‘Wild to Hear’: MSNBC Anchor Stunned As Chuck Todd Says J.D. Vance ‘Ideology’ Belongs in Democratic Party of 1984

MSNBC anchor Chris Jansing was stunned to hear NBC News’s chief political analyst Chuck Todd describe the economic populism on display at the Republican National Convention on Monday as similar to the Democratic Party of 1984, which was running against Ronald Reagan . Todd specifically pointed to the nomination of J.D. Vance and a barn burner of a speech by Teamsters President Sean O’Brien as evidence that modern conservatism was officially dead.

The conversation kicked off with a political discussion about whether or not Vance on the GOP ticket is good or bad for Presiden t Joe Biden.

“Is J.D. Vance the best the Biden camp could have hoped for?” Jansing asked Todd.

“Well,if you believe in the Biden campaign’s theory of the case, is that they can create sort of this binary choice for the middle of the road voter, which is, hey, you may not love sort of our positions on X, Y, and Z, but look at how extreme the MAGA agenda is. And J.D. Vance is like a MAGA-plus type of mindset. So that’s what they want to do,” Todd replied, before discussing what Vance means for the Republican voters:

And the fact of the matter is, this is a this is what I think is the big story so far of this convention is – and we’ve been watching it grow – and the question has always been, is this Trump or is this going to be more than just Trump? And it’s pretty clear the eyes and the sort of throughline of Republican conservatism that began with sort of Eisenhower, the modern version of conservatism that you and I grew up with that began with Eisenhower, it’s time of death was basically when Donald Trump came down the escalator.

And, you know, if Vance if the Trump-Vance ticket gets elected, that wing of the party is going to be in the wilderness for a generation. And the question I have is, what happens to those voters? Where do they.

I don’t know if the Biden campaign is well-positioned to appeal to them, but they’re certainly going to try, because I think they see an opportunity here. And you’ve already seen some of it. I mean, look, JD Vance, the Teamsters president, last night, this is an ideology that would have been very comfortable in the Democratic Party of Walter Mondale in 1984.

“It’s wild just to hear you say that out loud,” Jansing replied as Todd added, “I know!’

Trump choosing Vance as his vice president has sparked lots of media speculation that corporate America may think twice now about supporting the GOP ticket. “J.D. Vance’s Selection as Trump’s Running Mate Frightens Business Leaders,” read a headline in Time Magazine , for example, while Semafor published an article titled, “Wall Street donors left with few palatable options after J.D. Vance pick.”

Watch the clip above via MSNBC.