‘This Guy Is Not Authentic’: Jen Psaki Argues JD Vance Truly Wants To Be Tim Walz

Former White House press secretary Jen Psaki said on Thursday that vice presidential candidate J.D. Vance wants to appeal to voters in the same way as presumptive Democratic vice presidential nominee and Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz.

“Morning Joe” co-host Mika Brzezinski and Psaki argued Vance is being inauthentic by allegedly pretending to be a supporter of former President Donald Trump and appeal to his base, citing past comments he made about the former president. Psaki also said Vance wishes he could appeal to rural, centrist voters and be known in the same way as Walz.

“I think as soon as we saw speak at the convention, which fell completely flat, it was clear that he was not the sparkler that maybe people in the Trump campaign thought he was,” Psaki said on “Morning Joe.” “And Claire McCaskill said this thing the other day that I’m just going to steal and credit her for that I think really defines it, Tim Walz is who J.D. Vance wants to be, which is probably why Tim Walz is driving Donald Trump so crazy. He is legit, authentically a midwestern regular guy you can talk to in a hardware store. That’s not who J.D. Vance actually is even if that is who he presents himself as on paper.”

Brzezinski then cited Vance’s past criticisms of Trump, particularly during the 2016 election. Vance reportedly pondered whether Trump is “America’s Hitler” in a private Facebook message to a friend in 2016 and referred to himself as a “Never Trump guy” during an interview with Charlie Rose in that same year, according to Politico.

Vance said he regrets his past criticisms of Trump and has since referred to him as a great president, Politico reported.

“He was an anti-Trumper of the best order and so, I’m not sure how he figures out who he is at this very late date. It’s a struggle,” Brzezinkski said.

“Yeah, look, I think in