#588 - Vice President JD Vance

Summary

Podcast Summary: This Past Weekend w/ Theo Von
Episode #588 - Vice President JD Vance
Release Date: June 7, 2025

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Introduction

In Episode #588 of "This Past Weekend," host Theo Von welcomes Vice President J.D. Vance to discuss a wide array of topics ranging from historical insights to contemporary political issues. The conversation is set against the backdrop of Detroit Cowboy, a new restaurant in Nashville, Tennessee, where the episode is recorded.

Election Night Reflections

[11:18] Vice President J.D. Vance:
Vance recounts his election night experience at Mar-a-Lago with President Donald Trump, highlighting the moment when election results confirmed his victory as Vice President. He describes the emotions and the immediate realization of the significant responsibility that comes with the role.

Notable Quote:
"I was there, I was actually with my wife. What'd you do?" [11:32]

Relationship with President Trump

Vance emphasizes his unwavering loyalty to President Trump, stating that his primary allegiance is to the President and the Constitution. He discusses the importance of providing honest counsel while executing the President's directives effectively.

Notable Quote:
"When a decision's made, you go out and get it done." [32:15]

Views on Elon Musk and AI Regulation

The conversation shifts to the recent feud between Elon Musk and President Trump. Vance defends the administration's stance, criticizing Musk's opposition to the new spending bill and expressing concerns over Musk's approach to AI and data privacy.

Notable Quote:
"It's a huge mistake for him to go after the President like that. And I think that if he and the President are in some blood feud, most importantly, it's going to be bad for the country." [20:02]

Civil War and Historical Perspectives

Vance shares his thoughts on the Civil War, advocating for a nuanced understanding of history. He criticizes the modern perception that all Confederate fighters were inherently evil, arguing for a more balanced view that recognizes the complexities of the era.

Notable Quote:
"I just think that's so stupid." [07:21]

Government Spending and the Big Spending Bill

A significant portion of the discussion centers on the newly passed major spending bill, referred to as "the big, beautiful bill." Vance explains the rationale behind bundling various legislative promises into a single omnibus bill to expedite the process and fulfill campaign promises efficiently.

Notable Quote:
"Any bill that you do takes, you got to put it on the floor and you got to give people enough time to read it and you got to amend it." [39:30]

AI and Privacy Concerns

Theo Von raises concerns about the government's integration of AI technologies, particularly referencing Palantir's role in consolidating governmental data. Vance acknowledges the public's fears but clarifies that the intention is to streamline information for better national security without overstepping privacy boundaries.

Notable Quote:
"The government's already got this information. We just need to make sure they don't misuse it." [64:34]

Healthcare Price Transparency

Vance discusses the executive order signed by President Trump aimed at increasing price transparency in healthcare. He highlights the challenges posed by the current medical billing system and the anticipated positive impact of the executive order in making prescription drugs more affordable for Americans.

Notable Quote:
"It's going to make prescription drugs way more affordable over the long term." [78:50]

Israel-Palestine Conflict and Humanitarian Efforts

The Vice President delves into the ongoing Israel-Palestine conflict, emphasizing the administration's commitment to seeking a peaceful resolution. He underscores the importance of providing humanitarian aid while ensuring national security and preventing future terrorist attacks.

Notable Quote:
"We're trying to bring some peace and some humanitarian assistance into people." [73:22]

Campaign Financing and Political Influence

Vance addresses the complexities of campaign financing, asserting that politicians should not feel indebted to donors. He stresses the importance of maintaining integrity and making decisions based solely on national interest rather than financial backing.

Notable Quote:
"If you take the attitude of you owe somebody something, then you're fundamentally not going to do the job that you were meant to do." [55:10]

Personal Anecdotes and Closing Remarks

Towards the end of the episode, Vance shares personal stories about his family life, including the challenges of having children while serving as Vice President. The conversation concludes with Theo Von expressing his admiration and gratitude for Vance's participation.

Notable Quote:
"It's an honor to serve, but it's also a sacrifice to serve." [40:30]

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Key Takeaways

• Election Victory: Vance's election night experience underscores the gravity and responsibility of his vice-presidential role.
• Loyalty to Leadership: Emphasizes unwavering loyalty to President Trump while maintaining the duty to provide honest counsel.
• AI and Privacy: Balances the benefits of AI integration in government with the necessity to protect individual privacy.
• Healthcare Reform: Highlights efforts to make healthcare more affordable through price transparency initiatives.
• Conflict Resolution: Discusses the administration's approach to resolving the Israel-Palestine conflict through peace and humanitarian aid.
• Campaign Integrity: Advocates for political decisions driven by national interest rather than financial influences.

Conclusion

The episode offers a comprehensive glimpse into Vice President J.D. Vance's perspectives on current political issues, historical interpretations, and personal experiences in office. Theo Von facilitates a candid conversation that sheds light on the complexities of governance, the importance of loyalty, and the challenges of modern-day policy-making.

Transcript

[Theo Von]

Ray Ban Meta glasses are powered by Meta AI so you can get real time answers. Hey, Meta, how bougie is Jade Garden? It's a trendy spot.

[J.D. Vance]

What's a color that pairs with this top?

[Theo Von]

Consider dark, earthy colors charcoal or black. What are some good first date topics? Consider discussing favorite travel destinations or your favorite books. Get suggestions, inspiration and answers from your glasses. Ray Ban Meta Glasses Iconic Style meets Meta AI Foreign I've got some tour dates to tell you about. I'll be in Cedar Rapids, St. Paul, Minnesota, Fargo, North Dakota, Rapid City, South Dakota, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, Rochester, New York and Detroit, Michigan, all in June and July. Tickets available [e-mail] t o u R thank you so much for your support. Today's guest is the Vice President of the United States of America. He was previously a senator from the state of Ohi before winning the presidency with Donald Trump in 2024. We are coming to you from Nashville, Tennessee, from the Detroit Cowboy, a new restaurant here. I'm grateful for his return to our podcast. Today's guest is Vice President J.D. vance.

[J.D. Vance]

To be clear.

[Theo Von]

No, I'm not. I don't care at all.

[J.D. Vance]

Look, we believe in the First Amendment.

[Theo Von]

If the Secret Service has to hit me, hit me hard, brother. You know what I'm saying? And hit two other people. I want a class action suit.

[J.D. Vance]

Oh, holy. Look, there's a. There's a literal lion right there. Like a lion skin. I hadn't seen. Have you noticed that before?

[Theo Von]

Nuh. I think it's. Is that a lion or. It's a.

[J.D. Vance]

Sorry. I know we're supposed to start this.

[Theo Von]

No, it's okay. No, you're good. I'm just. There's hand signals and stuff going on on my group. I'm just trying to get everybody to chill out so I can. Okay. Yeah, I just didn't know. My bad. Fuck. Now I ruined everything.

[J.D. Vance]

Dude, we had a really good vibe going, Theo. Just totally.

[Theo Von]

It's like my childhood, dude. I just. Something I said right out of the gate ruined it. That's what my mom said to me when I was there. She's like, something you said to me right when I met you really ruined our relationship. And I'm like, when I was, what, 11 months old?

[J.D. Vance]

Your mom said that to you?

[Theo Von]

Yeah, she's just kind of a. She's a mid. You know, she's just a good grudge holder, you know, and she's Midwestern, so she's got a good grip on it.

[J.D. Vance]

Yeah, my mom's a good grudge holder, too, but Yeah, I don't think that she's ever held anything that I said at 11 months against her, though. That's pretty. I mean, that's tough, man. Your mom is the champion.

[Theo Von]

Oh, she wins, man. She definitely wins.

[J.D. Vance]

Yeah.

[Theo Von]

This is Kid Rock's place, dude.

[J.D. Vance]

Yeah, it's cool. There's a line over there that I don't think people can see. There's two foxes over there, you know, would love this place. Is my kids.

[Theo Von]

Oh, dude, Kid Rock is one of the freaking. He is definitely a damn piss lizard. He is a beautiful guy.

[J.D. Vance]

He's a good dude.

[Theo Von]

He's definitely the kind of guy. I feel like he would sing it like a. I'm trying to think, what would you have Kid Rock sing at? I know, like a concert, but I'm trying to think of a different type of event or something.

[J.D. Vance]

I mean, he could sing in the orchestra or not. Or no opera. Okay, dude, my wife now, because I'm the vice president, she's on the board of the Kennedy Center. We could bring Kid Rock to sing in the opera.

[Theo Von]

Really?

[J.D. Vance]

Yeah.

[Theo Von]

Oh, wow. It's going to be interesting.

[J.D. Vance]

Oh, you got to fumigate.

[Theo Von]

You got to fumigate that place after. That's all I'm saying, dude. Just because.

[J.D. Vance]

So. So my. My cousin, her one request from the campaign is that she wanted to party with Kid Rock, and I feel kind of bad. I didn't bring her. I brought her. You remember the first time we did your podcast? My cousin was with me.

[Theo Von]

Oh, yeah. I met her. She's blonde, right? Yeah.

[J.D. Vance]

Yeah. She's good people. And she said, I really want to party with Kid Rock. She said she wanted to party with Kid Rock and Hunter Biden, and unfortunately, I haven't made either one of those happen yet, but we'll see. There's a lot of time left.

[Theo Von]

Wow. I don't know if there's that much time left for either one of those guys, though. That's really what I would. What were we talking about before we started, dude? Oh, yeah, you saw that hand thing, remember? About Huberman?

[J.D. Vance]

I did see this. Yeah. Who was that? What's his name? Huberman.

[Theo Von]

Andrew Huberman.

[J.D. Vance]

Yeah. Okay.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, he's. And the problem was, though, another doctor told me we might have had our hand backwards. So there's like, a millions of people in America.

[J.D. Vance]

Oh.

[Theo Von]

Doing like, a potentially, like, homoerotic test on themselves based on.

[J.D. Vance]

Okay, so it's your index finger supposed to be longer than your ring finger, right?

[Theo Von]

I think. I'm not sure that's.

[J.D. Vance]

Yes, that's how mine is.

[Theo Von]

Okay.

[J.D. Vance]

Is my. Me like, my pointer finger is longer than my.

[Theo Von]

Look, I'm just saying there's a lot of guys afraid to get out of their truck at work today, probably. You know, that's all. I'm just saying.

[J.D. Vance]

I mean, there are. Because, I mean, millions of people watch your podcast. There are probably hundreds of thousands of dudes, maybe more, who stared at their hand and were like, oh, no.

[Theo Von]

Oh, I saw one guy pulled his finger out of sock and just a lie to his wife again. I mean, these are the steps people are going to, especially with this health care.

[J.D. Vance]

Yeah. I mean, you got to do what you can.

[Theo Von]

I'm like, dude, you're gonna have to put that back in yourself, you know?

[J.D. Vance]

Yeah. Yeah. But I don't think it works like that, though, right? The. The causality. I think if you, like, jerk your finger out of the socket, it doesn't really change anything other than you have a broken finger.

[Theo Von]

I don't.

[J.D. Vance]

Look, man, not that I'm judging, of course. All every, you know, live and let live. That's.

[Theo Von]

Look, dude, if you're a gay guy, I think if you can put. You've. You've put more than your finger back in sock, you know, I'm saying you can handle that. That's all I'm saying. So that right there, I think, is a good test. I think my great, great grandfather. Not sure if he was gay, but people thought he was gay or whatever just from the pictures of him.

[J.D. Vance]

Your great, great, great grandfather? Yeah, man. I don't think I know anything about my great, great, great grandfather. Well, he fought in the Civil War.

