In an interview on “The Michael Knowles Show,” Vice President J.D. Vance talks about the Democratic power center shift to the university and faculty lounges and how that has led to the rise of politicians like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez.

MICHAEL KNOWLES, HOST: I know you have to go, but you have very important things to do, like help run the whole country. I have two brief questions before you go, and they’re sort of like pick a name kind of questions. The leading Democrat for 28. VICE PRESIDENT J.D. VANCE: I think it’s got to be AOC. I know that’s probably conventional wisdom, but… KNOWLES: Well, no, I think the conventional wisdom right now is Newsom. VANCE: No, no, I don’t buy that. I think he hurt himself with his comment to an audience full of black Americans that “I’m low IQ just like you.” Sort of bad in a couple of different ways. KNOWLES: How do you do? At least two major political gaffes produced in a single sentence. The major political gaffes I’ve had, it’s sort of much less efficient than that. So yeah, look, I think all… AOC, more than Ossoff, more than any of these other guys? Yeah, I mean, it’s funny. It’s the AOC versus Ossoff thing. I guess the question would be, who do you think really has the power in the Democratic Party? And if you think the answer is like Wall Street and the left of center business community, then it would be Ossoff. And if you think it’s the universities, it would be AOC. So David Brooks made an observation. I think David Brooks probably hates my guts, but he like occasionally will say something that I think is genuinely brilliant, and this was one of them. He said that the fundamental problem with today’s Democratic Party is that the power center has shifted from unions to universities. And if that’s right, AOC will be the nominee. And by the way, I think that’s one of the reasons why the Democratic Party of 2026 is so deranged. Because you walk into a union hall, even where 70% of the guys are still voting Dem, fundamentally like a normal place with normal social values. It’s not the university like, you know, it’s not the university break room. KNOWLES: Faculty lounge. VANCE: Faculty lounge. That’s the word that I’m looking for. And this, by the way, is another reason why I’m just fundamentally pessimistic about the Dems. Because, you know, it’s one thing to be a socially pragmatic left of center Democrat on economic issues, but they’re just so dominated by the crazy people. And they can’t, it’s like they can’t figure out the part where they get the economic populism, which actually is very popular. And I think Republicans should be more worried about that. But every time they get the economic populism, it’s with somebody like AOC who’s like, oh, we, you know, need to tax the rich and give all the money to transgender baseball players who prey on your kids. And it’s like, wait a minute. Could you, like a very potent political movement would be half of that, whether you agree with it or not. Half of that equation is very politically popular. The part where you allow those same billionaires that you’re taxing to get rich by selling unlicensed pharmaceutical products to 12 year old minors to gender transition them. That’s the part that makes most Americans go, what the hell are you talking about? And oh, by the way, are you actually against the rich when your social values and your cultural values happen to align with the CEOs of nearly every major corporation? Yes. KNOWLES: Yeah. I mean, you saw it just the other day, this Scott Wiener, this guy who’s running for Pelosi’s seat. VANCE: Like a true deviant. I mean, there’s like something wrong with that guy. [LAUGHTER] KNOWLES: His crowning political achievement was encouraging pederasty in the law. That’s not an exaggeration. VANCE: Yeah. KNOWLES: And he was kicked out of the trans march for being too right wing. You know, so that’s basically the state of the party. VANCE: Scott, sometimes you eat the bar and sometimes the bar eats you, my friend. Best of luck.

RealClearPolitics Videos