VP Vance Puts His New Book’s Message Into Practice on “The View”

It’s not unusual for a former or future vice president of the United States to write a book, but it isn’t very common for a current one to write and release it while still serving in office.

If you were paying any attention to the news this week, you’ve invariably seen Vice President JD Vance making the rounds in national media to discuss his new book, “Communion: Finding My Way Back to Faith.”

The former Ohio senator is already a bestselling author. In 2016, he published, “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis.” The popular title chronicled his impoverished upbringing and his family’s Kentucky roots. 

VP Vance has made several high-profile appearances in recent days to help promote his latest book. The interview outlets have ranged from “The Five,” “Gutfeld!”, and “Jesse Watters Primetime” on Fox News to ABC’s “The View.” It’s not surprising that VP Vance found a respectful and friendly audience on Fox. But it was both his willingness to appear and his reception on the undeniably left-leaning ABC show that seemed to garner the most headlines.

The long-running daytime women-dominated talk show featured hosts Whoopi Goldberg, Joy Behar, Sunny Hostin, Sara Haines, Alyssa Farah Griffin, and Ana Navarro.

The vice president attempted to break the ice at the beginning of the program by asking, “So this is a show of MAGA Republicans, right?”

The panel laughed, but Goldberg was determined to quickly wrestle back any sympathies. “No,” she replied. “This is a show where we talk about what’s happening in the country.”

Of course, the panel on “The View” is usually more interested in discussing what they think is happening in the country. Their perspectives are often shaped, shaded and informed by their liberal politics and often radical agendas. VP Vance knew what he was stepping into.

Right off the bat, several of the hosts challenged the Trump administration’s border enforcement policies and accused the vice president of serving on a team that has been demonizing immigrants. 

“You do speak about immigration at length in this book, and I believe as a Christian, I can tell my kid why it’s important to have borders,” said Sara Haines. “It’s much harder to explain when I see someone dragged out of the house or wrongly taken and [they] weren’t a violent criminal.”  

“We do have to strike a balance between enforcing our laws — we don’t want to dehumanize people. Law enforcement is always inherently not a very pretty process, especially when you’re dealing sometimes with violent people, people that are resisting arrest,” responded the vice president.

He also added, “Everybody is welcome in our country, so long as you’re an American citizen, with the duties and legal obligations and rights to be here.”

Several members on the panel accused the vice president and the Trump administration of not caring about black people and black history. Once more, Vance responded with a friendly but firm tone, and also sought to correct the false assertion.

“Black history is not erased from public spaces, that is not right,” explained the vice president. “I’m telling you we celebrate black history, we celebrate all American history in this administration,” he said.

The vice president’s polite, measured, and even friendly responses are one model for how conservatives can effectively engage ideologically aggressive journalists. Vance raised objections without raising his voice. He pushed back and wasn’t pushed over. Faced with that posture, even the decidedly liberal Joy Behar was forced to admit he wasn’t a “bad guy.”

Political interviews these days are increasingly hostile, but VP Vance suggested prior to his media tour that it need not be. Speaking with Fox News Digital, he reflected, “It may be the optimist in me, but I just fundamentally think that most people — not everybody, but most people — even if I disagree with them, you ought to try to have a conversation with them.”

Writing in his new book, VP Vance observed, “We confine Christianity to the most private of questions – relations between husbands and wives, reproductive decisions – and are then surprised when kids like me grow up in the faith and then discard it.” He then concluded, “We have to do better. If Christianity is true, it must be true for the whole human person at all times of life.”

“All times” includes a thirty-minute interview on The View with ideologically combative journalists. This week, VP Vance didn’t just talk—he walked the walk, too.