5 Excerpts From JD Vance’s Emails to a Transgender Classmate
A former Yale Law School classmate shared with The Times about 90 emails and text messages with Mr. Vance. Here are some of the most revealing moments in their correspondence.
Screenshots from the emails follow:
Oct. 23, 2014
‘I hate the police.’
In October 2014, in the wake of the killing of Michael Brown, a Black 18-year-old, by a white police officer in Ferguson, Mo., Nelson raised the idea of requiring that police officers wear body cameras.
Mr. Vance responded with sympathy for those upset by the police violence.
Dec. 9, 2015
‘What seems different to me is that the Republican Party offers nothing that’s as attractive as the demagogue.’
In 2015, Mr. Vance was opposed to Mr. Trump’s candidacy.
In December of that year, Nelson wrote to Mr. Vance that a Muslim friend had said that women wearing hijabs no longer felt safe doing simple things like going to the grocery store.
Mr. Vance responded, referring to Mr. Trump as a demagogue.
June 29, 2016
‘I recognize now that this may not accurately reflect how you think of yourself, and for that I’m really sorry.’
In his book, “Hillbilly Elegy,” Mr. Vance referred to Nelson as a lesbian, and later sent a note to apologize.
Nelson wrote back the same day, calling Mr. Vance “buddy” and thanking him for “being sweet,” adding, “If you had written gender queer radical pragmatist nobody would know what you mean.” Nelson asked for an autographed copy, then signed off with, “Love, Sofia.”
Sept. 22, 2016
‘The more white people feel like voting for Trump, the more Black people will suffer.’
In September 2016, Mr. Vance shared a piece on implicit bias that he wrote for The New York Times following Hillary Clinton’s ill-fated “basket of deplorables” comment, thanking Nelson in the email for helping inform his thinking in developing the essay.
Oct. 4, 2016
‘A morally reprehensible human being.’
As the 2016 election neared, Nelson wrote of plans to go door-knocking for Mrs. Clinton.
Mr. Vance, living in California at the time, wrote that “I’m counting my lucky stars that I live in a place where I don’t have to vote for her (because the margin will be so huge), because I know I could never support Trump if it really mattered.”
Still, like many, Mr. Vance predicted that Mrs. Clinton would prevail, and called Mr. Trump a “disaster.”
Cheers,
Ian