and Vance are potentially so close that Vance may have even borrowed Don Jr.'s look. One of Vance's friends from law school noted that Vance's beard and slicked-back hair make him looks a bit like Don Jr. Is it a case of imitation as a form of flattery? Could be.

J.D. Vance got more than a new friend when it came to Donald Trump, Jr. He may owe his political career to Don Jr. and his father Donald Trump. In early 2022, Don Jr. posted on X, formerly known as Twitter, "Enough with the lies being told about this guy," in reference to Vance and his reported dislike of Donald, according to The New York Times. By that time, Vance had done his about-face when it came to Trump, and Donald endorsed him as Ohio senator.

Don Jr. has long promoted Vance as a good VP pick. It was another Vance promoting post by Don Jr. on X — a few days before Donald formally announced his running mate — that got people presuming that Vance was going to be the chosen one. But some people think it was a case of Don Jr.'s feelings for Vance getting in the way of what would be the best for the party. One person wrote, "It's Jr's hunting friend so instead of going for someone like Donalds, Carson, or Tulsi....he is pushing a friend not necessarily the best for the job."