Yale Law Never Prepared J.D. Vance To Match Wits With A General

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JD Vance (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

Oh, what nonsense is J.D. Vance spouting now?

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The Yale Law School grad / author turned Ohio senate candidate is trailing in the polls, but that doesn’t mean he won’t take an opportunity to grab some attention. On Steve Bannon’s War Room Pandemic podcast, Vance went after Joe Biden for his attention to the seemingly inevitable military conflict with Russia:

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“I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine one way or another. I’m sick of Joe Biden focusing on the border of a country I don’t care about while he lets the border of his own country become a total war zone.”

World War 3 is SO passé, amirite?

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Don’t worry, General Barry McCaffery’s got this one.

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Boom. But Vance is not the type to take his lumps. He continued:

Oh, I have a feeling that going after a man that did four combat tours and earned three Purple Hearts, two Distinguished Service Crosses, two Silver Stars, and two Distinguished Service Medals isn’t going to end well for the man most famous for exploiting his own family for notoriety and a certain kind of conservative bona fides.

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First let’s dig into the claim that “Your entire time in military leadership we won zero wars.” Fact checked by Daily Kos:

Fact check. In February 1991, during Operation Desert Storm, McCaffrey commanded the 24th Infantry Division. The unit gained everlasting fame for executing the “left hook” 230 miles into Iraq, cutting the enemy’s retreat route, leading to their complete defeat. Historians will debate if the elder President Bush’s decision not to invade Iraq was the right one or not. But from a military perspective, McCaffrey did everything asked of him.

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And McCaffrey retired from the military in 1996  — as the youngest four-star general in the Army, no less — so though it’s an increasingly popular position in conservative circles to shit on the War on Terror, you can’t use that paintbrush on McCaffrey.

But really, the understated clap back glory belongs to the general himself.

I think it’s safe to say McCaffrey knows way more about public service than Vance ever will.

Listen, Vance has been striving for the moniker of worst Yale Law alum for a while. At this rate, he’ll have Oathkeeper founder, Stewart Rhodes, in his sights in no time.

Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of The Jabot podcast, and co-host of Thinking Like A Lawyer. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email her with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter (@Kathryn1).

Topics

Barry McCaffrey, Government, J.D. Vance, Ukraine, Yale Law School