[Theo Von]

He did. Probably for both sides. I bet you know what I'm talking about.

[J.D. Vance]

Okay, so there's a database. There's actually, there's a website. I think it's like an American history or Smithsonian. Somebody keeps up a database where you can go in and type your name and you can see how many people with your last name fought in the Civil War.

[Theo Von]

Hell, yeah.

[J.D. Vance]

And I did that on both sides of my family, mom and Dad's side. It was kind of crazy. How many. How many people with the same name at least fought in the Civil War?

[Theo Von]

Oh, I'm sure.

[J.D. Vance]

On. But on. I mean, like, on both sides. Confederates, there was some Union. Yeah.

[Theo Von]

Who would you have fought for, you think? Sorry, I'm joking, jd. We're not going to start there.

[J.D. Vance]

I'm a big fan of Abraham Lincoln. I would have. I would have fought. I would have fought for the Union. It's interesting, man. So the. You go back in time to, like, even. So when I grew up. Right. The story that we told. So I grew up in Southern Ohio, and the story that sort of we learned in Ohio history and American history was basically, the Union was. The Union side was. Right. But, you know, we're all part of the same team. After the Civil War, we all came together, shook hands, and, you know, kumbaya, and you could even, like, respect the other side, even if you didn't necessarily agree with what they were fighting for.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[J.D. Vance]

And I feel like something happened, like, 10 years ago where every. It's like you have to think that every single person who fought for the Confederate side was an evil person. I just think that's so stupid.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, Well, I think, you know, I know there was a time when they tore down all the statues and stuff and erased, like, a lot of the history. I think a lot of people would debate about the value of erasing history. You know, it's like. Because it feels like it's there for a purpose, and it feels like it deserves to be there. Even though, like, later on in life, you might be. Or later on in time, people might be, like, ashamed of it or think of it differently.

[J.D. Vance]

That's right.

[Theo Von]

It feels like it at least earned its place in existence. Yeah.

[J.D. Vance]

So did you ever see this? There's this documentary on the Civil War by Ken Burns. It was on pbs. It's got the really sad violin music, and I actually met the couple that composed that song from the Ken Burns documentary. It's like. It's a beautiful song, honestly.

[Theo Von]

Yeah. But it seems sad as hell to sit around with your wife all day listening to that. Good God.

[J.D. Vance]

Let's just. Let's sit here and listen to all five minutes of it in total silence, me and you and all these producers. Look, so my wife, who, you know, her family came from South India and then immigrated, and then she was born in San Diego. I watched that documentary with my wife, actually. I think when we were still dating, we weren't even married yet. And it's, like, such a good summary of everything that happened in the Civil War.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[J.D. Vance]

And you get this sense it's sad and it's heartbreaking. You know, they read letters from some guy home to his family. Yeah. It's just. It's. It captures the tragedy of the Civil War. And my wife made this point, actually, a few years ago. She was like, if you showed that documentary, maybe not now, but, like, at the height of the woke thing. So call it 2021. You show that documentary in 2021, there are a lot of things they would try to cancel Ken Burns over because, you know, like, a Confederate soldier wrote a. Wrote a letter home, and it's sad and it's tragic, and you try to empathize with that person, and that was. That's, like. That wasn't okay in 2021. And I think that's actually one of the best things that's happened in the country the last few years, is people are just done filtering themselves, and they're done, like, being canceled or being afraid to say what's on their mind. That's a good thing.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, that's a great point, man. Dude, I'll tell you this. I heard that Frederick Douglass. I heard Frederick Douglass was gay. And I'll tell you who told you that. I've heard it from almost. Probably almost 15 people. I've heard it from four people.

[J.D. Vance]

Where do you go to find the people who tell you that Frederick Douglass is gay?

[Theo Von]

Look, I'll tell you this.

[J.D. Vance]

You must hang out more interesting places than.

[Theo Von]

I wasn't white people that told me.

[J.D. Vance]

Really?

[Theo Von]

So, okay, out of the gate, I'm giving a little bit more credibility. And that's why he wanted to free all those men, because he was having trouble meeting anybody.

[J.D. Vance]

Is that right?

[Theo Von]

Because everybody was at work.

[J.D. Vance]

You know, I'm gonna talk. I'm gonna talk.

[Theo Von]

J.D. vance. Congratulations, dude. Congratulations.

[J.D. Vance]

We're talking to the Smithsonian about putting up an exhibit on that. And Theo Vaughn, you can be the narrator for this new. This new understanding of the history of Frederick Douglass.

[Theo Von]

Dude, no. Congratulations, dude.

[J.D. Vance]

You have such a dry sense of humor that sometimes you say something to me, and I'm like, was he. Was he screwing with me, or was he actually being serious?

[Theo Von]

But when you think about it, though, he seemed awfully particular about getting them fellas off. Off work early.

[J.D. Vance]

I. Yeah, I think so. Probably. Probably not for the reasons you're suggesting.

[Theo Von]

But I just said I don't know. And if he was, then more power to him. Dude, I think we need. I don't know. I'm not getting. This is. It's just getting worse for me. You're still good. Congratulations, man, on being vice president.

[J.D. Vance]

Thanks, man. That's awesome.

[Theo Von]

That's so crazy, man. It's just like. It's. I just can't even. Like, I can believe it, but it's just like.

[J.D. Vance]

I can't.

[Theo Von]

You can't?

[J.D. Vance]

No, man. It's crazy.

[Theo Von]

What about that first. The first night you won? What did y' all do? Y' all get high? Y' all didn't get high?

[J.D. Vance]

If I did, I wouldn't say it for public consumption. No, I did not get high. I did not get. I mean, I did have a fair amount to drink that night.

[Theo Von]

Hell, yeah. Dude. Dude. First time I stayed at a Hampton Inn that had two beds. It was double beds in one room.

[J.D. Vance]

Yeah, we gotta find an excuse to celebrate whenever Whatever one arises.

[Theo Von]

But I. Yeah. Take us down that night.

[J.D. Vance]

Okay. All right. Here's. Here's. Here's what happens. So we're in Mar a Lago. Okay? So first of all, we had a puppy about 18 months ago, okay? And I wouldn't even think about it, but the Puppy's birthday is November 5, which happens to be the day of the election. So our puppy's first birthday is November 5th. So we're at Mar a Lago with Donald Trump, and Donald Trump has his chef send our dog a birthday cake. And I'm. You know, it's. I'm so nervous, you know? I'm thinking about the election results, and I'm trying to get. You know, I'm calling my guys up and saying, oh, do we have any. Any early returns? Like, what's going on? And this, like, rice dog birthday cake shows up at Mar a Lago. And I'm like, what the hell is going on? You know, the. The president. It's interesting. He. He compartmentalizes things very well so he just doesn't get, like, really stressed out. He's very stoic about everything. Right. Whereas I was a little bit more nervous. So, anyway, so polls closed. I'm sitting there with, like, my wife and all my best friends from back home come down to Mar a Lago to watch. Except for my one buddy, Nate. I still give him crap because Nate. Nate couldn't make the trip. Why he couldn't make the trip, man? He had, you know, he had to take care of his kid or something like that. He's a good dude. He's a good dude. Love him.

[Theo Von]

Put his kid in a van, dude. You have to go to that.

[J.D. Vance]

And do what with her, huh?

[Theo Von]

Pay the valet to help out? I don't know. Anyway, sorry, Nate.

[J.D. Vance]

So we're.

[Theo Von]

I don't know him. Go on.

[J.D. Vance]

Nate's a good dude, dude. He's a fan of yours, actually.

[Theo Von]

Oh, give me a look. For me.

[J.D. Vance]

So we're watching. We're watching the election returns, and I'm getting updates because there. It's crazy, dude. There's a whole data apparatus that is feeding information into the central campaign. So, like, whatever the Media is reporting on. We're like 15 minutes ahead of time, and we're asking questions like, oh, there's this. I'll never forget this. There's this one little county in Indiana that produced election results early, and we were like, oh, my God, we did so much better in that county than we did in 2020 or even 2016. And so that's a pretty good sign. And what happened is, as these counties trickle in, you realize we're doing way better than we did even in 2016. Like, oh, my God, Donald Trump's going to be the president, and I'm going to be the vice President, United States. And that was nuts. And I was there, I was actually with my wife. What'd you do?

[Theo Von]

Do you put your hands in your pockets or what'd you even do?

[J.D. Vance]

I don't know what I did with my hands, man. It was like Talladega nights. Right. I'm just not sure what to do with my hands all night. So we go over to the hotel where they're doing the victory celebration, and I'm there with Don Jr. And Tucker Carlson and a few other people who are sort of in the world of politics. And they called Pennsylvania, and I didn't realize that, like, the, the TV called Pennsylvania, and I didn't realize that. I was just talking to my wife, and the crowd goes wild. So you hear people cheering, and I'm like, what the hell happened? And I look over the tv, I'm like, oh, my God, it's official. And that was one. That was one of the craziest moments. Odd. Yeah. Yeah. The feeling at that moment. One, it was incredible. But then you. You have this overwhelming sense of like, oh, my God, were the dog that caught the car. Right. And now you have to do a good job.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[J.D. Vance]

And it's not, you know, it's not like some. Some random job. It's like a really important job. And so I just have this kind of sense of, oh, my God, this is real now.

[Theo Von]

Well, you're moving to another classes. I mean, shit, you're having your dog used to getting cakes for his birthday now, you know, like, things are changing, man. Do you stay. Where do you stay at? Because if Trump stay. If the President stays in the White House, where do you stay at?

[J.D. Vance]

Yeah, so you should come visit them. You have an open invitation. The President actually gives me crap about this because he says, sometimes I think you have a nicer house than I do. We stay at a place, we call it the vpr, the Vice President's Residence. But it's in the Naval Observatory. So we've got, like, probably 40 or so acres of completely private space in an observatory. Yeah. And.

[Theo Von]

No, no, bring me in, dude.

[J.D. Vance]

Peeping Tom on stars. And, dude, I got a small ladder.

[Theo Von]

I'll set that whole neighborhood ablaze.

[J.D. Vance]

Of our house.

[Theo Von]

Dude, nobody will buy a new bra in that neighborhood without me knowing it, dude. I swear to God, brother.

[J.D. Vance]

The telescopes are pointed towards the stars. But anyway, so we. We live there. So we got three little kids and, like, I said, a dog. And it's very cool. So we did, actually. So a couple weeks ago, the President invited me and my wife. We had a. I think. I think it was. My stepmom was in town, and the President invited me and my wife to stay in the Lincoln Bedroom. And I was like, oh, that's, like, really cool. Of course I want to go stay at the Lincoln Bedroom. So apparently, though, a vice president had never stayed at the White House with the President before. And so the Secret Service wasn't totally sure what to do because they didn't have, like, the processes. But, yeah, we went to the White House. We stayed at the Lincoln Bedroom.

[Theo Von]

Did you stay up late?

[J.D. Vance]

We did, actually, but. Because it was kind of scary, right? I mean, you're, like, laying in the room. There's a desk where, you know, the President's like, that's the desk where Lincoln wrote the Emancipation Proclamation. Like, I thought it would be cooler and more fun, but you're kind of just landing there, and, like, you know, there are ghosts. Feels like there's ghosts everywhere. Yeah. It's just a kind of a creepy feeling to be in the literal bedroom of Abraham Lincoln. We think about it, that dude went to the Ford's Theater to go see a play. Left that room, never came back. Right. That's pretty. That's. That's creepy stuff.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[J.D. Vance]

Yeah.

