Sen. JD Vance (R-OH), the Republican vice presidential nominee, was once a highly outspoken critic of former President Donald Trump, whom he is now partnered with on the GOP ticket.

In 2016, Vance even declared himself to be a "NeverTrump guy" and that he "never liked him," and now those prior statements have been remixed with a hip-hop beat into a viral TikTok post, according to the Independent.

Unfortunately for the creators and promoters of that video, and those who hope to drive a wedge between the two Republican candidates, Vance long ago walked back and apologized for his past critiques of Trump and Trump clearly has accepted Vance's transition into a staunch supporter and moved past their previous oppositional stance.

"I'm a NeverTrump guy"

In 2016, while promoting his "Hillbilly Elegy" book, Sen. Vance made no secret of his distaste for then-candidate Trump during an interview with the late Charlie Rose, and had no qualms about openly declaring himself to be a "NeverTrump guy" and how he "never liked" the brash businessman who would become president.

Those words were picked up and highlighted by popular TikTok DJ duo Casa Di, real name Carl Dixon, and Steve Terrell, who sampled and remixed the remarks over a hip-hop beat from rapper Petey Pablo and turned it into a viral hit that has reportedly been viewed more than 40 million times and borrowed as a soundtrack to at least 8,500 other TikTok posts.

@casadimusic Replying to @casadimusic JD Vance is a Never Trump Guy. Kamala Harris for President #nevertrumpguy #kamalaharris #Democrat #kamalahq ♬ Never Trump Guy JD Vance House of Evo Remix - CasaDi

In an interview with The New York Times about their hit, per the Independent, Dixon and Terrell noted the "melodic" nature of Sen. Vance's voice in the 2016 clip and explained, "We were like, what if we put this to a catchy beat or something?"

"When Kamala decided to start running, me and Steve were figuring out ways to encourage people to vote or be aware of what’s going on," Dixon added. This is our first time doing something as politically charged."

Vance's prior criticism of Trump is no secret

The thing is, Sen. Vance's evolution from a caustically outspoken "NeverTrump" critic to one of the former president's biggest supporters and current running mate is old news that has been covered at great length over the past month, certainly, but even over the past couple of years.

Axios, among virtually every other major and minor media outlet on both the left and the right, reported in mid-July on the plethora of old critiques from around 2016 of Vance using decidedly stark terms to describe his immense dislike of Trump.

Indeed, like so many other Trump haters at the time, the future senator who would be endorsed by Trump in 2022 compared him to Hitler, said his policy positions were "reprehensible," and even called him "cultural heroin," among dozens of other since-deleted or walked back complaints and insults.

Vance has since apologized; Trump seemingly unbothered

The Hill reported in July that Sen. Vance has on multiple occasions admitted he initially formed the "wrong" opinion of Trump and once explained in a CNN interview, "I didn’t think he was going to be a good president … and I was very, very proud to be proven wrong. It’s one of the reasons why I’m working so hard to get him elected."

As for Trump, when asked during a Fox News interview about the old remarks from Vance, he replied, "And originally JD was probably not for me, but he didn’t know me. And then when we got to know each other, he liked me maybe more than anybody liked me."

"And he would stick up for me. And he’d fight for the worker as much as I fight for the worker. We just had an automatic chemistry," he continued and added of Vance's best-selling book about growing up in poverty, "And it was all about the working men in women and how they aren’t being treated fairly. And he was right about that. And I understood that maybe better than anyone else. And we just have had a great relationship. And he had serious competition."