Past comments from Republican vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance are facing new scrutiny now that the Ohio Senator is Donald Trump’s running mate.
Online critics resurfaced a clip from 2021, in which Vance appeared on Fox News to blast gymnastics legend Simone Biles for withdrawing from the 2020 Tokyo Olympics due to struggles with mental health.
“What I find so weird about this is that we’ve tried to turn a very tragic moment, Simone Biles quitting the Olympic team, into this act of heroism,” Vance said. “I think it reflects pretty poorly on our sort of therapeutic society that we try to praise people, not for moments of strength, not for moments of heroism, but for their weakest moments.”
Vance didn’t end his criticism there, either.
“Instead, what our press has done, I think, has turned this into this weird therapeutic moment,” Vance continued. “Let’s praise her for [dropping out]. And I think that’s really where the problem therein lies.”
Vance has faced a turbulent rollout since Trump made the Ohio Republican Senator his vice presidential pick. Trump made the choice back when he thought he’d be running against his old political foe, Democrat president Joe Biden.
Vance has faced severe backlash for his criticism of women, including Biles and American actress Jennifer Aniston.
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