The Republicans who want to be Trump’s VP were once harsh critics with key policy differences

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WASHINGTON — It’s hard to refer to someone as “Hitler” and end up in their good graces, let alone potentially become the person they choose to help lead the country.

But Ohio Sen. JD Vance’s shifting position on Donald Trump over the years from onetime critic of the former president to staunch ally is a metamorphosis shared by many of Trump’s potential running mates.

It’s not unheard of for a running mate to move beyond past disagreements with a presidential candidate.

Joe Biden had a notably barbed exchange with Kamala Harris in 2020 when both were seeking the Democratic nomination. Biden picked her to be his vice president anyway.

But the shift is more striking for Trump’s potential running mates, in some cases requiring them to abandon long-held policy positions and recant vehement criticism.

Here’s a look at some of those shifts:

JD Vance

In a 2016 interview with Charlie Rose while promoting his book “Hillbilly Elegy,” Vance called himself “a Never Trump guy” and said of the soon-to-be-president, “I never liked him.”

He told NPR that year, “I can’t stomach Trump.” He wrote an op-ed for The New York Times titled: “Mr. Trump Is Unfit For Our Nation’s Highest Office.”

Vance said he didn’t vote for Trump in 2016 and his former roommate shared images of a text message Vance sent him that year in which he called Trump “cynical” and said he could be “America’s Hitler.”

But by the time Vance launched his campaign for Senate in 2021, his views were closely aligned with Trump’s. He met with the former president and quickly won his endorsement, gaining a crucial boost in the Republican primary.

Vance has said he “was wrong” about Trump. In an interview this month on Fox News Channel, he was asked to explain his past criticism.

“I didn’t think he was going to be a good president,” Vance said. “He was a great president. And it’s one of the reasons why I’m working so hard to make sure he gets a second term.”

Marco Rubio

Some of the Florida senator’s harshest comments about Trump came as they sparred during the 2016 race. Trump started calling him “Little Marco” and mocking him. Rubio insulted Trump’s makeup and the size of his hands.

Rubio called also called Trump a “con artist,” and “the most vulgar person to ever aspire to the presidency.”

This year, when ABC News played back some of Rubio’s comments from 2016, he responded by saying, “It was a campaign.”

He made similar comments to CNN, saying “That is like asking a boxer why they punched somebody in the face in the third round. It’s because they were boxing.”

Their relationship improved dramatically while Trump was in the White House. And as Trump has campaigned for the presidency a third time, Rubio has cheered his proposals.

In the Senate, Rubio had long been a prominent voice on immigration and was a key member of a group that worked on a 2013 bill that included a path to citizenship for millions of people in the country illegally. Now, Rubio says he support’s Trump’s plan to deploy the U.S. military to deport those in the country illegally.

Doug Burgum

The North Dakota governor ran against Trump this year, but dropped out in December and endorsed Trump before voting began.

Before that, Burgum had rejected the idea of partnering with Trump.

In an interview last July on NBC’s “Meet the Press,” Burgum, a businessman, was asked if he would ever do business with Trump, and responded, “I don’t think so.” He added, “I just think that it’s important that you’re judged by the company you keep.”

The next month, he told CNN in an interview that he would not serve as Trump’s vice president.

Burgum this year has become an enthusiastic champion of Trump and has leveraged his profile as a wealthy businessman and governor versed in energy policy to help the Republican secure millions in fundraising, especially from high-dollar donors.

Elise Stefanik

When the New York congresswoman was first elected in 2014, she was known as a moderate Republican with ties to the party’s establishment.

In 2016, she initially supported Ohio Gov. John Kasich’s campaign. When Trump was the party’s nominee, she didn’t say his name, only saying she would “support my party’s nominee in the fall.”

She became a more vocal supporter as the election neared but made it clear she disagreed with him at times. Those disagreements faded over the years.

Stefanik emerged as one of Trump’s most outspoken defenders during his first impeachment in 2019, and it’s a role she’s embraced ever since. When Republicans ousted former Rep. Liz Cheney from leadership over her criticism of Trump and his efforts to overturn the 2020 election, it was Stefanik they chose to take her place.

Her loyalty to Trump stood out in 2022, as the former president’s esteem within the party had deflated after he was absorbing blame for weaker-than-expected results in the midterm elections. Stefanik announced days after the election that she was endorsing Trump for president in 2024 — an announcement that came before Trump even said he was running.

