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If there were any doubts that Donald Trump would put “America First,” he dispelled them on Monday with his vice presidential pick. JD Vance is the most prominent Trump supporter among high-ranking Republicans.
trumpet could have held his nose and chosen Nikki Haley, the former governor of South Carolina who gave him a run for his money in the Republican primary. Haley is a relatively moderate on abortion. Choosing her, or someone who shares her views, would have signaled that he wanted to broaden his appeal to swing suburban Republican women.
Vance, by contrast, is an unrepentant Christian conservative. If Joe Biden If there is a silver lining in the gathering clouds, Vance will be it. Biden’s vice president, Kamala Harris, is an effective advocate for women’s right to choose.
Vance Choice It’s a sign that Trump is feeling particularly bullish. Vice presidential picks rarely have a tangible impact on the outcome of an election. But they do signal what the nominee is thinking. Biden chose the young, mixed-race Harris in 2020 to balance the fact that he is an older, white man. Trump, by contrast, was so confident in his party’s support that he picked the closest thing to a miniature replica he could find.
Many will point to the fact that Vance was never a Trump supporter. In 2016, he told a former college roommate that Trump could be “America’s Hitler.” He said Trumpism was “cultural heroin” for working-class Americans. Democrats will try to capitalize on Vance’s past hatred of his new boss.
It’s ironic that Vance is at the forefront of those accusing Biden of inciting attempted assassination Trump last Saturday. Unlike Vance, Biden has never likened Trump to Hitler. It’s not hard to paint Vance as a high-level opportunist who sees subservience to Trump as the only way forward in today’s Republican Party. Vance also has deep ties to Silicon Valley money. His 2022 Ohio Senate campaign was largely funded by Peter Thiel, the West Coast venture capitalist and early Trump backer. Vance’s selection was greeted with a standing ovation from Elon Musk, a friend of Thiel’s who endorsed Trump just two days earlier after he narrowly won Pennsylvania.
It would be an incautious Democratic campaign not to exploit the tension between Vance’s blue-collar roots and his wealthy donors.
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But Vance is no pushover. Despite his change of heart on Trump, he is a smart and vocal advocate of Trumpism. At 39, he can also claim to be its future. No Republican senator has done as much to sell the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025, which details Trumpism. Vance checks all the boxes. He is a Christian nationalist, a critic of globalization, a deep-state skeptic, and a believer in the deep state he wants to dismantle. Haley checks none of those boxes.
His rise could be helpful to Harris if she can tap into his record of supporting a national abortion ban. That would also be good news for Russia’s Vladimir Putin. Vance has consistently opposed further US military aid to Ukraine. But he goes further than that. He is a loyal fan of Hungary’s Viktor Orbán and a darling of that transatlantic far-right circuit.
In picking Vance, Trump is implying two things. First, he hopes to win in November. Second, he wants to put his entire Maga agenda into action. Democrats will focus on Vance’s weaknesses and career opportunities, as they should. But they should also take note of Trump’s incredible sense of self-confidence. It’s not clear that it’s misplaced.
