Former US President Trump won enough party delegates at the Republican National Convention on the 15th and was officially nominated as the Republican presidential candidate for the 2024 US presidential election. Trump also announced JD Vance as his running mate, pushing the senator who turned from a venture capitalist to the throne of the Republican presidential candidate. The populist politics he espoused won national attention and made him a rising star in the Republican Party.
Trump made the announcement on his Truth Social platform as the Republican National Convention opened in Milwaukee on Monday. "After long deliberation and reflection, and considering the tremendous talents of many others, I have decided that the best person to serve as Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance of the great state of Ohio," Trump said.
The announcement came 48 hours after a failed assassination attempt marred an already chaotic presidential campaign. Trump was wounded in the right ear during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on Saturday. One attendee was shot dead and two others were seriously injured. The gunman was killed by the U.S. Secret Service.
In the shadow of rising political violence around the world, the gunfire at the rally was a stark reminder of the importance of the vice president, who would take over the Oval Office if the president is killed or unable to perform his duties. Tom McLoughlin of UBS Global Wealth Management said: "This decision is crucial because one-third of American presidents in American history have served as vice president. Moreover, in this case, Trump's decision is actually to appoint Vance as his successor to deliver a populist message to a younger generation of voters."
Vance, 39, is nearly 40 years younger than Trump, 78, signaling a possible generational shift in the party and offering a new voice as the GOP strengthens its appeal to white working-class voters who have been the bedrock of Democrats in battleground states such as Michigan, Wisconsin and Biden's home state of Pennsylvania.
Trump bypassed many of his own senator colleagues in selecting Vance, including Tim Scott of South Carolina and Marco Rubio of Florida. Trump also ruled out North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum, a former technology executive with a strong donor base and popularity among Wall Street and business leaders.
Vance first came to attention in 2016 when he published his memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” which painted a grim picture of growing up poor in Ohio and sparked a national conversation about the challenges facing the white working class. He is the co-founder of venture capital fund Narya Capital Management LLC.
Vance was once a sharp critic of Trump, calling him "nasty" and accusing him of "leading the white working class to a very dark place," but he eventually came to terms with Trump, who easily won his home state of Ohio in the past two presidential elections.
It is worth noting that Vance is also a supporter of cryptocurrency. After announcing Vance as his running mate, Trump's chances of winning surged again on PredictIt.
Senator
Vance received the former president's endorsement and won the Ohio Senate seat from a field of Republican candidates in the hotly contested 2022 Senate election.
He is closely aligned with Trump on many issues that are critical to the Republican nominee. Isaac Boltansky, managing director of BTIG policy research, called Vance "a true believer in Trump's protectionist trade policies."
“From opposing U.S. Steel’s deal with Japan to being open to a weaker dollar, Vance is in lockstep with Trump and could bring new enthusiasm to Trump’s policy efforts,” Boltansky said, adding that his “protectionist stance” should play well in the swing states of Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin.
Vance has also been a vocal opponent of U.S. aid to Ukraine. He told Bloomberg News that Russia's recent missile attack on a children's hospital in Kiev did not change his views. "It's tragic and horrific, but it doesn't change my fundamental view that the United States has neither the ability nor the interest to respond to every tragedy that exists in the world," Vance said.
The senator's stance puts him at odds with much of the Republican national security establishment, as well as House Speaker Mike Johnson and Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell.
Vance has also called for firing dozens of federal workers and replacing them with Republican loyalists, saying in a 2021 interview that he would "fire all the mid-level bureaucrats, all the civil servants in the executive branch and replace them with our people."
The comments dovetail with proposals in Project 2025, a blueprint being developed by some of Trump's closest former advisers that calls for closing some federal agencies and replacing civil servants with officials seen as more loyal to Trump.
Trump's son, Donald Trump Jr., advocated for Vance's selection. The decision shows Trump Jr.'s influence over his father and the role he could play in a future Trump administration. Trump's daughter Ivanka Trump and her husband Jared Kushner served in official roles during Trump's White House tenure but have since stopped working on Trump's campaign.
Vance, who like other Republicans has been a staunch supporter of Trump throughout his legal woes, wrote in an article on X: "The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs, a rhetoric that led directly to the assassination attempt on President Trump."
Democrats' response
Biden slammed Vance, questioning the No. 2 Republican's populist stance and saying his campaign was economically harmful to middle-class American families.
Biden's campaign also pointed out that Trump had a falling out with his last running mate, former Vice President Mike Pence, because Pence refused to block the certification of Biden's victory in the election. On January 6, 2021, a mob of Trump supporters marched on the U.S. Capitol, and protesters chanted "Hang Mike Pence."
Biden campaign chairwoman Jennifer O'Malley Dillon said Trump picked Vance because he "will do what Pence will not do on January 6: obediently support Trump and his extreme MAGA agenda, even if it means breaking the law."
Biden called Vance a "clone" of Trump. "I don't see how they are any different," he told reporters as he boarded Air Force One before flying to Las Vegas on Monday. Biden posted on another social media that although Vance "talks about working people," "he, like Trump, wants to raise taxes on middle-class families while pushing for tax cuts for the rich."
Democrats are eager to portray the venture capitalist-turned-senator as a vassal of Trump and the elite in an effort to undercut the populist appeal he cultivated during his tenure in Washington.
“Trump’s vice presidential pick is great news for the wealthiest Americans,” Sen. Elizabeth Warren, a Democrat from Massachusetts, told reporters on a conference call Monday. “With Trump and Vance, there’s going to be an avalanche of cuts to Social Security and Medicare coming down on seniors.”
Democratic National Committee Chairman Jaime Harrison said in a statement that Vance "has supported and enabled Trump's worst policies for years."
Article forwarded from: Jinshi Data
