Vance: “We Cannot Be Afraid To Do Something Because The Left Might Do It In The Future, The Left Is Already Going To Do It”
Vice President Vance responded to a question about the precedents the Trump administration is setting by sending federal troops into cities to fight crime and reinforce ICE, during a Turning Point USA event Wednesday night in Mississippi:
QUESTION: Hello, JD, how you doing? In the wise words of Ricky Bobby, I don’t know what to do with my hands. VANCE: Don’t feel bad-neither do I half the time, man. QUESTION: Okay, first off-laugh it up, laugh it off-first of all, I’m a huge supporter of the Trump administration. I was three months too late to vote for you guys, but if I could have, I would have. So I’m a huge supporter of you guys before I make my argument. But there is something you guys are doing that’s kind of disturbing me a little bit. You guys have sent the military into Washington, D.C., and a few other cities that I can’t think of off the top of my head. For the stuff you’ve done, you’ve had wonderful results-nobody can deny that. Some might even say the greatest. I’m a comedian. VANCE: I like this guy-who is this guy? QUESTION: Thank you, JD, I like you as well. VANCE: Now he’s going to ask the question about all the things we did wrong. Go ahead-ask your question. QUESTION: It’s not necessarily something you did wrong, but what could someone else do wrong? Let’s say we get a complete tyrant in office, and we’re having-let’s say Turning Point USA is having a huge protest against something really bad that we don’t like. And that president says it’s getting violent. How can we-my mind’s kind of blanking-what’s the difference between what you’re doing and what they could do? How can we prevent somebody from abusing that power? VANCE: Look, I understand where the question is coming from, and I think it’s a fair question. And it’s going to sound like I’m being sarcastic-it’s really not meant in any offensive way. When you talk about what another administration could do, let me take a totally hypothetical example off the top of my head: what if Joe Biden sent the Federal Bureau of Investigation to start arresting his political opponents? Here’s something I want every conservative to remember-it’s an important part of my entire political philosophy: we cannot be afraid to do something because the left might do it in the future. The left is already going to do it regardless of whether we do it. That’s the takeaway of the last forty years. And in particular, if you look at what we’re doing-if Joe Biden wanted to deploy the National Guard to a red state where the murder rate was twice that of third-world countries, to actually go after murderers-that would be a great use of the National Guard. Unfortunately, I don’t think Joe Biden would use it like that. What I’m worried about, frankly, is what the far left already did with American law enforcement-and that’s what we have to prevent. The answer to that question is: make sure the people who did it face penalties for using federal power against American citizens. By the way, that’s exactly what we’re trying to do.
