Vance says he's lost friends over Trump support

Ohio Sen. JD Vance, the Republican vice presidential nominee, said Tuesday that he’s lost friends over his support for former President Trump.

“We can't discard friends, and we can't discard family members,” Vance said in a clip that aired on Fox News’s “America’s Newsroom” and was highlighted by Mediaite. “I think that if we all just recognize this basic principle that we oughta love people, we oughta be friends with people, we ought to be family members with people, regardless of their politics, that would do a lot to heal the division.

“I know myself, I've had a lot of friends — not a lot — I've had a few friends who have cast their friendship aside because I decided that I wanted Donald J. Trump to be the winner in the last election … [in] this election,” Vance added.

Vance was once a critic of Trump, previously referring to him as “America’s Hilter,” “noxious” and “reprehensible.” In recent years, he has backed the former president and became his running mate in July.

“I'd say to everybody, whether you're voting for Donald Trump or voting for Kamala Harris — remember, friends and family, that stuff is what really, really matters,” Vance said Tuesday.

“We oughta be kind to one another, we oughta treat each other with respect. And fundamentally what we're trying to do, President Trump and I, is just build the kind of country where our fellow Americans can achieve their dreams, but that's all of our fellow Americans, regardless of who they vote for,” Vance continued.

On Monday, while rallying supporters in Atlanta, Vance said, “Our message to Kamala Harris is very simple. The citizens of this country, they are not garbage for thinking that you’re doing a bad job,” riffing off of recent comments from President Biden in which he appeared to call former President Trump’s supporters garbage.

“The citizens of this country are not racist for thinking that you ought to close down that damn southern border,” he said. “The citizens of this country are not garbage for wanting to be able to afford groceries and a nice place to live. But in two days, we are going to take out the trash in Washington, D.C., and the trash’s name is Kamala Harris.”