On my first full day following JD Vance, he sauntered past three eager reporters peppering him with questions to ask me if I wanted to grab milkshakes. It was a bizarre moment, given I was wearing sweatpants, filming him with my phone’s camera and loudly asking why he supported forced birth for women who’ve been involuntarily impregnated, as I had done for the better part of six months. Yet here he was, years before becoming the heir apparent to the MAGA empire as Donald Trump’s second vice presidential running mate, offering me a vanilla milkshake in front of several Columbus reporters, despite his staff repeatedly telling him that he should never speak to me.
Normally, a tracker like me would barely get a nod from the candidate, let alone an invitation for a milkshake from a potential US senator. Most days as a tracker are far from glamorous — you wait for hours at a right-wing barbeque only to record the same stump speech for the hundredth time, you’re followed to your car by a Republican threatening to pour hot coffee on you, or you’re recognized and dragged away by security that’s more than happy to manhandle an obnoxious 20 something. Occasionally though, you get a soundbite that can fuel an entire news cycle — like in this ad where I questioned Vance after our team unearthed footage of his remarks condemning divorce.