Tim Scott

In 2016, the South Carolina senator initially backed Rubio in the presidential race and excoriated Trump for his reluctance to condemn the Ku Klux Klan.

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“If Donald Trump can’t take a stand against the KKK, we cannot trust him to stand up for America against Putin, Iran or ISIS,” said Scott, the Senate’s only Black Republican.

Scott still supported Trump in the 2016 election against Democrat Hillary Clinton, calling him the “lesser of two evils.”

Scott also criticized Trump after his comments equivocating about the 2017 white nationalist rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, saying that his “moral authority” was “compromised.” He met with Trump at the White House after. In an interview on Fox News Channel on Thursday, Scott said that he shared his perspective with the then-president in that meeting and from then on they worked to “find solutions together.”

“It was the Charlottesville incident that made our relationship what it is today,” Scott said.

Though he ran against Trump in the 2024 GOP primary, Scott dropped out and has become one of his most enthusiastic cheerleaders.

Minnesota United: ‘Brilliant’ midfielder Robin Lod selected for MLS All-Star Game

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Minnesota United’s training session Friday started like so many other practices: Players got a few touches in during a passing drill, following by brief instructions on the day’s tasks from head coach Eric Ramsay.

But there was a surprise brewing at the National Sports Center in Blaine.

Ramsay added: “And we have one more thing …”

Out walked midfielder Robin Lod’s wife, Janni, and their two young children — each wearing his black Loons jerseys. They carried another shirt with them which read: “All-Star” above Robin’s No. 17.

Lod has become the sixth all-time MNUFC player selected for the MLS summer showcase, the league and club made official in announcements Monday. Lod was selected by all-star coach Wilfred Nancy of Columbus Crew to be among 30 total players honored for the match against stars from Mexico’s Liga MX at Lower.com Field in Columbus, Ohio, on July 24.

“He’s been brilliant,” Ramsay said of Lod on Friday. “I’m really pleased that he is now getting the recognition that we as a group of players and staff here would give him. He’s not always able to play in the position he wants to play in, unfortunately, given how we’ve had to chop and change a little bit. But everywhere he has played, he has given his all.”

Primarily as a central midfielder, Lod has contributed to 48 percent of the Loons’ total goals this season (16 of 33), with five goals and a team-high 11 total assists in 1,286 minutes across 18 matches this season.

Lod has been key for the Loons since the departure of central attacking midfielder Emanuel Reynoso, who was so often at the center of MNUFC’s goal creation before playing only 30 all season and being transferred to Club Tijuana in May.

“(Lod’s) obviously got an incredible high level of quality — that’s shown in the goal involvements that he has had,” Ramsay said. “We are really reliant on him. I don’t think anyone can say any different or dare to in a sense. He is our most creative attacking player, and we are thankful that he has done what he has done up to this point because we wouldn’t be in the position we are in without him, for sure.”

With Lod leading, the Loons have 29 points through 20 matches and sit in seventh place in the Western Conference going into Wednesday’s home game versus Vancouver Whitecaps.

On top of the all-star nod, Lod also is a candidate for MLS comeback player of the year. His resurgence this season comes after tearing the meniscus in his right knee in May 2023 and missing the rest of that season. It was the first major injury in the 31-year-old’s career.

Lod, who is under contract through the 2025 season, is the Loons’ second-highest paid player at $1.6 million, according to the MLS Players Association. He is behind fellow Finnish player Teemu Pukki ($3.5 million); the Finns are MNUFC’s two Designated Players.

As MNUFC staff put together the all-star surprise for Lod, they reached out to Janni the day before to see if she wanted to participate.

“Never in 13 years have I kept a secret from him,” Janni told Ramsay after the announcement. “It was a tough 20 hours.”

Ramsay, Janni and a few surrounding staff members shared a laugh.

North stars

MNUFC players selected for MLS all-star games since 2017:

2024 — Robin Lod
2022 — Dayne St. Clair, Emanuel Reynoso
2021 — Reynoso
2019 — Romain Metanire
2018 — Darwin Quintero, Francisco Calvo

In St. Paul, minimum wage hike take effect: Rate for large businesses remains $15.57, $14 for small

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Minimum wage increases for large, small, and micro businesses in St,. Paul went into effect Monday.

For large business of 101 to 10,000 employees, the a hourly rate of $15.57 stays the same — it set at that amount on Jan. 1, 2024. For small businesses of six to 100 employees it means $14 an hour and for microbusinesses of five employees or fewer it means $12,25 an hour.