[Theo Von]

Dang. Dude.

[J.D. Vance]

Speaking. Frederick Douglass.

[Theo Von]

Yeah. And, yeah, we've come full circle. Look, I'll just say this. There's photos. When he was signing that, you saw Frederick in the distance.

[J.D. Vance]

Just, biggest, really happy, biggest smile.

[Theo Von]

Biggest smile in the joint. So. Damn, you slept. So you might be the first vice president that ever slept in the White House.

[J.D. Vance]

That's what they told us. I don't. You know, that's. Maybe it hadn't happened, like, 30 years.

[Theo Von]

Ago, but did y' all stay up late with the Trumps and watch a movie or anything? Like, what did you got? Play a game or anything?

[J.D. Vance]

So the White House is a movie theater. The President was busy, but my wife and I wouldn't watch Gladiator 2 in the white House movie theater, so. Right?

[Theo Von]

Hell yeah.

[J.D. Vance]

Yeah. It wasn't as good as Gladiator 1, I thought. That's just one man's opinion.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, but it's way better when you're the vice president watching.

[J.D. Vance]

Yeah, that's right. In the. In the white. White House movie theater.

[Theo Von]

Oh, dude, it's shitty. But if you're the vice president watching it, when you get to the end of the movie, you're still the vice president.

[J.D. Vance]

You're still the vice president.

[Theo Von]

So that's pretty dope, dude.

[J.D. Vance]

That's right. So yeah, we stayed up late, watched a movie. The food's really good. So there's like a fancy chef at the White House. I mean, it's the White House and.

[Theo Von]

He stays up all night.

[J.D. Vance]

Well, I don't know how lady stays, but like if you order anything at any time of night, they will just bring it to you.

[Theo Von]

Oh my God. I gotta get there. Thankfully, at least we're at Kid Rocks bars. You know, I'm headed in a good direction. We are at Kid Rocks restaurant. I do want to say that it's a new restaurant. Well, it's a. It's a reaffinement of Joe Muir Seafood, which is a famous restaurant in Nashville. And he graces by letting us have this room here to do this.

[J.D. Vance]

Okay.

[Theo Von]

So I want to thank you.

[J.D. Vance]

Thank you, Bob Richie, also known as Kid Rock for letting us have this beautiful space. He told me it only been open for two days.

[Theo Von]

Really?

[J.D. Vance]

I realize that.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, yeah. Oh, I was here at a frickin welcome party or something. I was here last night.

[J.D. Vance]

Nice.

[Theo Von]

What that. Dude, I was freaking in here last night.

[J.D. Vance]

The welcoming party, which is last night because it's only been open for two days. It's good. So how was the food?

[Theo Von]

The food, I will say this, actually. There's steaks that. They have these little bitty mushrooms and I feel like they were. I don't want to say this out loud, but they were too young to be picked or whatever. But it was really good.

[J.D. Vance]

It's good.

[Theo Von]

Really, really good. Okay, we have you here, Elon. Just hit the airwaves today. Bring it up, dude. Oh man, the fucking shit missile is in the cannon.

[J.D. Vance]

Okay. Wow.

[Theo Von]

Elon Musk, time to drop the really big bomb. Right? And I thought this was going to be on iron.

[J.D. Vance]

I haven't even seen.

[Theo Von]

Right.

[J.D. Vance]

I haven't even seen this one.

[Theo Von]

But he goes at real. Real. Donald Trump is in the Epstein files. This is the real reason they have not been made public. Have a nice day. Nice signature from a South African djt, man.

[J.D. Vance]

Well, so just so your audience is aware, when was this. When is this going to air? Like tomorrow or two days.

[Theo Von]

45 is airing now. Dude, I'm joking.

[J.D. Vance]

I'm just saying, like, no, presumably when this comes out, people are going to know more about this than I will, because I just learned about this kind of happened on the plane when I was coming on down here.

[Theo Von]

I agree. This just. This is. This, this is new.

[J.D. Vance]

Here, here's. Here's my basic reaction to, like, all this stuff is, look, first of all, like, absolutely not. Donald Trump didn't do anything wrong with Jeffrey Epstein. Like, there's. The guy is whatever the Democrats and the media says about him, that's totally bs. Here's my basic read on it. First of all, I'm the vice president to President Trump. My loyalties are always gonna be with the president. And I think that Elon, he's an incredible entrepreneur. He's actually done. I think Doge was really good. This sort of effort to root out waste, fraud and abuse in our country is really good. And look, man, I'm always gonna be loyal to the president. And I hope that eventually Elon kind of comes back into the fold. Maybe that's not possible now because he's gone so nuclear.

[Theo Von]

Well, it's.

[J.D. Vance]

I hope it is, man, because why, though?

[Theo Von]

Do you know why?

[J.D. Vance]

Yeah, I mean, so look, I think, number one, so Elon's new to politics, right? So his businesses are being attacked nonstop. They're literally like, firebombing some of his cars. And by the way, we're looking into a lot of this stuff. I mean, some of that stuff we're looking into is an act of terrorism at the Department of Justice, because I think it is an act of terrorism. So I think part of it is this guy got into politics and it's. Has suffered a lot for it. But I mean, and I. And I get the frustration there. And I get the frustration that, I mean, look, Congress got the spending bill, but the main purpose of the bill is not actually spending or cutting spending, though it does cut a lot of spending. The main purpose of the bill is to prevent the biggest tax increase. But I understand, like, it's a good bill. It's not a perfect bill. Like, the process in D.C. if you're a business leader, you probably get frustrated with that process because it's more, you know, bureaucratic. It's more slow moving.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[J.D. Vance]

So I think there's just some frustrations there. But I really, man, I think it's a huge mistake for him to go after the President like that. And I think that if he and the President are in some blood feud, most importantly, it's going to be bad for the country. But I think it's going to be. I don't think it's going to be good for Elon either.

[Theo Von]

But Elon, like, did Doge. First of all, my first thought was that it's a ruse, right? Because there's a lot of times there's where the media will put out a ruse or they'll use somebody. Like, I think the dirty thing is a ruse. Like, it's like, hey, like diverse communities, stay busy with this shit while we, like, move all these chess pieces. Right? Sometimes that's what I feel like it is. And maybe I'm like a pervert or whatever. Sorry. Or weird guy. Sorry. But this has nothing to do with that.

[J.D. Vance]

But I'm not a pervert. Maybe you're a weird guy. You're not a pervert. You're a good dude.

[Theo Von]

I appreciate that, dude. But anyway, what I was saying was.

[J.D. Vance]

That Diddy thing, man, is it true they found like. Sorry, no, go play into this. But I read somewhere that they found like bottles and bottles and bottle. Maybe you told me this, I don't know. Somebody told me bottles and bottles of like, baby oil, but that had like.

[Theo Von]

Drugs, drugs in it. Bring that up. Was they doping up?

[J.D. Vance]

Is that real? Or is that just something I heard on the Internet? Because sometimes you hear stuff on the Internet, it's not true.

[Theo Von]

Well, here's what most of it is.

[J.D. Vance]

Most of the stuff you hear on the Internet.

[Theo Von]

What defense would you have? Like babies that are addicted to dirty oil.

[J.D. Vance]

Yeah. I mean, you don't normally have GHB and baby oil. I'm not a doctor, but I don't. Normal ingredient in Jews. But anyway, sorry.

[Theo Von]

I don't know, dude, there's some babies these days that fucking want to get to the club, homie. No, but. No, but. So do you think it was. So obviously it was the bill. This is where it's happened. Something about the bill made him upset.

[J.D. Vance]

Yeah, so. Yeah, that's right. That's right. I mean, again, I think he looked at the bill, he didn't like it. And I think it's a good bill. But again, there are things you can criticize about it. Like, the President would be very open and say, this is not a perfect bill. Yeah, but Donald Trump doesn't get to write the bills. Right. Congress has to write the bills, and you got to work with them to try to get something that is as good as possible. Okay, so here's what I'll say about the bill. Number one, prevents the biggest tax increase in American history.

[Theo Von]

It prevents, it prevents it.

[J.D. Vance]

Because taxes are going to go up on everybody in a really big way at the end of 2025, because the old tax law expires at the end of 2025. So you're going to hit a big tax increase. We're trying to prevent that from happening. We're also trying to do stuff. Okay, so you got a lot of people working long overtime hours in this economy. You know, we inherited bad inflation from Joe Biden. So no tax on overtime, no tax on tips. Right? We're in, we're in. Bob Ritchie, we're in Kid Rock's great restaurant. His servers would not have to pay taxes on the hard earned tips that they get when they're, when they're busting their ass doing a good job. So when working for Kid Rock, man, that's hard. That's hard work, right? So I think that it's, it's a good bill and it does a lot of good for the American people. But like, look, Elon's entitled to his opinion. I'm not saying he has to agree with the bill or agree with everything that I'm saying. I just think it's a huge mistake for the world's wealthiest man. I think one of the most transformational entrepreneurs ever, that's Elon. To be at, at, at this war with the world's most powerful man, who I think is doing more to save the country than anybody. I mean, I'm 40 years old. Anybody in my lifetime, think about it, it's a guy who not even a year ago nearly took a bullet in the process of campaigning, went back on the horse the next day. And if you look, obviously I'm biased, but you look at what we've done on the border, you look at what we've done with trade fighting back against a generation of theft of the American dream, which is what the President's trade policies are starting to do. I just think you gotta have some respect for him and say, look, yeah, we don't have to agree on every issue. I'm talking about if you're Elon Musk, you don't have to agree with this on every issue. But is this war actually in the interest of the country? I don't think so. So hopefully Elon figured, figures it out, comes back into the fold. I Know, the President, you know, for. For a couple days, I'll tell you. Just, you know, I want to reveal too many confidences. But he was getting a little frustrated, feeling like some of the criticisms were unfair coming from Elon. But I think it's been very restrained because the President doesn't think that he needs to be in a blood feud with Elon Musk. And I actually think of Elon Musk chilled out a little bit. Everything would be fine.

[Theo Von]

It would help. Well, Elon also tweeted that he thought that in the second half of this year that there would be a. The Trump tariffs will cause a recession in the second half of this year. Now, who knows what. What could cause a recession in the second half this year? It could be a buildup of our entire. Just history of being alive. But he's saying this so it seems like. And this is just me guessing and I don't know. Mr. Musk. I never met Mr. Musk. One time he fed my buddy spaghetti at a party, though, dude, that. My buddy. They were. People were raging and shit.

[J.D. Vance]

And your buddy couldn't feed himself the spaghetti.

[Theo Von]

Well, my buddy said. He offered my buddy some spaghetti, and my buddy said, yeah, I'd like to have some. And then it's.

[J.D. Vance]

But only if you feed it to me.

[Theo Von]

But instead. But instead of getting him a plate of spaghetti, he made himself and put it in his mouth.

[J.D. Vance]

Dude, does your buddy know Frederick Douglass?

[Theo Von]

My buddy. I'll say this. My buddy actually is a friend of fdr. No, no, no. Sorry. Of. Shit, Frederick. God, dude. Fucking ruin this shit. Dude. Fuck, dude, civics, man. Chill out. No, but he said that he thinks he. But do you think that he just thinks that there's too many, that it's not a fair bill for the people. Do you think Elon Musk is for the people?

