海角大神

In 2021, JD Vance gave a speech to a conservative think tank on 鈥渨oke capital鈥� 鈥� and accused Amazon of funding Black Lives Matter in order to burn down the competition.

鈥淲ho benefits most when small businesses on Main Street are destroyed? Who wants to see their competitors unable to deliver goods and services to people, so that you get it delivered in your brown Amazon box? Jeff Bezos,鈥� Mr. Vance said, referencing the riots that broke out in the summer of 2020, amid a wave of racial justice protests. 鈥淭he people who are invested in destroying America via our corporate class are also getting rich from it. This is an important piece of the puzzle to understand.鈥�

Mr. Vance has described big business as an enemy of conservative values, accusing many corporations of directly undermining America. It鈥檚 a view that has gained traction on the MAGA right in recent years, with conservatives attacking companies like Disney and Budweiser for 鈥渨oke鈥� messaging and efforts at diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) 鈥� evidence of the Republican Party鈥檚 transformation in the Trump era.

But Mr. Vance doesn鈥檛 just think companies are cynically pandering to the marketplace. He鈥檚 taken his criticisms a step further, painting corporations鈥� motivations in a sinister, conspiratorial light.聽

鈥淚f you peel back the onion, what you find is that the businesses that are most connected and most devoted to destroying our values are also benefiting financially from it,鈥� at a conference in suburban Washington, D.C., hosted by the Claremont Institute, a right-wing California think tank that has emerged as an ally of the MAGA movement.

Since he became a senator last year, Mr. Vance has broken with his party to push a number of populist economic proposals. But it鈥檚 his pugnacious rhetoric that has drawn significant public attention since former President Donald Trump selected him as his running mate.聽

Vance, an abortion ban, and 鈥渃heap labor鈥澛�

In the same 2021 speech, Mr. Vance argued that companies supporting abortion rights really just want a pool of 鈥渃heap labor,鈥� with workers unburdened by the cost and time commitment of caring for children. Citing former Georgia Democratic House Minority Leader Stacey Abrams鈥� assertion that a Georgia abortion ban would be 鈥渂ad for business,鈥� he said: 鈥淪he was right. When the big corporations come against you for passing abortion restrictions, when corporations are so desperate for cheap labor that they don鈥檛 want people to parent children, she鈥檚 right to say that abortion restrictions are bad for business.鈥�

Ms. Abrams that more business leaders weren鈥檛 speaking up against a bill prohibiting most abortions in Georgia. She says in a statement to the Monitor that his comments misrepresented her earlier remarks, while saying he and Mr. Trump 鈥渆xpressed contempt for women鈥檚 healthcare.鈥�

鈥淎 woman鈥檚 access to abortion directly affects her ability to secure an education, find a job and advance and make decisions about how and when to grow a family,鈥� she says in an email. 鈥淐ompanies cannot effectively attract and retain talent when half of the available workforce is denied basic human rights to care and self-determination.鈥�

At a Thursday press availability after this story published, Mr. Vance was asked if he stood by his comments on abortion and companies 鈥� and what evidence he had to back it up. He said the evidence he had was "what people actually say," before pivoting to a broader critique of how companies treat young families, citing his own family's experience in the corporate world.

鈥淰ery often, corporate America is not especially friendly to parents with young children, and especially moms with young children. And I think we have to promote a culture of pro-family thinking and pro-family policy in this country where we see children as blessings and as resources and not as curses, which is how I think way too many companies and frankly way too many of our leaders in Washington think about our young children," he said.

