Morning Glory: The secret weapon of J.D. Vance

‘He’s kind.’

Wait. What? Senator J.D. Vance is ‘kind?’

That is what my guest—podcaster and one of the most influential Republican women in America, Mary Katharine Ham—told me about Vance Wednesday morning. (Her podcast, co-hosted with Vic Matus, ‘Getting Hammered’ is a joy to listen to.)

I first interviewed Senator Vance in 2016 when his book ‘Hillbilly Elegy’ debuted. It is a fabulous book and still a riveting read. Vance was not then in politics. He was a Yale Law grad making his way in Silicon Valley. The story hit close to the hearts of anyone from the abandoned steel and car towns of Ohio, Pennsylvania, and Michigan.

What Mary Katharine revealed to me is not something a radio host could learn over the score of interviews I conducted with Vance over the years since 2016 or during the debate I moderated with him and five other GOP Senate candidates in 2022. I have never spent time with Vance off a real or virtual stage, so I had no idea what he’s like in non-public settings. 

I asked Mary Katharine to stay an extra segment to explain the ‘He’s kind’ observation. I am a big believer in people from across the political spectrum who act with respect towards everyone regardless of their politics, who display gratitude when no one is looking, who are, indeed, ‘kind.’ Cruelty repels me, even when the objects of cruelty more or less deserve it. This is a product of Catholic education, I am sure, and of the attempt to internalize the wisdom of C.S. Lewis:

There are no ordinary people. You have never talked to a mere mortal. Nations, cultures, arts, civilizations – these are mortal, and their life is to ours as the life of a gnat. But it is immortals whom we joke with, work with, marry, snub and exploit – immortal horrors or everlasting splendors. This does not mean that we are to be perpetually solemn. We must play. But our merriment must be of that kind (and it is, in fact, the merriest kind) which exists between people who have, from the outset, taken each other seriously – no flippancy, no superiority, no presumption.

If you have read Vance’s book, you know he knows Lewis’ statement  to be true. Strangers helped Vance often on his journey: The police of Middleton, Ohio; USMC gunny sergeants; Yale Law professors and Silicon Valley giants.  And the marks they have left on him—this kindness that Mary Katharine references, the level-headed manner of his very normal, civil responses to arguments and even deep disagreements I have observed on air and on stage—this is a powerful super-power for politicians who do not assume the role of ‘nice guy’ but who actually live it out. 

Harry Truman famously observed that if you want a friend in Washington, D.C., buy a dog. Even more rare than friends inside the Beltway’s ruling class are genuinely grateful people. Gratitude is an expression of virtue deeply embedded. It often manifests in civility and certainly does so in expressions of kindness. That J.D. Vance has this quality of kindness within his character is a very good thing for the GOP to advertise.

Our country is much blessed, but many within it are suffering greatly. Politics and social media have turned many formerly kind and generous people into permanently argumentative partisans. That Vance suffered in his early years cannot be argued. Suffering changes people, usually for the good. This makes Vance a wonderful emissary from the GOP to those communities and especially those families who are suffering. Pray that the campaign’s managers deploy that secret weapon. Genuine compassion is a powerfully attractive thing.

Hugh Hewitt is host of ‘The Hugh Hewitt Show,’ heard weekday mornings 6am to 9am ET on the Salem Radio Network, and simulcast on Salem News Channel. Hugh wakes up America on over 400 affiliates nationwide, and on all the streaming platforms where SNC can be seen. He is a frequent guest on the Fox News Channel’s news roundtable hosted by Bret Baier weekdays at 6pm ET. A son of Ohio and a graduate of Harvard College and the University of Michigan Law School, Hewitt has been a Professor of Law at Chapman University’s Fowler School of Law since 1996 where he teaches Constitutional Law. Hewitt launched his eponymous radio show from Los Angeles in 1990.  Hewitt has frequently appeared on every major national news television network, hosted television shows for PBS and MSNBC, written for every major American paper, has authored a dozen books and moderated a score of Republican candidate debates, most recently the November 2023 Republican presidential debate in Miami and four Republican presidential debates in the 2015-16 cycle. Hewitt focuses his radio show and his column on the Constitution, national security, American politics and the Cleveland Browns and Guardians. Hewitt has interviewed tens of thousands of guests from Democrats Hillary Clinton and John Kerry to Republican Presidents George W. Bush and Donald Trump over his 40 years in broadcast, and this column previews the lead story that will drive his radio/ TV show today.