[J.D. Vance]

I mean, I think that he's making a mistake and going after the President. I think his heart is in the. Good. In the right place, man. I do. Like, I think he got into this for the right reasons. I think he's frustrated. I think he's an emotional guy. Honestly. I'm a very emotional guy.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[J.D. Vance]

Like, it's. The President is. It's interesting because if you read the media reports, you wouldn't necessarily see this. He's not like, quick to temper. Like, he's not one of these guys who flies off the handle. That's a little bit more what I'm like, honestly.

[Theo Von]

Oh, he's.

[J.D. Vance]

I think he's smooth, man.

[Theo Von]

He's stoic and I think it's fucking 007, dude. That motherfucker is.

[J.D. Vance]

I don't, I don't know if that's good, but, but yeah, I get what.

[Theo Von]

You'Re saying, but it's, it's, it is where it is.

[J.D. Vance]

But I, but I, I, I think I. So, yeah, I think Elon means the best, but I think he's making a mistake.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, got it.

[J.D. Vance]

That's my.

[Theo Von]

Did any. Was Doge helpful?

[J.D. Vance]

It was. Yeah, it was. And I mean, look, Doge continues within the White House and within the executive of, of the country. I mean, look you, There's a lot of ways in which we are wasting the American people's money.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[J.D. Vance]

Sometimes spending it on crazy stuff, sometimes spending it on, like, actually counterproductive stuff. I think Doge has saved already at least 170, maybe $200 billion. Hopefully it's going to save more. But, yeah, I think it was very, very money. How could youn money.

[Theo Von]

How do they not. How would you not even notice that if that much?

[J.D. Vance]

Like, there's so much I could tell you about this. Okay, so one of the crazy things we all figured out, like, first week or so we're in the White House, okay, is there was a payment that should be stopped because the President signed an executive order to stop a payment. And this is like day one of the White House. We're like, okay, how do we stop this payment? Because somebody's trying to make this payment and nobody knew where, like, the computer was that actually wired the money from the US Taxpayer to this entity. So, dude, the amount of waste and the amount of just grift and the federal government was off the charts. It's still, it's, it's getting better, but there's still a lot more. I think we can find who was getting it.

[Theo Von]

I don't know. I don't know. One person that was getting something extra, I don't think. Well, unless everybody was slurping.

[J.D. Vance]

Yeah. I mean, a lot of people were slurping, man. You, you look at, you look at what? So, for example, there are all these humanitarian programs that we have where we send money for people, for medicine, for food.

[Theo Von]

Oh, yeah.

[J.D. Vance]

Okay. But like, you think. I think, like what I thought before I got in the government, what most Americans think is, okay, so we send $100,000 to this group to buy food for, like, poor kids in Africa. Okay? And what actually happens is it's not $100,000 that go to the food for the poor kids in Africa that the ngo, the non government organization that gets that money, contracts it out to somebody else. Right. So there's a middleman subcontracted out somebody else. There's three or four middlemen.

[Theo Von]

And.

[J.D. Vance]

And what? You know, Marco Rubio, who's a Secretary of state, he's a very good friend. What he told me is that his best estimate, after he had his team look at it, is that 88 cents of every dollar was actually being collected by middlemen.

[Theo Von]

No.

[J.D. Vance]

So every dollar we were spending humanitarian assistance, 12 cents was actually making it to people who needed it. That's crazy. So there's a lot of waste, man. A lot of crazy stuff.

[Theo Von]

So Elon was putting in a lot. Was Elon doing it for free all that time? He was.

[J.D. Vance]

For free?

[Theo Von]

Yeah, for free.

[J.D. Vance]

He was doing it for free. I mean, he doesn't need money. Right? That's the one. Does not need.

[Theo Von]

So that was he. I wonder if he was expecting anything from Trump and they just couldn't figure it out. I don't know. I'm just curious about it. You know, I'm kind of like. You start to see how all this stuff kind of works, you know, and just like, it's like.

[J.D. Vance]

Yeah, like I hear. I really do think he's disappointed about the bill. He's, you know, he disagrees with some of the things that were in there. He's an emotional guy. Look, it happens. Everybody. I've. I've flown off the handle way worse than Elon Musk did in the last 24 hours.

[Theo Von]

Oh, yeah.

[J.D. Vance]

But, you know, my hope is. Comes back, says, look, made some mistakes, didn't move to say everything. Let's smooth it out and let's all be friends. Because, again, like, I care about the country, and I think the country's better off if the. Under the president's leadership. Elon's helping us out as opposed to fighting the administration. I don't want him to fight the administration. I know the president doesn't want that, but here we are.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, he just tweeted a little bit ago that he felt like 80% of the. What was that about a third party or something?

[J.D. Vance]

He's tweeted like 300 times.

[Theo Von]

Oh, sorry. Never mind. Okay, that's just.

[J.D. Vance]

Just a lot of tweets today.

[Theo Von]

Just a regular day for Elon. So, yeah, he's obviously. I mean, he's definitely. He gets a bit rogue.

[J.D. Vance]

Why don't we have this interesting.

[Theo Von]

Pull it up. Let's see.

[J.D. Vance]

From an account you muted. I'm curious. Who. Who did you mute?

[Theo Von]

Who is that guy?

[J.D. Vance]

Is that yours?

[Theo Von]

It's one of your producers, Ian Milis. Shonk. Oh. It said Trump should be impeached and JD Vince should replace him. Dude, that's one vote.

[J.D. Vance]

Oh, my God. See, this is what I'm talking about. This stuff is.

[Theo Von]

What are you talking about? Campaigning.

[J.D. Vance]

This stuff. This stuff is just not helpful again.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, definitely.

[J.D. Vance]

And here's like, look, my first loyalties to my family, obviously to the Constitution, but politics is a place where people stab each other in the back.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[J.D. Vance]

And you can't get anything done unless you're all on the same team and you're actually committed to getting stuff done together. I just think, like, the idea that the President. The president should be impeached. I'm sorry, it's insane. It's totally insane. The president is doing a good job, and you can. Look, you're free to disagree with him. Right. Everybody's a First Amendment right.

[Theo Von]

Are you free to disagree with Trump ever? Do you feel like you can?

[J.D. Vance]

Of course, of course. I mean, the way that I put it is if I have a disagreement with the President, then it is my job, obviously, to provide the president honest counsel. He doesn't need me to be a doormat. He needs me to actually say what I think about an issue. But when the President makes a decision, man, he's the general. And when the general makes a decision, everybody's got to go and execute that order. And that's kind of how I think about my job, really, is to be a good ally and a good friend, provide honest counsel to the president. But also, when a decision's made, you go out and get it done.

[Theo Von]

Does he listen to many people or does he listen to just one or two?

[J.D. Vance]

He listens to a ton of people. It's one of the more interesting things about his leadership style is if he's got a big decision to make, he talks to everybody. And I think it's why he's, like, in touch with normal people, is because he doesn't just talk to, like, congressmen or people with a lot of money. He tries to talk to everybody. Like, I've seen him ask the gardener at Mar a Lago what he thinks about a particular issue. I've seen him ask, you know, the people who work in the kitchen at the White House what they think about an issue. He's constantly trying to understand what other people are thinking.

[Theo Von]

Oh, I saw him ask a Scottish terrier what kind of cakes they like, you know, so, yeah, I agree with you. He's definitely always absorbing kind of information.

[J.D. Vance]

He is, yeah.

[Theo Von]

Nobody needs help Spending Money Sometimes it feels like the whole world is trying to spend your money. Your whole social media feed is full of ads, your mailbox is full of credit card offers, and then there's all the hidden fees and extra costs and rising prices and blah blah blah. That's why there's Acorns. Acorns is a financial wellness app that makes it easy to start saving and investing for your future. You don't need to feel like financial wellness is impossible. Acorns gives you small, simple steps to get you and your money on track. You don't need to be an expert. Acorns will recommend a diversified portfolio that matches you and your money goals and you just need to stick with it. And Acorns makes that easy too. Acorns automatically invest your money, giving it a chance to grow with time. I recently got Acorns account set up for my nieces and nephews to help them learn about financial wellness. I think it's important. Sign up now and join the over 14 million all time customers who have already saved and invested over $25 billion. Yipes with Acorns. Plus, Acorns will boost your new account with a $20 bonus investment offer available at any time at acorns.com/t H E o that's a C o r n s.com t h e o to get your $20 bonus investment today paid non client endorsement compensation provides incentive to positively promote Acorns. Tier 4 compensation provided investing involves risk Acorn Advisors LLC and SEC registered investment advisor. View important [e-mail] Theo man, you know it's pretty obvious that the mainstream media is a big machine, right? They kind of contour. They team up. They have a strategy so we're never really seeing the whole picture when it comes to news. That's why I love ground news. It lets you see how different news outlets cover the same story left, right and center. Yeah, I was on Ground News this morning and it shows on the if you look at the left regarding the Musk Trump feud, it says Musk hits back with Epstein theories. Trump hits back with threats. Elon has gone crazy. And then we go to a more centrist news feed and it says Trump Musk feud explodes with threats of cutting contracts, backing impeachment. And here we are with a right leaning from the Daily Wire. White House responds to Elon Musk. Epstein claims an unfortunate episode from Elon and I think you should go check this out yourself because I don't think we've ever seen anything like It. I think it's actually the only of its kind, and I think it's what we've all been wanting. Just go to ground news.comtheo that's G R O U N D N E W S.com T H E O to get 40% off the vantage plan and get access to the mobile app, website, and exclusive newsletters. Wow. One more time. Ground news.com the we. We. You talked about the bill, the big, beautiful bill, you know, which is like kind of the most perf. It's the most Trumpian name you could ever have. It is the big, beautiful bill. And why do. Why, why are these bills, this whole mess of. Why is it a gumbo? Why isn't it just one fine soup each time and you vote on each certain thing? I know that's definitely gonna be a novice question, but.

[J.D. Vance]

No, man, it's a fair question. I think there are a couple. Excuse me. It depends on the kind of. The Celsius is. Got a lot of caffeine in it, man.

[Theo Von]

What are you talking about? Yeah, that's what FDR was on. That's why he left his wife. That thing will kid. That thing will definitely remodel.

[J.D. Vance]

FDR loves Celsius, as everybody knows. His favorite beverage was. Was. What is this here? Sparkling orange Celsius.

[Theo Von]

And that is the most FDR flavor too, to be honest.

[J.D. Vance]

Oh, man. Sorry, what did you ask me? Okay, the big. The big.

[Theo Von]

I thought we were supposed to be reading the Bible.

[J.D. Vance]

All right, the bills, okay, but the bill. Why so the big.

[Theo Von]

Okay, because it's always. You always hear every. Every congressman or senator, not everyone, but sometimes you're like, I just got it. I don't know what, I couldn't read a thousand people pages last night.

[J.D. Vance]

You know, so there are different kinds of bills, okay? And I think. So there are things called omnibuses. And omnibuses are like a million different things shoved into one bill. And oftentimes you don't have time to read them. The House, The House of Representatives actually adopted a rule to where they have to get, I think, at least four days to actually read it to. To change this, because people weren't getting time to read the stuff before it got voted. On this particular bill, the way to think about it is basically if you look, look at a campaign speech I gave back in September of 2024, and I said, we're going to cut taxes on tips, we're going to have no taxes on overtime, we're going to cut taxes on Social Security. You know, we're going to secure the border. We're going to build more border wall, we're going to hire more border patrol agents. Like all that stuff, all of those promises are in this bill. So, like, the way this particular piece of legislation was conceptualized is rather than, than take up floor time on a bunch of random, different stuff, why don't we just do everything, or at least most of the things that we campaigned on that can be done through legislation and put it into this bill. Now, that's not saying that there aren't sometimes massive bills that are ridiculous and don't make a ton of sense. There are, but I think this bill, like, you know, there's a political answer to your question, too. Okay, so let's just say I'm not going to name names. I don't embarrass anybody. But let's say you've got some Republican congressmen who really love no taxes on tips, but they're a little squishy on the border stuff. They don't agree with what we're doing on the border. Okay, let's say you got somebody who really loves what we're doing on the border, but they don't necessarily, like, you know, they don't want to cut taxes for one reason or another.

