Transcript
SACHA PFEIFFER, HOST:
For more on J.D. Vance's views on economic policy, we turn, as we often do, to David Wessel, of the Brookings Institution. Hi, David.
DAVID WESSEL: Good morning.
PFEIFFER: We've been hearing about Vance's ties to some of the big, wealthy names in Silicon Valley, but if you had to sum up Vance's overall approach to economic policy, how would you do that?
WESSEL: I think his views have evolved some since I heard him speak about "Hillbilly Elegy" back in 2016, but I'd say lately, he's been a very consistent economic populist. Although he is clearly of the elite - he went to Yale Law School, as Bobby reports; he's part of this libertarian, right-wing, Silicon Valley crowd - he expresses contempt for elites. He's particularly hard on Big Tech like Google. He's a fan of crypto. He personally owns, according to his financial disclosures, more than $100,000 worth of Bitcoin.
PFEIFFER: And you called him a consistent economic populist. Explain a bit more what you mean by economic populist.
WESSEL: Look, let's think about taxes for a minute. Like a lot of Republicans, J.D. Vance signed Grover Norquist's pledge to oppose all tax increases, but he also has, at times, called for raising taxes on big corporations. In an April 2021 tweet, he favored raising their taxes, and I'm quoting him here. He says, "we should do whatever else is necessary to fight these goons. We can have an American Republic or a global oligarchy." Now, raising corporate taxes is obviously not in sync with Donald Trump's views, but I suspect we're not going to hear much of that man. He's also talking about raising taxes on university endowments, another manifestation of the attack on elites.
PFEIFFER: And what about his views on how much to regulate businesses in any way?
WESSEL: Right - more economic populism here. He's in favor of aggressive antitrust policy. Unlike some other Republicans, he's a fan of Federal Trade Commission Chair Lina Khan, who's the nemesis of American business now. He co-sponsored a bill with liberal Massachusetts Senator Elizabeth Warren to claw back compensation of executives of failed banks. He talks a lot about American workers. He sounds very pro-union - not surprising for an Ohio senator. He walked on the UAW picket line. He opposes right-to-work laws.
PFEIFFER: Two other major issues - globalization and immigration. How closely do Vance's views align on those to Donald Trump's?
WESSEL: Very close. He's a critic of globalization. In an op-ed piece he wrote with Trump's economic adviser, Bob Lighthizer, back on Labor Day 2021, he excoriated big companies. He mentioned Apple specifically, accused them of benefiting from, quote, "literal slave labor in China." He's in favor of the tariffs that Trump is proposing. He echoes Trump's hostility to immigration. I mean, just last week, at a Senate hearing with Fed Chair Jay Powell, he blamed immigrants for driving up housing prices and depressing the wages of American workers. He is right in sync with the president - with President Trump on that.
PFEIFFER: That is David Wessel. He's director of the Hutchins Center at the Brookings Institution. David, thank you.
WESSEL: You're welcome. Transcript provided by NPR, Copyright NPR.
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