An unsupported allegation about Amazon聽

Thomas Frank, a left-leaning historian and author who has written extensively on American populism, says that Mr. Vance identified a phenomenon that has been going on for years 鈥� but took it to an extreme and unsupported conclusion.聽

鈥淭his combination of liberalism and capitalism, this does exist, and it鈥檚 real,鈥� says Mr. Frank. But instead of just accusing companies of virtue signaling, Mr. Vance makes a giant leap in framing their rhetoric and actions as part of a sinister plot. Jeff Bezos wanting Main Street to burn? 鈥淭hat sounds like a conspiracy theory to me. I would love to see his evidence for that.鈥�

In July 2020,聽 to a dozen social justice organizations, part of a wave of corporations signaling to consumers and their own employees that they shared their values. The company later offered a corporate match that led to $17 million more. Black Lives Matter鈥檚 national and local chapters received more than $2 million from Amazon and another $1 million from employee contributions.聽

The Trump-Vance campaign did not provide any evidence supporting Mr. Vance鈥檚 claim that the organizations Amazon donated to had supported the riots that sporadically broke out alongside the widespread, largely peaceful Black Lives Matter protests in 2020.

Recently, Senator Vance has returned to the riots that broke out that summer, claiming that Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz, the Democratic vice presidential nominee, 聽who caused widespread damage in Minneapolis after George Floyd鈥檚 murder. Mr. Walz called out the National Guard to restore order, but has faced criticism for not doing it sooner.

Mr. Vance achieved fame with a best-selling 2016 memoir, 鈥淗illbilly Elegy,鈥� that was at times critical of the people he鈥檇 grown up around in rural Ohio. His political rise was also fueled by patronage from his former boss, Paypal founder and venture capitalist Peter Thiel, .

Populist record contrasts with Trump

Mr. Vance鈥檚 anti-corporate populism isn鈥檛 just rhetorical. As a senator, he鈥檚 supported raising the federal minimum wage. After a disastrous train derailment spilled chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio, he teamed up with Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown on a bill to tighten train regulations, over protests from other Republicans. And he鈥檚 worked with Democrats on legislation to claw back compensation for executives of failed banks and to rein in credit card fees.

Mr. Trump broke with big business conservatives on immigration and trade, two major issues where Mr. Vance agrees with him. But at other times the former president鈥檚聽 populist rhetoric clashed with more business-friendly policies, like massive corporate tax cuts and major deregulation efforts. Mr. Trump has also flip-flopped to embrace companies he once criticized, and , after their major investors promised to back him.

Mr. Vance appears to be more of a pure economic populist. But it鈥檚 his aggressive, acerbic rhetoric, rather than his policy views, that have drawn the most attention since Mr. Trump selected him as his running mate.聽

Mr. Vance鈥檚 comments in recent years calling leading Democrats聽聽arguing that , and saying 聽have resurfaced since he joined the ticket 鈥� and immediately hurt his image with voters.

Vance鈥檚 challenge in poll ratings

Democrats have taken to mocking Mr. Vance as 鈥渨eird,鈥� and it seems to be working: his , making him less popular than Mr. Trump, as well as Vice President Kamala Harris and her running mate. A showed that reactions to his rhetoric are driving those numbers: 鈥淎nti-woman鈥� and 鈥渨eird鈥� were two of voters鈥� leading descriptions for Mr. Vance, with the number describing him as 鈥渆xtreme鈥� in August.

Mr. Vance has sought to downplay some of his previous comments. He insisted in a Sunday ABC News interview that his suggestion that parents should have extra voting rights 聽and not a policy proposal he actually supported.

But when asked for comment about his 2021 remarks to the Claremont Institute on abortion and Black Lives Matter, a spokesman for Mr. Vance doubled down.

鈥淛eff Bezos鈥檚 companies promoted and donated to Black Lives Matter as BLM protestors destroyed countless brick and mortar businesses across the country 鈥� the very businesses that Amazon counts as direct competitors,鈥� Vance spokesman William Martin says in an emailed statement. 鈥淲oke billionaires like Bezos have taken over corporations across the country and turned them against the American people. Senator Vance is absolutely right to call them out and will continue to do so.鈥�

This story was updated in the afternoon on Aug. 15 to include Mr. Vance's response to a question about the abortion comments that the Monitor published earlier in the day.

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