[Theo Von]

Right.

[J.D. Vance]

If, if, if you take enough of this stuff of our promises again and put it together, you say, look, even if you disagree with parts of it, this is what we campaigned on writ large. And so we got to vote on this thing and make it happen. Sorry. There's a final answer to this question, which is stupid and parliamentary, but it matters, is actually the most important answer is, okay, any bill that you do takes, you got to put it on the floor and you got to give people enough time to read it and you got to amend it. And then you got to do committee process, and there's like a constant stream of things. There's a big process for it. And so if you went through that process for each individual item as a. On a separate bill, it would take over a year to do all these bills. But we got to like, we got to prevent taxes from going up. We don't have that much time to do it.

[Theo Von]

It.

[J.D. Vance]

We got to secure the border. We don't have that much time to do it. We've got to do the no tax on Social Security. Like, if we did that 18 months from now in a smaller bill, then we would not be keeping our promises to the American people.

[Theo Von]

I see. Is there a way that they can just prioritize this wonder? It just feels like, it would make, it would be so much easier to digest as a regular person if you weren't thinking like, well, heck, my guy's got to stay up all night for 600 nights to get all this information in, you know, and to get it in accurately and then to make fair choices on.

[J.D. Vance]

Yeah, I mean, I think the answer to your question is, is you could do that, but Congress would have to change its procedures.

[Theo Von]

And could, could Congress do that if they voted to do it?

[J.D. Vance]

They could, they could, but they would need to change their procedures. And you know, the President I's attitude is like, we're not going to, we're going to tell you how to run Congress.

[Theo Von]

Right.

[J.D. Vance]

We're working within the constraints that we have understood. And we're just trying to get as much done. And look, I mean, people are frustrated with Congress. I get it. People are frustrated with certain things that Congress does. I agree with a lot of those criticisms. I mean, we do spend way too much money in this country. Like, it is a reality that we spend too much money. But I don't think those criticisms apply to this particular legislation. Like, one thing I'd ask everybody to say is, okay, so big ugly spending bill, some people are calling it. What is the spending that is done here? The biggest single budgetary item, Theo, in this bill is the money to secure the border. Like, that's not ugly spending. That's like the best kind of spending.

[Theo Von]

Well, this is a great kind of spending, I think. Well, no, I agree with that. Look, we've had two border officials on over the past four years, and we've learned about, about all the, just the infrastructure issues that they face. We've learned about the fact that the executive branch doesn't process any of the, like they'll apprehend the guys, but then they're not processed. I think it's the executive branch.

[J.D. Vance]

Yes. Because we don't have the money to do it like that. That's okay.

[Theo Von]

Here they were saying for years guys would come in and they'd have to catch them every other week because they would. And nobody would prosecute. So it was just then it made them feel like they didn't have any value. I know that we're signing like 5,000 new people to work at the border. So I know that we're giving a lot of new jobs.

[J.D. Vance]

That's what we're trying to do, right, is create enough resources so that you can actually do all the border enforcement that we promised. And like the part that the President got immediate action on. If you Think about this. We came in, the president empowered border patrol to stop letting people come across the border illegally. That stopped pretty much immediately. Got like a 96% drop in border crossings immediately.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[J.D. Vance]

The thing is though is you've got 21 million people in here illegally. You got to send them home, you got to process them. You got to. Actually sometimes some of these people, you know, are entitled to some kind of trial for one reason or another. So you've got to like do that. That stuff all costs money and that's where we don't have money to do it right now. So that's why this bill's necessary.

[Theo Von]

Did who was that? They just said that. Did Congress have enough time to read this bill, Thomas? Rep. Thomas Massie said the House has a 72 hour rule which requires the bill to be posted 72 hours before passage. What does that even mean?

[J.D. Vance]

Yeah, that's, that's. I'd never heard that before. And look, I mean Thomas Massie and I get along. Um, but my, my understanding is that the bill text was people have had literally weeks to pass it or to read it. And the reason. Okay, here's the criticism I'd give of what Thomas Massie's saying right here is what's going to happen is the Senate has to vote on this bill and then it has to go back to the House and it may change like 1%. Like the Senate may change a sentence or a paragraph here or there, but it's going to fundamentally be the same bill. So the idea that people haven't had an opportunity to actually read it is ridiculous. They're in fact going to have to vote on it again before it even becomes law.

[Theo Von]

So they'll have more time.

[J.D. Vance]

They'll have more time.

[Theo Von]

Got it.

[J.D. Vance]

Like by necessity, by law, they have.

[Theo Von]

To understood part of the bill. I know that people are. That's getting a lot of attention. Right. Is. And I do want to say like, I recognize that like when you get into a place, you can't just get what you want. Right. There's a lot of people in that place and everybody wants certain things.

[J.D. Vance]

There's a give and take. That's why I say it's good, not perfect. There are criticisms to make of it.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, there's a give and take, dude. You know that's right. You can. Yeah, it's like getting in laws or whatever.

[J.D. Vance]

That's right. Any good marriage has give or take. Any good relationship has give or take. Yeah, right.

[Theo Von]

Yeah. Oh yeah.

[J.D. Vance]

You got to compromise a little bit. You got to accept Some things you might not love. That's just, that's the nature of the beast.

[Theo Von]

Part of the bill that people are talking about is there's like the AI stuff, right? Like the government, like there's a ban is that we're going to spend a lot of money with AI like in order to advance like bring our government technologies up to code.

[J.D. Vance]

Really. I know what you're talking about.

[Theo Von]

And then also it says in there that there's a ban that at state levels they couldn't prosecute some of these AI companies, right? That sounds really sketchy, like I know.

[J.D. Vance]

What you're talking about. Yeah.

[Theo Von]

And this is in usa. I'll just read it. The ban is tucked into a section of the bill that would allocate 500 million over the next 10 years to modernize government systems with the help of AI and automation technologies. The ban would not only prevent new state led regulations of AI but would also block dozens of states from enforcing preexisting AI regulations and oversight structures. It feels scary.

[J.D. Vance]

Yeah. So let me, let me say a couple of things about this. So I actually was talking to a couple of senators on the way down here about this because they really hate this provision and they actually both we brought them on because it's Bill Hagerty and Marsha Blackburn, great people, they represent the state of Tennessee. So they, they don't like this provision and they, they brought up a really interesting point. It's because so Tennessee obviously has a lot of musicians, right? And Tennessee wants to protect those musicians from having basically AI steel the production of their artists. Right? Because one of the big problems with AI, right is you're going to be able to take somebody's voice and then like you know, Taylor Swift's voice or you know, anybody else's voice and basically say oh okay. Well based on this one song that you know, Robert Plant did 35 years ago, we're going to like make a whole new Led Zeppelin song using artificial intelligence. Right? And they want to protect people from that kind of thing happening. So that's a totally reasonable point to me. The reason that provision is in there is because you think about like, think about how like woke the Google searches got. Remember when you like search what does George Washington look like and it show you like a picture of a black dude.

[Theo Von]

Oh yeah. And, and like a little Japanese George Washington or something.

[J.D. Vance]

So, so the idea is you use, you basically have a federal regulation that prevents a federal regulation that prevents like California from having a super progressive set of regulations on artificial intelligence. Right? That's the argument for it. The argument against it is that if the feds aren't protecting artists, then you're not going to be able to protect artists either.

[Theo Von]

Okay.

[J.D. Vance]

And so I honestly, I don't think the provision, to be honest with you, I don't think that's going to make it in the final, Bill. But I usually have a pretty strong view on most things. I could kind of go both ways on this because I don't want California's progressive regulations to control artificial intelligence.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[J.D. Vance]

I also agree with Marsha and Bill that you want to protect, you know, country artists in Nashville from having their crap stolen by AI. Like, I get that.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, yeah. It's interesting. I mean, that kind of stuff. It's like, because they made a bunch of little babies of all the, like a lot of podcasters and now they're doing it with everybody. Like, they got. Dang, you know, Aaron Rodgers, baby. They got Left Eye from that Milli Vanilli woman or whatever. They have everybody in there and so.

[J.D. Vance]

But man, too soon.

[Theo Von]

Oh, yeah.

[J.D. Vance]

I'm a Milli Vanilli truther, by the way.

[Theo Von]

Really?

[J.D. Vance]

Yeah, man. Oh, I think it was really them. I just think they were taken advantage of by.

[Theo Von]

Thank you. Thank you. Dude, you know there's like seven of us left, don't you?

[J.D. Vance]

Oh, man, that was a catchy song. So I was born 1984. That's one of the first songs I remember, like, playing in a radio.

[Theo Von]

Do you remember that song? I'm the one who wants to.

[J.D. Vance]

I do remember that song with you. That was like mid-90s, right?

[Theo Von]

I don't know. It was good, though. Trying to think of. What.

[J.D. Vance]

Trying to think of the band. I think it was kind of a one hit one.

[Theo Von]

Mr. Big.

[J.D. Vance]

That was Mr. Big. Okay. That's kind of one hit wonder, right? Yeah.

[Theo Von]

Oh, yeah, we're.

[J.D. Vance]

Yeah. That's too bad.

[Theo Von]

God, they were good.

[J.D. Vance]

That was a good song.

[Theo Von]

Remember the first song you ever heard?

[J.D. Vance]

I'm pretty sure the first song I ever heard was Layla by Eric Clapton. The. The original one, not the acoustic one.

[Theo Von]

Dude, my buddy. I used to live with my buddy's dad, right? Because he was getting. I had like erectile dysfunction, so I was pretty young. And then I was living with him because he was getting like an early script on. On pill. Ed pills or whatever, you know, wiener pills. And so I stayed over there and I. I cop a little bit off of his. But anyway, he used to hook up with this lady and I was learning the guitar. He made me go Play Layla Tears in Heaven.

[J.D. Vance]

Oh, man, that's a sad. You know, that's about his son dying.

[Theo Von]

And it was the only song I knew, and they, like, play it again.

[J.D. Vance]

Oh, my God. See, this is one of those things where I hope to God you're joking, because if you're living in Suit's house. How old were you at the time?

[Theo Von]

I was probably 27.

[J.D. Vance]

Okay, so you're 27, stealing ED pills, playing tears in Heaven. That's a bad situation. You got to get out of that situation, man. I'm going to assume that you're joking, because I don't want to have nightmares about this brother, about this later on.

[Theo Von]

What do you mean?

[J.D. Vance]

Okay. Okay.

[Theo Von]

That's the health care system.

[J.D. Vance]

Health care system. All right, so on the way over.

[Theo Von]

No, I'm just joking. That is a true story, though.

[J.D. Vance]

I hear you. On the way down here. On the way down here, there's, like, an advertisement for some, like, med pack. It was. It was on. It was a TV commercial, and I don't really watch, like, normal tv, so I don't see commercials that often anymore. But it's like, Med pack, and it's like, order this thing, and it costs $45, and it has these different drugs in it. And I only saw it briefly, but I could have sworn that two of the medications in this med pack were. And it's. It's advertised as, like, an emergency medicine, are ivermectin and oic. And I'm like, thinking to myself, what is the situation where you need emergency oic? And so, like, the. The second half of the flight down here, I'm thinking to myself, what is the emergency Ozempic situation? And then I thought, like, you know, if you have a Dahmer party situation. Yeah. And it's like, all right, you know, we got to. We got to suppress our appetites. But I. I don't know. But maybe it was just ivermectin. Maybe was. Was an oic. I. But that's. See, stuff like that is kind of crazy to me.

