Vice President JD Vance jokingly slammed an interviewer as an “a**hole” for calling him an “intellectual” during an event hosted by the conservative think tank American Compass on Tuesday night.
The Hillbilly Elegy author-turned-Donald Trump bulldog was being interviewed by the think tank’s founder, Oren Cass, who worked on the presidential campaigns of the former Massachusetts governor and Utah senator, Mitt Romney, in 2008 and 2012.
The think tank hosted its New World Gala in Washington D.C. on June 3.
Cass noted that theYale Law School-grad Vance has written for the conservative magazine National Review in the past, when he was fiercely opposed to President Donald Trump. But Vance made a public turnaround and secured the president’s endorsement as he ran for Senate in 2022, and was selected as his running mate last year.
“We are thrilled to have you here,” said Cass at the black-tie event. “I am thrilled to have this opportunity to talk with you and so grateful that the work you’re doing and, in a sense, so in awe of it because there are politicians out there who are – they’ve just been politicians.”
“But you are someone who was an intellectual first,” he added.
“Some people don’t like the word ‘intellectual.’ But I mean it in the good sense of the term. You were writing for National Review. You were at the bar late at night arguing about and helping shape these ideas that you are now…”
Vance interrupted to express sarcastic outrage at Cass’s comments.
“I come here for free, and you insult me,” said Vance.
“And you call me ‘an intellectual,’ remind me that I wrote for National Review. What an a**hole this guy is!” he added to cheers and applause from the audience.
“That’s fair. I will admit that I, too, wrote for National Review,” said Cass.