To determine the size of a business, employers must count all employees, whether employed full-time, part-time, jointly with another employer or on a temporary basis, including employees not located in the city.

The ordinance was signed into law y Mayor Melvin Carter on Nov. 14, 2018 following approval by the city council.

For more information on the wage go to stpaul.gov/departments/human-rights-equal-economic-opportunity/labor-standards-enforcement-and-education.

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St. Paul: Breakaway Music Festival draws fans — and noise complaints

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The Breakaway Music Festival, a two-day celebration of electronic dance music and the DJs and fans who love them, tuned up the area around Allianz Field in St. Paul’s Midway this weekend, drawing thousands of EDM enthusiasts in a variety of outfits — from a man dressed as a banana to some flashy ravers not wearing much at all.

It was the first major music event outside Allianz Field since the soccer stadium’s opening in 2019. Neighboring bar owners and others happy to see signs of night life in the Midway beyond soccer games celebrated the independent festival’s arrival. But for some homeowners, the bass was too booming, the beats were too loud.

The festival drew a flurry of complaint calls to police and city offices, with some residents at least as far away as Highland Park assuming there was a party going on nearby.

Ben Christianson, who lives near Portland Avenue and Pascal Street, turned on a white noise machine to get his small kids to sleep, but the sound of eff-bombs from enthusiastic DJs irked him enough on Saturday to inspire him to jump on a bicycle and head up to the festival himself to see if he could convince organizers to turn the volume down a notch.

“I just told them I was a neighbor and it was really loud, just asking if they could turn it down. I wasn’t under any illusions that they would,” Christianson said. “They reassured me that they were within their permit and I should follow up with the city if they had any concerns. I called the city and they said there wasn’t anything they could do. There wasn’t any recourse.”

“What really got me was you could hear the DJ interject every once in a while, using swear words,” Christianson added. “They were really dismissive. When I told them I had a 5-year-old, they told me ‘I’m sure he’s heard worse.’ I lost my cool a little bit. I’m sure he has, but it hasn’t been for hours and hours in our backyard.”

97 decibels at 50 feet

Headlined by famed EDM DJ Illenium, the outdoor festival featured more than two-dozen local and national acts, most of them DJs, from 4 p.m. to 11 p.m. on Friday and Saturday. No one besides event organizers testified before the St. Paul City Council on June 5 during a public hearing for a requested sound level variance. The city granted permission for “97 decibels at 50 feet from all sound sources during the event hours.”

The orientation of the stage and speakers, pointed south, likely had an impact on who was subjected to an unsolicited rave.

During soccer games, noise from Allianz Field tends to be muffled by its inset bowl shape — the playing surface is technically below ground — and by the architecture of the stadium itself. The festival, however, was situated in the parking lot and grassy area outside the stadium itself.

“I’m fine with it,” said Bill Childs, who lives in Mac-Groveland. “We live in a city. Did I love hearing it until 11 p.m.? No. That’s not the music I’m interested in seeing or hearing, but I’m excited to see activity in the city. That’s the trade-off for what I love about being in the city. It was loud, but I’m a season ticket holder to Allianz Field. It’s a big old plot of land that mostly sits empty. I assume a lot of those people wouldn’t have been coming into the Midway otherwise.”

A range of opinions

On social media channels such as X, Facebook and Reddit, St. Paul residents sounded off with their locations and a variety of reactions this weekend, ranging from outraged to supportive:

“Randolph and Snelling–Kept hearing a deep deep bass line as if a car was driving by with the subwoofer cranked.”

“Not a chance this was 80-90 decibels!”

“Whoever approved this one needs a talking to.”

“I live in Midway, it was music and not much louder than a soccer game or State Fair concert. Glad they are utilizing the stadium.”

“I thought there was a huge party going on behind my house so I called the police non-emergency line at 9:30 p.m. … I’m a mile away.”

“Is this ok??? This is NOT ok. Our whole house is shaking and it’s supposed to go until 11pm? Not ok.”

“Highland Park. It was pretty loud… but meh, I was young once and it’s summer. Enjoy it while you can.”

“Friday night heard it (in) Mendota Heights. Not as pronounced on Saturday.”

“We’re less than a mile from Allianz (south and east in Merriam Park) and it was barely noticeable except when outside. I’m early to bed and sleep with the windows open.”

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