[Theo Von]

Well, now they're combining. It's just everything is combined now. You know, they even put. I think it's Pizza Hut and Baskin Robins are together now. It's like everything I think is mixed now.

[J.D. Vance]

But that kind of makes. That kind of makes sense, though.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, it kind of does.

[J.D. Vance]

Pizza and then some ice cream. Yeah.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, that's true. You're right.

[J.D. Vance]

So what I never understood was, like, what was I? Taco Bell and kfc?

[Theo Von]

Yeah, it's. What is that it's one or the other.

[J.D. Vance]

That's called indigestion.

[Theo Von]

Right?

[J.D. Vance]

That is the only way that combination.

[Theo Von]

It should be one or the other.

[J.D. Vance]

One or the other you do not need. If you're going to Taco Bell and KFC in the same stop, you got serious problems.

[Theo Von]

Did you let me think about something that's important, JD or people are not even going to believe that we spent time.

[J.D. Vance]

Oh my God. This is fun though, man. This is good. It's good to.

[Theo Von]

It is good, man. Dude, I just can't. I just can't even believe that that's your life. Is it what you thought it would be? Is it different once you got in? There are things that different.

[J.D. Vance]

It's about what I thought it would be. I mean, at this point, right, I know the President pretty well and you know, I knew that he would. I knew he a lot of trust in me. And again, the role of the Vice President is very derivative of what the President is doing. So if the President has trust in you, if he gives you a task and just lets you go and do it, that's, that's kind of what your, that's kind of what your job is. And it's been a lot of fun. Like I've traveled all over the world. I think we've done a lot of good work for the American people, which of course is the most important, most important part. And there are little things that I, you know, will take some time getting used to. So like we got three little kids, our son just turned eight yesterday actually. And then we have a five year old son and a three year old baby girl. And our eight year old son is, he's a little bit of an introvert, I think, and so he doesn't love the attention. But then our like 5 year old son is a little bit more like me. So he'll like roll off the airplane waving, saying hello to everybody and having Secret Service around is, is kind of a crazy experience. Like they're all good dudes and I love them. But it's also kind of unusual to like just walk outside your house and there's always somebody you know walking with you. That's kind of weird.

[Theo Von]

Oh, definitely. I think.

[J.D. Vance]

I mean, we went back to go chat for, you know, like five minutes just before this thing started. And you know, I was like, don't worry guys, Theo doesn't have a gun. Yeah, I hope you don't know.

[Theo Von]

They check.

[J.D. Vance]

We're in deep shit, man.

[Theo Von]

They check me. Somebody kissed me on the way and I Was like, that's part of it.

[J.D. Vance]

One of the Secret Services.

[Theo Von]

No, I'm joking. But I was like, what's your secret Buddy? Huh? You know. Oh, that's Milli Vanilli right there. His babies right there using it.

[J.D. Vance]

Oh, my God. Wait, they had. Those are Grammys, right? I didn't know. Oh, they took their Grammys away. Well, didn't one of them.

[Theo Von]

They took their Grammys away.

[J.D. Vance]

Didn't one of them commit suicide? It's like, kind of a sad story, actually.

[Theo Von]

Yeah. And one of them died a couple years ago. I met one of them one night, I think. Maybe I didn't. I was out late one night. I'll say that. Sorry. That's crazy. What are we talking about? Let's talk about it.

[J.D. Vance]

Could have been Millie Vanilli. Could have been my uncle. Who knows? Who am I to say?

[Theo Von]

I don't know. I did. I'll just say I met one of Freddy's buddies, one of Frederick's buddies out there. I'll say this man right now, sir. I will say it. So people have to, like, we all need it, like, help whenever we're like. And when you're politician, right. Like, you need help, you need support. You have sponsors and stuff. Right. There's a lot of speculation and talk. Like, one of your primary sponsors was. Is a guy, Peter Thiel.

[J.D. Vance]

Right.

[Theo Von]

And he's in the tech world.

[J.D. Vance]

Yeah.

[Theo Von]

And I never met him, you know.

[J.D. Vance]

Sure.

[Theo Von]

But, you know, there's, like, a lot of these tech kind of lords, like, they, you know, technology has grown so much in the past 20 years that controls a lot of our environment in our life. Right.

[J.D. Vance]

Does.

[Theo Von]

What do you owe somebody if you do, like, if you get into office, if somebody, like, donates a lot of money to your campaign, like, how does that relationship work after that?

[J.D. Vance]

I think the attitude is you don't owe them anything. And I think if you take the attitude of you owe somebody something, then you're fundamentally not going to do the job that you. You were meant to do. I mean, this is always. This is tough, right? Because so. So take my. My Senate race. First time I ever ran for office was 22. 2022. I ran for the Ohio Senate race. I won. You did race? Yeah.

[Theo Von]

Fuck, yeah.

[J.D. Vance]

Thank you. That's good. Yeah. If I hadn't won, I wouldn't be sitting here.

[Theo Von]

Oh, okay.

[J.D. Vance]

Yeah.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[J.D. Vance]

Because then I became the vice president, so I basically won. I've run two campaigns in my life. The first one, the Senate campaign, cost $45 million. The second one, Presidential campaign. I think that we spent like $1.2 billion. Okay, so it costs a lot of money. Well, the president obviously is the leader of the campaign, but the total campaign got it. So it costs a lot of money to run for office, and you got to go and raise money. Yeah, but I think that if your attitude is, I owe something, these people gave me money, then you're going to end up being corrupted. And you've got to kind of take the attitude of they're supporting me because they agree with me. And obviously, like, you have conversations with them. Like, you mentioned Peter Thiel. I see a lot of crazy stuff on the Internet about Peter Thiel. Like, you know, he's always been a friend of mine. He's always been one of the smartest people I've ever met. Just a very thoughtful dude. But he's literally never asked me once for anything.

[Theo Von]

So he just believed in you?

[J.D. Vance]

He believed in me. He agreed with me on a lot of issues. I mean, he definitely has, like, said, hey, I don't agree with you on this. But he's never said, I don't agree with you on this, therefore, you should vote differently, act differently. But it's like, to be honest with you, it's one of the risks of our system now, if you think about it, right? Because if you are a super ambitious dude or girl and you really want to run for office, like, you got to be able to separate yourself from that donor pressure. And think about it, like, if you're going to a fundraiser, okay, everybody's going to go to fundraisers in politics. Well, that's like an hour and a half you're not spending, talking to the people you represent, right? So there is one of the problems in our system is the people spend so much time raising money. I think sometimes, not all cases, but sometimes it can have a corrupting influence on the process. Now, I was talking to a buddy of mine, actually, about this, because his argument is, yeah, he's like a political consultant. He's a political hack, but a good dude. He said. He said, he said our system is better, though, because in some places they have publicly financed campaigns. And he's like, the problem with places where they have public, publicly financed campaigns is that all. All of the control in the political system is with the media. Because, like, if you, if you raise money, most of what you're spending your money on is tv, radio, advertisements. It's reaching voters. So if you can't reach voters with TV advertisements, and you got to go on the, like, the corporate Media to get your message out there, that's even worse.

[Theo Von]

Right.

[J.D. Vance]

So I kind of see both sides of it. I just think as a practical matter, what I try to do is remember that, you know, it's, it's an honor to serve, but it's also a sacrifice to serve. And if people are going to write me a check, great, but I don't owe them anything. That's. That's the attitude I try to have.

[Theo Von]

Yeah. Yeah. Well, it's just, it's interesting because, I mean, we all have people that help us do certain things or supportive. And then you get in spots where you're like, you know, I, like, I used to live with a family when I was growing up, and there's always been this thing, like, what do I owe them? You know, not that they've ever said I owed them anything, of course, but it's like, you know, there's always this feeling inside of you, you know, of like. And so I'm sure a lot of people can relate to things like that. This episode is brought to you by Masa Chips. It's time to get those processed seed oils out of our lives, and Masa Chips is at the forefront. Did you know all chips and fries used to be cooked in tallow? Up until the 1990s when big corporations switched to cheap processed seed oils, Masa decided to do something about it. They created a tasty and delicious delicios tortilla chip with just three ingredients and no seed oils. These chips don't only avoid all the bad stuff, they taste great, too. I've. I got about four or five flavors here at the house, and I think cabanero is one of them. And I'm digging them, baby. And they don't break. That's what I like. These chips are sturdy, baby. They don't crack off in your guac and get the job half done, baby. These things are. They're not just a worker, they're a dang contractor. These things will get that guac to your face. Masa Chips is beloved by tens of thousands of customers and has been endorsed by the industry. Leading health and nutrition experts like Ben Greenfield and Gary Breca. Ready to give Masa a try? Go to masachips.com T H E O and use code THEO for 25 off your first order. Bang. That's some chips. That's m a s a chips.com t h e o and code theo for 25 off your first order. I really enjoy him. I'm curious to see what you think. It's Time to have better sex. Yep. With BlueChew. BlueChew is the original brand offering chewable tablets. Yum. For better sex. And starting now, bluechew is offering a combo so strong, it'll knock your socks off and your neighbor's socks off. You'll have to all buy new socks. Bluechew Max has arrived, and it combines the active ingredients of Viagra and Cialis into one chewable. This combo acts fast and lasts. So, guys, be ready when she needs it. And get your first month of BlueChew Free. Yep. Everyone could use an extra hand with Bluechew. You've got an extra leg, more horsepower. Nuff said. Make life easier by getting harder and discover your [e-mail] and we've got a special deal for our listeners. Try your first month of BlueChew free when you use promo code T H E O. Just pay $5 shipping. That's promo code THEO. Visit BlueChew.com for more details and important safety information. And we thank BlueChew for sponsoring the podcast. Well, recently they have, like, there's a lot of, like, Trump picked out that. The. There's the Palantir company, right?

[J.D. Vance]

Yeah.

[Theo Von]

And that's about a surveillance thing. So this thing is. This sounds crazy, dude. Like, this sounds like we're only going to be human for, like, two more years, Right? So they. And this is the Palantir company where they're going to build security databases that have all of our information in them, right? That's what they're saying.

[J.D. Vance]

That's what they're saying. Yeah.

[Theo Von]

And it's going to have, like, everything. It'll, like, look at you and know, like, if you're good at tennis or if you've ever, you know, if you have, like, if you have $60 in your pocket or if you're, you know, it can tell if your kids are, you know, if you have a limp or whatever. He'll be in the Christmas play.

[J.D. Vance]

Yeah.

[Theo Von]

You know what I'm saying? It can tell all of that. And then. And that feels real scary, man. Like, I get it. To a regular street that feels like we're going to give our. Our society, like. Like we're going to become these. Like they're going to have every. Know everything about us. It makes you feel like you won't be a person anymore.

[J.D. Vance]

I hear you.

[Theo Von]

Does that make sense to you?

[J.D. Vance]

It definitely makes sense to me. I mean, let me try to explain. So, to be clear, I'm not an expert on this particular deal. I actually just read about it earlier today or maybe yesterday, but the president did an executive order, I don't know, a couple months ago. And the basic idea is you've got all this different information, but it's not accessible in one place. So, like, let me example where this might be useful.

