J.D. Vance's unhinged support of Donald Trump is embarrassing| Another view

This opinion piece represents the collective viewpoint of the Akron Beacon Journal’s Editorial Board, which includes two editors and four community members.

Nobody expected Ohio's newest U.S. senator to shout "lock him up" this week after former President Donald Trump was indicted on 37 felonies accusing him of hoarding top secret documents and misleading investigators.

Republican J.D. Vance remains deeply indebted to Trump for endorsing his struggling candidacy last year during a crowded primary. There's zero doubt Vance would not be in Congress without Trump's loyal voters.

But that political reality does not excuse Vance's outrageous and irresponsible response to a legitimate indictment, especially his threat to slow down any nomination to the Justice Department requiring Senate approval.

"We have to grind this department to a halt until (Attorney General) Merrick Garland promises to do his job and stop going after his political opponents," Vance said in a Twitter video.

Yes, a "law-and-order" Republican is planning to harm law enforcement while backing a president who created this legal mess with his own deliberate choices.

Did Vance even read one word of the indictment? Charges could have been easily avoided with basic cooperation.

What if it were a Democrat?

Here's the test we believe every American should objectively consider.

If any federal employee with access to classified documents kept them at home after their employment ended, would you expect them to be returned? What about confidential business records for your company? Clearly the answer is yes.

If they refused, what would the proper recourse be? Perhaps a subpoena? If the person still worked to hide the documents, how could prosecutors ignore a continuous and willful effort to break the law?

Still not convinced? Substitute Hillary Clinton in this scenario for Trump. Would your position change?

No imagination is needed to describe how Vance would flip flop if any Democrat faced the same accusations. Vance would argue our national security was threatened by a reckless person. He would demand a full prosecution, a Senate investigation and rile up his base to defeat liberals. And he surely would say "lock them up" at a political rally.

Others face similar charges

Republican claims of a two-tier system of justice also ignore the facts.

Federal prosecutors regularly charge people with similar crimes involving classified government documents. As The New York Times reported this week, former CIA directors David Petraeus and John Deutch both were prosecuted for improperly handling classified materials. A former Air Force intelligence officer who cooperated with investigators recently received a three-year prison sentence for keeping hundreds of documents.

Surely Vance agrees with those prosecutions?

Clinton's foolish use of a private e-mail server during her tenure of Secretary of State was fully investigated and played a key role in her 2016 presidential loss to Trump. It was a colossal mistake, but there's no evidence she evaded investigators.

During the Trump investigation, President Joe Biden and former Vice President Mike Pence also found old top-secret documents and returned them, with the latter recently cleared by prosecutors.

But facts don't matter to a political hack such as Vance, the only Ohioan in Congress to vote against the debt ceiling deal earlier this month. We can only presume he's also willing to crater our economy to advance his political goals.

Vance's two-faced partisanship illustrates everything that's wrong with American politics today.

It's going to be a long six-year term if he can't put our country first.

Read the indictment

This opinion piece represents the collective viewpoint of the Akron Beacon Journal’s Editorial Board, which includes two editors and four community members.

This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: You should be embarrassed by J.D. Vance defense of Donald Trump| Editorial