At 12:42 this afternoon, the Vice President of the United States stood at the podium inside an airport hangar in Belgrade, Montana, with bleachers full of supporters behind him and a much thinner crowd of people on the floor in front of him. For nearly 30 minutes, he made racist remarks and bizarre accusations, engaged in fearmongering, complained about the weather, and shared how excited he was that a congressman had complimented his “beautiful blue eyes,” adding that the president, too, had been “noticing a lot about the physiques of everybody lately.” Then he said something he might not have meant to about the direct correlation between gas prices and Donald Trump: “They skyrocket every time some tin-pot dictator decides to throw a tantrum.”
What he said was even odder when you consider what CNN just reported: American forces in the Middle East are prepared to launch new, potentially major, military operations against Iran “within 96 hours of receiving” an order from Donald Trump. “It will be a big effort,” one U.S. official said, and the plans reportedly include strikes on a range of infrastructure, including nuclear sites. Officials in the report noted it was a question of when, not if, it would happen and said it could come any time before the end of the year. According to an Israeli security source, “The plans are ready, waiting for Trump’s approval, could be after the midterms.” The same reporting says Benjamin Netanyahu tried to convince Trump to launch a joint attack before the elections, and Trump did not give him the green light. Netanyahu’s office has called the report fake news, and Trump has reportedly not made a final decision. But it sounds like the next fuel increase could be right around the corner, maybe soon after the midterm elections, so the worst of the impact wouldn’t be felt until after Americans have cast their votes and the ballots have been counted.
The preparations being made are not being limited to the Middle East, either. Over the weekend, Fox News Digital reported on a Pentagon initiative called FORTRESS, which would require every major military installation in the continental United States to be able to sustain essential operations on its own for at least 90 days in case of a major war, with backup power, strategic reserves of munitions and fuel, and plans for civilian factories to shift to defense production. Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell told Fox, “The next conflict will likely be fought on multiple fronts.” The timing is concerning, and we have to ask the question of whether these preparations have anything to do with the military operations reportedly being considered against Iran.
Vance spent the rest of his half hour telling Americans who they should be afraid of. He repeatedly used the word “sovereignty” while talking about everything from immigration to housing and jobs, invoking America’s right to govern itself while making ordinary political disagreements sound like threats to our country’s freedom and independence. By using the word this way, he suggested that anyone who disagrees with his policies is somehow against America itself. He declared that “we have ended the tyranny of DEI and racial discrimination in jobs and in universities,” later describing diversity programs as “the bureaucracy of DEI and racial hatred.” He attacked transgender Americans, telling the audience, “In this state, we believe there are men and we believe there are women. And anybody who tells you that one can change into the other is a damn fool.”
But one of the strangest moments was when he declared, “I want a healthy two-party system. I want a system where people of different viewpoints can sit across the aisle because they believe in America and they can compromise on how best to serve it.” Less than ten seconds later, though, he accused congressional Democrats of not believing “in the United States of America” and spending decades teaching children to be ashamed of their country. Near the end, he warned Montana about “the crazy Democrats who are going to tear it down.”
The people he treated with the most contempt today were the ones who did the most American thing that there is; they protested. At one point, a woman in the crowd yelled “liars” before law enforcement officers escorted her out. Reports say three protesters were removed from this event, and that it was the sixth time this month protesters had interrupted one of his public appearances. Vance’s response to the increased discord was to tell the crowd, “You are going to have a few yahoos who pretend that the Democrats aren’t who they already have shown themselves to be,” and then to warn them, “Don’t judge them by the yahoos they send to protest our events.”
What I took away from this speech was what he said near the end: “the greatness of this place is something we inherit and something we have a sacred duty to preserve for our own children.” He then spoke about the generations of “ordinary men and women who took extraordinary risks on behalf of people they would never meet because they loved this country and they had faith in its people.” If only he were invoking those words for good rather than turning them into a weapon against his fellow Americans.
When those words are spoken by people who truly care about our country and what we will leave for the next generations, they remind us of the sacrifices made by those who came before us, the ones who crossed oceans chasing America’s promises and the ones who were enslaved and still fought for a freedom this country denied them. We are claiming the same inheritance. The difference is what we believe it requires of us. He uses it to draw the circle of who counts as American smaller and smaller, until it no longer includes Democrats, transgender people, protesters, or anyone who refuses to fall in line. We believe it demands the opposite. This country is big enough for us all. We, as a collective, are what truly makes America great. The Vice President does not get to stand in a hangar and declare that tens of millions of Americans do not believe in their own country, because loving America has never meant loving the people in power. It has always meant holding them to what this country is supposed to be and never surrendering it to the perverted version of America they want it to be.