[Theo Von]

Okay.

[J.D. Vance]

Let's say you catch an illegal immigrant, okay? And that person's using a Social Security number. But the Department of Homeland Security that arrests the person can actually figure out what Social Security number that illegal immigrant is, what name it's attached to. Okay. Or, you know, let's say you're, like, investigating some terrorist and the FBI arrests the person. But, you know, there are information about, like, where the person lived a couple years ago that you'd like to have. So you'd maybe like to go, you know, talk to their friends or associates or whatever.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[J.D. Vance]

My understanding is that it does sound odd, but that what they're trying to do is take all the information that the Department of Homeland Security has that the FBI has and just make it so that it's actually not in some hyper inefficient system. It's all sort of accessible. And here's the thing. Modern technology is just crazy and weird, and it affects our privacy. And I think we don't have to think that's a good thing. It is like a reality of the world that we live in.

[Theo Von]

Right. Sometimes we get a little romantic about things.

[J.D. Vance]

Well, I mean, look.

[Theo Von]

And I think it's gonna go back in time.

[J.D. Vance]

I mean, look, everybody, I kind of agree with you. I think people are sort of gonna rebel against technology a little bit. In some ways, they already are. But look, dude, if I. If I. This has happened to me so many times where I'm talking to my wife like, oh, what are we gonna make for dinner for the kids tonight? Oh, let's just like, DoorDash or GrubHub. And then you go on, like, X, or you go on, you know, Facebook or Instagram, and there's like an advertisement for a doordash coupon. And it's like, well, I was just talking about this 10 minutes ago. So we know that big technology spies on us and harvests our data. I honestly worry more about that than about, like, connecting the DHS system to the FBI system.

[Theo Von]

So that's all that this Palantir deal is part. Like, a lot of that. It's just. It's just connecting information.

[J.D. Vance]

So I'm hardly an expert, but that is. My understanding is that it's just taking. Okay, DHS has information, FBI has information. Secretary of the treasury has information and making it possible for that information to be searched.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[J.D. Vance]

By whoever is looking for it. That's my understanding.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[J.D. Vance]

And I, and I. But again, like I hear that same, that story and my reaction is the same, which is, oh, I don't like the government having my information. The reality is the government already has my information. And more importantly, some of these private technology companies have way more information on me than the government does.

[Theo Von]

Oh yeah.

[J.D. Vance]

I mean, anywhere you shop has unbelievable information on you. I mean, let me tell you, like.

[Theo Von]

Blockbuster two days ago, Blockbuster was like, happy birthday. They were wrong.

[J.D. Vance]

I gotta, I gotta.

[Theo Von]

It's like you're out of business. There's a, there's a. Yeah.

[J.D. Vance]

When was the last time you were to Blockbuster?

[Theo Von]

But some guy somewhere, probably in another country, Nepal, you would have.

[J.D. Vance]

You and FDR took your Celsius and went down to Blockbuster to get some, get some VHS rentals, a little bit.

[Theo Von]

Of Boogie, Little Boogie Nights.

[J.D. Vance]

That's. That was FDR's favorite movies. That makes sense. So, all right, what were we talking about? Technology. Okay, so I was. Okay, I was getting a brief, so.

[Theo Von]

Because that's what people.

[J.D. Vance]

When I first became. No, no, they are. And I get it. And look like. All I'll tell you is we try to be as.

[Theo Von]

Oh yeah, I did go to the last Blockbuster. I forgot about that. Oregon.

[J.D. Vance]

Is that 14 years ago that.

[Theo Von]

No, that's frickin two years ago.

[J.D. Vance]

Realized Blockbuster.

[Theo Von]

My ex lived out there. Got stuck in the snow out there.

[J.D. Vance]

Yeah. So. So I got a brief from my national security guy. I make sure I can. It's not classified information. Okay. No, it's not classified. Okay. Basically, long story short, one of the guys who works the national security team, the Trump administration, gave me this brief about how, okay, when you're using an iPad and let's say, you know, you're reading a story from some random newspaper and you hover on a particular paragraph, like your iPad is collecting that information on you. Like it's actually trying to track what you're doing. Like that is the stuff that really freaks me out.

[Theo Von]

Well, how do we stop that? I think it freaks everybody out. I think it just makes people sick. It's like you don't even feel like you exist for any purpose anymore other than to be advertised to or to be. I don't even know anything.

[J.D. Vance]

Yeah, well, you think about it like our. Think about 100 years ago, 50 years ago, the most brilliant scientists in the world, they're trying to figure out nuclear energy. They're Trying to figure out how to cure cancer. Now way too many of them are figuring out, like, how do I get a person to linger on a digital advertisement for a little bit longer so that we can increase the price of the ad that we sell. Sell them by three pennies.

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[J.D. Vance]

Like, there's something, I think, very. That warps our entire economy about the digital advertisement world because too many smart people are focused on getting us addicted to these applications. And, I mean, what do we do about it? I mean, one thing is. Is from a policy perspective, we've already looked into a lot of things we can do on data privacy and protection. So we're trying to make it harder for these firms to collect information on you.

[Theo Von]

Well, it feels like with this. With Palantir, it's like they're going to collect all the information, though. So that feels like.

[J.D. Vance]

Yeah, yeah. I mean, look, my understanding, again, so this is full disclosure, because I think it's important.

[Theo Von]

I think I know more about it.

[J.D. Vance]

I think it's important. I think it's important to be open. So. So Palantir, you asked about Peter Thiel. Palantir is actually one of the companies that he invested in. Right.

[Theo Von]

So, you know, he doesn't run.

[J.D. Vance]

My understanding is he doesn't run it, but I don't believe that Palantir is collecting any information. I believe it's purely building a database that's sort of combining information. Is that I might have some of my team that you guys. Is that right? Is that accurate? Okay, cool.

[Theo Von]

No, I'm glad. Yeah. Because, yeah, we're just trying to figure it out. And I think. I mean, right now, I think Palantir has, like, you know, there's a lot of conflict right now in Gaza. You know, everybody knows about that, of course. And Palantir is, like, been accused of being, like, complicit in a lot of the violence over there. And so I think that's where it gets really scary for, like, regular person on the street. I'm like, well, if this is the company, you know, because you see videos of, like, horrific stuff online.

[J.D. Vance]

Sure. Very sad stuff.

[Theo Von]

And. And you're like, well, if this is the company we're hiring, how do I know that I might not be walking down the street and just a sniper bullet could hit me from them, you know, so that. That is, to be really honest with you.

[J.D. Vance]

Yeah, no, I hear what you're saying, and I think the answer to that question is the only real protection that we have against that is that we've got to elect the Right, people? And we've got to make sure that our government doesn't do crazy stuff, because, I mean, look, any of this information can be misused. Like, our government has your Social Security number, okay? Using that information, the government could spy on you. The government could give your information over to an illegal alien to start a fake account in your name. And that, by the way, happens. I had a friend of mine who had an illegal alien steal his Social Security number, and when he went to the IRS to complain about it, they wouldn't give him information on the person. On the person who was stealing his stuff. And by the way, that's what we're trying to do, is make it so the IRS can talk to the Department of Homeland Security. But the only real protection against this stuff, I think, is to have a government that actually protects the rights of its citizens. And if. I mean, we should all be worried about our privacy being invaded by the government by. I think we should be as just as worried about private corporations as we should be the government. I think, you know, everybody could invade our privacy. But I don't. This way. I don't think that the. The solution to that problem is to, like, pretend that the government doesn't already have this information. It just does, Right? You got to make sure it doesn't misuse it. And that's. That's my view, at least, is we got to live in reality. And the government's already got this information. We just need to make sure they don't misuse it. And on, like, the Gaza thing, just sort of, you know, chat about that for a little bit. I mean, I'm like a human being. So I look at this stuff, I see these videos, I see the pictures, and it's very heartbreaking. And just since you brought it up, like, what we're trying to do here is try to solve two problems here, okay? So on the one hand, you've got innocent people, innocent Palestinians, and innocent Israeli hostages, by the way, who are, like, caught up in this terrible violence that's happening as we speak, okay? And we're trying to get as much aid and as much support into people as humanly possible. That's, like, one thing that's going on the other side is Israel's attacked by this terrible terrorist organization. I think people sometimes forget that, right? They forget. Like, the thing that kicked this off is that we had this terrible terrorist attack, and you had a lot of innocent Israeli civilians die in that terrorist attack. And so I think what we're trying to do in the Trump administration with that situation is to get to a peaceful resolution. And I think the peaceful resolution looks something like this. You've got to give Israel confidence that Hamas is never going to attack them and kill a bunch of civilians. And then you've got to get as much aid and support into these innocent Palestinians as possible, because in some ways, they're caught in the middle of this thing, too. One thing that I, like, I don't love about the whole Israel Palestinian debate is I think it kind of degrades our humanity a little bit, because I've seen people on the left, mostly on the left, who will say, well, you know, they'll completely ignore that Israel, like all these innocent Israelis were killed in this terrorist attack. And you have some people, usually on the right, who will completely ignore that. There are, like, kids who are caught up in this violence. And I think it's why the president has been, you know, I call him the President of peace. It's why he cares about solving this problem. Because the longer this goes on, the more suffering, the more death. So we're trying to solve it as much as we can. It's not easy.

[Theo Von]

Do you have a say in it?

[J.D. Vance]

Yeah, I mean, well, the president's obviously the person who makes the final decision all the time, but, yeah, I mean, certainly, I think I'm one of the few people that he's talking to constantly. We're constantly. We're talking to the Israeli government, we're talking to people in the Arab world, we're talking to people in Palestinian territories. Like, we're constantly engaging in diplomacy. I mean, one of the crazy things, dude, is this guy is a very dear friend of the President's. He's our special envoy of the Middle East, Steve Witkoff. He's a Jewish guy, very pro Israel. He's done more to try to bring this conflict to a close than anybody. And you sometimes have people who say that they're pro Israel who attack Steve for not being pro Israel enough. And I think it's totally bogus. Like, I see this guy operate every single day. He actually is like, he's a Jewish guy who believes in the purpose of the state of Israel. He also is a guy with a heart who's trying to prevent the killing. And I think there's just, like, when I talk about this whole debate has caused us to lose our humanity. I think of the people who are constantly going after Steve because this is a guy. He's a father. He lost one of his own children because of a. Because of an overdose. And he just he loves people. He believes in the value of human life, and he's doing a really good job. And he's one of the important people in the presidency or two.

[Theo Von]

Yeah, it seems like I've heard of Mr. Wyckoff, but I never met him, but I was.

[J.D. Vance]

Dude, you should have him.

[Theo Von]

I think some. I think the tough thing, just as a regular person, right, it's like we're seeing all these videos of people, like, picking up pieces of their children. And, like, it's. It's the. It's the sickest thing. I think it's ever been televised. Basically, if you consider watching something on your phone, it's a mass. It feels like a massacre, and it feels like, you know, I've called it a genocide. Other people have different thoughts about it, and that's fine. Right? And I don't need anybody to share the same thoughts or you too. But I think where it gets scary is that we give. You know, we're complicit in it because we help fund, like, military stuff, you know, and that's where it's like a regular guy. You're like, well, I'm paying these taxes, and they're going towards this, like. But you can't do anything, you know, like, you can. You can. You can talk, you know, but it's like, you can't. I don't understand how it becomes, like, tough for people. Like, sometimes it feels like we look out for the interests of Israel before we look out for the interests of America.

