 But an American lion got back up on his feet and he won! Scott was in the running to be the former president's running mate. Instead, he picked up Ohio Senator J.D. Vance, a man who once called Trump an idiot. J.D. Vance hasn't always been a fan of former President Trump, at one time describing himself as a never-Trump guy. He now says the Trump presidential years changed his outlook. The novel hillbilly elegy.