Thankfully, more people are standing up and refusing to hand it over. A social media creator named Nick Pringle went out onto the streets of Michigan and asked voters a simple question about their state’s Senate race: Abdul El-Sayed or Mike Rogers, and why? What he was told, over and over again, was that this race is about the heart of America. “It’s just more about my morals and values, you know,” one voter told him after saying he would be voting for El-Sayed. Another said choosing El-Sayed was simply “the right thing to do.” Another explained that El-Sayed “cares more about Michigan and represents my values better,” and wanted “competent policies and things we actually want to see get done.” When Pringle asked one young woman which issue she cared about most, she answered, “All of them, including human rights.”
This focus on voting according to their conscience isn’t just happening in Michigan among Democrats and liberal-leaning independents. It is happening in Texas, too. Neil Bush, the brother of President George W. Bush, announced that he voted for Democrat James Talarico over Ken Paxton. “I have been deeply troubled by Paxton’s conduct as Texas Attorney General,” he wrote, adding, “My concerns about his judgment and conduct are hardly mine alone.” He pointed to Paxton’s 2020 lawsuit to overturn the presidential election, writing, “I believe that effort was an affront to our democratic institutions and the peaceful transfer of power.” His niece, Barbara Bush, the former president’s daughter, gave $2,500 to Lone Star Rising PAC, a super PAC supporting Talarico. These are people with deep roots in the Republican Party who are making it clear that their loyalty to their country and its democratic institutions matters more than their loyalty to a political party.
There are eight days left before Americans decide what kind of country we are going to be for years, and maybe decades, to come. We must shift our country back to one of decency and compassion, and that starts with voting according to our conscience and reminding others to do the same. We can’t live in a country or a world divided by hate coming from the very people who are supposed to lead it. America belongs to its people, including those who love it enough to tell the truth about what is happening to it, who keep showing up, and who refuse to give up on what this country is supposed to be. That has never mattered more than it does tonight. So vote, and bring someone with you. Drop off your ballot, call your friends, and talk to the neighbor who isn’t sure yet. We still have time to change the direction of our country, but that is going to take us standing together and never letting a president or vice president scare us into abandoning our values, our compassion and care for each other, or our responsibility to the generations who will inherit this country after us. That is why I still have hope for America. And you should, too.
I’ll see you tomorrow,
Heather
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This commentary represents my personal opinions and analysis of matters of public concern, informed by publicly available information. Any references to individuals constitute opinion and commentary protected under the First Amendment.
Picture of the day: Pete and I went for a walk today just to see the water because the colors were absolutely stunning. The pictures don’t even come close to doing it justice. I showed one of them to my daughter, and she laughed a little and reminded me that I used to not only write about travel, but I was the photographer, too. That made me stop for a moment and daydream about a future when I can dust off my “big camera” and take respectable pictures again. A time when I won’t have to spend nearly every waking hour listening to truly despicable people talk about how they plan to do even more damage to our country and the world. I know that day is coming!
Links to sources used in writing this article:
Full speech: Vice President JD Vance stumps for GOP in Montana: YouTube Video
https://wsvn.com/news/us-world/us-has-plans-for-major-iran-strikes-if-trump-chooses/
https://dailymontanan.com/2026/10/26/vance-visits-belgrade-stumps-for-alme-and-flint/
https://www.thedailybeast.com/vance-shouted-down-for-the-6th-time-as-hecklers-wreak-havoc
https://www.krtv.com/news/watch-live-vance-stops-in-belgrade-to-rally-for-montana-gop-candidates
https://nbcmontana.com/news/local/vance-to-headline-midterm-rally-oct-26-in-belgrade
https://www.kera.org/2026/10/16/barbara-bush-james-talarico-super-pac-us-senate/
We are all putting our lives on hold because our version of democracy feels subverted and stolen.
Historians will write thousands of words about the ease with which this man and his cadre of fellow travelers are destroying what we have.
If that sounds suspiciously like the language used by McCarthy, it should.
And we all should remember who he was and who Trump, Vance, Miller, Vought, and Bessent are.
May your return to your big camera come as peacefully and as quickly as you hope and deserve Heather.