[J.D. Vance]

So let me say a couple things. So. So, number one, like, I think you're a great dude. So we'd almost have to agree on everything.

[Theo Von]

Do I think it's.

[J.D. Vance]

Do I think it's a genocide? No. And here's. Here's the reason why I don't think it's a genocide because I don't think that the Israelis are purposely trying to go in and murder every Palestinian. I don't think that's what they're doing. I think they got hit hard, and I think they're. They're. They're trying to, like, you know, sort of destroy this terrorist organization. And war is hell. And that is true. I also think it's true, man. I mean, I've seen people on my side of the political alum. Republican, you know that. But your audience may not. Who, like, will see these videos of these innocent Palestinian kids and say, oh, well, they had it coming to them. No, no, no, no, no. Like, if. If you have a soul, your heart should break when you see a little Kid who's suffering. Which is why we have the policy that we have, which is we're trying to stop, Eliminate the conflict, eliminate the source of the conflict so that we can actually bring some peace and some, Some humanitarian assistance into people. And that's my basic view. And the President's interesting. He's a pro Israel guy. And he also recognizes that to bring any conflict to a close, you've gotta talk to everybody. And so, I mean, we've been attacked, I've been attacked, the President's been attacked for being too interested in diplomacy. And you ask, like, what can I do? I think that what people should demand is that if our tax dollars are going to something, we should be actively trying to fix it. Okay. That's kind of the way that I think about it. And what happened with the Biden administration, man, it's crazy. They were spending so much money all over the world, they weren't engaged in diplomacy at all. So they'd sent. I mean, we spent $300 billion to Ukraine, for example. And you never had the President, United States, actually trying to force a diplomatic settlement. You talk about bodies all over the ground, dude. The Russia, Ukraine thing is the most vicious. We see satellite images, we see classified images, man. It is vicious. And again, it's. I will, I will hear people who will say, well, you know, you know, they're, again, mostly on our side. Will say all these, you know, the Russians got killed. That's a good thing. Look, I'm not defending the invasion, I'm not defending starting a war. But when human beings are getting blown to bits, your heart should feel sad about that and you should try to do something to fix it. And that's what we're trying to do. And we get crap for it. But again, that's like the part that makes me feel the best about my job is whether it's in Israel or Russia, Ukraine, like, we're actually trying to bring this stuff to some settlement and to some clothes. And if we do, we're going to save a lot of lives. And if we don't, it was worth the try.

[Theo Von]

Yeah. Yeah. I just have one more question. And. Yeah, and I want to say. Yeah, I recognize that it's like you can't expect people to do stuff immediately. You can't expect things to. To happen overnight.

[J.D. Vance]

Sure.

[Theo Von]

And that you get into a place and there's a lot of people that are already there, and you have to figure out, how do I make my way in this? How do I figure out to get some of the things I want, and I have to give up some of the things that I also want. Right. And so I just want to let you know that I recognize that, you know, and I think I learned to recognize that more. I think the older that I get and learn a little bit more about politics, it's not just like this guy got the job. Everything's going to be done immediately.

[J.D. Vance]

Yeah.

[Theo Von]

I do want to ask really quick. This is important, Important because there's a lot like, President Trump talked about this. We, he signed this executive order to make price transparency for health care. Right. And, and for hospital bills and medical billing. And we talked about it last time you were on, you said your wife is giving birth and you didn't even know, like, how much it was costing. Like, what does this cost? And what if we get to amnesia? Your wife's like, yeah, I don't want any amnesia, or whatever. And you're like, you should take it. And you're like, how much is it? You know, but it's like, nobody knows, you know? And then they're putting $30,000 of amnesia in your wife. You're like, well, shit. And so it's like. But what I'm saying is everybody at this point is it's, it's, you know, but it's a hundred trillion dollar multi hundred trillion dollar industry.

[J.D. Vance]

Yes.

[Theo Von]

That's going to change. Will we actually see it take place? Like, Biden administration tried to get price transparency. They couldn't, they were too caught up. They couldn't get it done. Trump signed the executive order. Do you think we will actually see this happen?

[J.D. Vance]

So I do. I think it's gonna take a little time. But we took the first big step when the president signed that executive order and you asked this question about donors. Right? So the pharmaceutical industry gives a ton of money to Republicans and Democrats. And I'll tell you, they were not happy when the president did that. And the president's attitude is, look, it's the right thing for the American people. So I think, again, it's an example of when you've got to tune out the financial pressures of politics. Just do what's right.

[Theo Von]

Well, people are afraid to get. People are getting pretty sick. Not because they.

[J.D. Vance]

Dude, let me.

[Theo Von]

Sorry, am I being loud to you? I'm sorry.

[J.D. Vance]

No, you're fine. Here's something. No, I mean your normal volume, I would say.

[Theo Von]

Okay, sorry, I felt a little. It's not towards you. I'm thankful that you're spending time with me.

[J.D. Vance]

No, no, you're good, man. So, so I'll tell you a crazy story. A buddy of mine was visiting recently, a friend from back home and his wife told me this story that his kid, they thought he was special needs, maybe had sort of a neurological disorder just because he was sort of emotional or not emotionally, educationally behind his peers. Turns out he was just deaf. He needed a cochlear implant and it took this, this, you know, my, my buddy's wife just fighting with the insurance companies for forever to get this kid the medicine that he needed, the treatment that he needed. And now the kid, he's happy, he's healthy. It's a beautiful child. Smart child. Like, that's amazing, right? That's what we want medical science to do, is to take a serious problem and make it better. Well, why do we have a medical system in this country where too many people can't get the treatment that they need? And it's a complicated answer to that question. But one of the big problems is I don't think most Americans realize this. We subsidize. When you go to the hospital or you go to the doctor and you pay out the rear end for a treatment, you are subsidizing all of the therapies, all.

[Theo Von]

And what say, tell us what subsidizing means. Some people won't know.

[J.D. Vance]

So basically, we pay more so that Europeans in other parts of the world pay less. So we fund all the innovation, we fund all the development of new drugs, and then Americans pay way more. That's why, you know, Americans, we spend 22% of our economy on healthcare. The Europeans average out about 10 or 11%. So we spend way more on healthcare and they spend way less. So the President uses example all the time. You know, the Ozempic, as he calls it, the fat shot drug. He had a buddy who was on Ozempic and had to go to Canada to get it, even though it was invented in Europe and it was mass produced all over the world, it was like a tenth of the price in Canada that it was in the United States. And the way that it is, is the drug companies make money off Americans so they can offer discount drugs to everybody else. So what that executive order, the reason why I think that approach is going to work way better than anything the Biden administration is doing, is it's going to say the Americans get to pay less and the Europeans are going to have to pay up a little bit. You'll know more about what you're spending on, but it also is more fair to Americans. And I think that's, I think that's a win win scenario because you can't expect Americans to pay 10 times for prescription drugs what other people pay. It's also, by the way, not that this is the main issue, but it's bankrupting people and it's bankrupting our country because we spend so much more on health care. And that's a major driver of our budgetary problem.

[Theo Von]

It's the number one cause of bankruptcy is medical debt. People aren't afraid to get sick because they'll be sick. They're afraid to get sick because they can't afford to be sick.

[J.D. Vance]

That's right.

[Theo Von]

And the stress of it is going to kill them.

[J.D. Vance]

That's right.

[Theo Von]

But do you think, like, he made the executive order? Do you think Will. And I know it's like so hard to be like you do, you know? You know, but it's like, do you really think we'll see this? I mean, it's like, God, give us. Give the people something. I do know.

[J.D. Vance]

I do. And we got a great Secretary of Health and Human Services, Bobby Kennedy. Have you done. Has Bobby been on the show before?

[Theo Von]

Yeah.

[J.D. Vance]

Okay. He's a good dude.

[Theo Von]

He's Bobby when everybody thought he was insane. Dude. Hell yeah, dude. He had to give him a ride home. His vehicle had been repossessed. Yeah.

[J.D. Vance]

Oh, man.

[Theo Von]

I'm joking. So, Bobby, congratulations, Bobby.

[J.D. Vance]

Yeah, we should have known that for the Senate confirmation hearings. But, yeah, I mean, Bobby's a good dude and he really cares about this stuff. And this is what you need. You need the will, you need the good idea, but you also need the implementation. I think the president's got the good idea. He's got the executive order, Bobby's got the implementation. So, like, look, am I going to tell you sitting here that all of our healthcare problems are going to be fixed in 12 months? No. Right. But do I think that this is going to make prescription drugs way more affordable over the long term? Absolutely.

[Theo Von]

Okay. Yeah. And I know a lot of people might be critical of this interview and stuff. It's like, I'm doing my best, Right. I'm trying my best, and maybe I'm just too hard on myself sometimes.

[J.D. Vance]

Why critical interview? Because I'm a politician. Like partisan.

[Theo Von]

Yeah. I think people expect. I don't know.

[J.D. Vance]

But you would have a Democrat on.

[Theo Von]

Huh? You would have a Democrat we got coming on.

[J.D. Vance]

Oh, nice. Okay, that'll be interesting.

[Theo Von]

But no, I never met him, you know, I'm saying we got him coming on. So it's like, yeah, I'm definitely trying to learn more about it, honestly.

[J.D. Vance]

He's a nice. He's a nice guy, but I.

[Theo Von]

But I think, yeah, I'm not a. You know, I don't know the history of. Of everything. Right. So it's like, I feel like we're just trying to do our best, and I'm trying to do my best with somebody who I consider a friend and. Yeah. And to learn it as we go anyway. Anything else particular that you wanted to say that you needed to get out to people?

[J.D. Vance]

I don't think so, man. I think we've covered a lot. Hopefully I didn't get myself in too much trouble here, but.

[Theo Von]

What are you talking about, dude? I think you're good. I'm trying to think of anything else, dude. But you think Trey Hendrickson will get signed?

[J.D. Vance]

That's the million dollar question. Or I guess the 50 million dollar question.

[Theo Von]

Are y' all gonna subsidize that? Is that part of the big.

[J.D. Vance]

That's actually unknown. That's a big part of the big. Beautiful. Is $30 million to the Bengals to help with salaries, cap space. I. I mean, look, so Hendrickson is worth it.

[Theo Von]

Dude.

[J.D. Vance]

Dude, he's. He's a generational talent. It's very hard to get a guy like that. It's kind of crazy how, like, I'm a big football fan, but edge rushers have become. It's almost like where left tackles were 10 or 15 years ago, where everybody just realized there's this really underpaid position. Yeah. That you got to have. And so, yeah, I think we're gonna have to pay Hendrickson. I hope so. If he's. Here's what I'll say to Trey. If you're watching this show, if you're a Republican, I will show up to a Bengals game and take a photo with you. If you sign on with the Bengals, and if you're a Democrat, I'll stay the hell away. Just sign with the Bengals because we got a chance, man. I keep. I say this every year, but with Burrow, with Jamar Chase, if we get our defense and offensive line, we could have a true championship run.

[Theo Von]

It's exciting. Well, I just appreciate you coming and spending time with man. Thank you very much to Bob Richie, Kid Rock for having us here today. And, dude, congratulations, man. I know you've had a very interesting life and just really cool. It's inspiring.

[J.D. Vance]

It's good to see you. Thanks for having me, dude.

[Theo Von]

You too, brother. Now I'm just floating on the breeze and I feel I'm falling like these.

[J.D. Vance]

Leaves I must be cornerstone oh, but.

[Theo Von]

When I reach that ground I'll share peace of mind I found I can feel it in my bones but it's gonna take.