Trump chose J.D. Vance for his veep? Who the heck is he?
It’s hard to believe it’d only been two days since Donald Trump, fresh off an assassination
scare last weekend, took a political flyer and named Ohio freshman (I mean really fresh) senator J.D. Vance to be his 2024 running mate. Political followers who monitor the news closely were no doubt familiar with the “Hillbilly Elegy” author and voice of today’s younger elected officials in the nation’s capital, but the rest of the country and world?
Not so much.
With the “mystery” surrounding Vance as the backdrop, Day 3 of the 2024 Republican National Convention convened in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, with anticipation at its highest possible level to discover what J.D. is all about and what he’d have to say. There was also the news that the current White House occupant tested positive for COVID earlier in the day and went skedaddling back to Washington from the campaign trail. Good stuff.
Unlike the first two convention days, which featured a number of prominent Republicans and a host of “ordinary” people who testified to the damage that president senile Joe Biden and his sidekick vice president cackling Kamala Harris have inflicted on the nation, the third evening – and a mere 24 hours before Trump himself takes the stage – was devoted to introducing Vance and beefing up the ticket’s policies in the foreign sphere.
“Make America Strong Again” was Day 3’s theme, and sure enough, the speaker line-up stuck to conveying the ways Donald Trump – and Vance – will return America to its traditional role as world leader and chief defender of peace and freedom while keeping the globe’s bad actors from being too ambitious.
Though the program was clearly designed to shine a spotlight on Vance, the so-called “undercard” of speakers wasn’t bad at all, beginning with the Gold Star families, those who’d lost sons and daughters in Afghanistan during the disastrous withdrawal orchestrated – or allowed – by the Joe Biden administration in 2021. Each parent or pair on stage carried a photo of their loved one and several told his or her story… and there probably wasn’t a dry eye in the place.
Because president senile Joe Biden had miraculously claimed during last month’s first presidential debate that no service members had died during his reign, the parents of one 22-year-old who succumbed in the heinous suicide bombing read the names of each of the 13 who are no longer with us. Very, very powerful. The delegates began chanting “Joe must go.”
The primetime hour – 10 o’clock EDT -- was kicked off by a 98-year-old World War II veteran from Wisconsin (William Pekrul) who offered, if Donald Trump were to win this year’s election, to “re-enlist” and he’d be willing to storm any beach that the president directed him to. He wouldn’t do it for Biden, though.
Donald Trump Jr. was assigned the task of leading into the concluding Vance portion of the program, but he shared his time at the microphone with his 17-year-old daughter Kai. The very precocious teen had wanted to talk about her grandpa and the fact that, to her, he was just a normal grandfather who calls her at school to ask her about her golf game – and talk about his. Can the Trumps get any more media savvy? Or good looking?
“To me, he’s just a normal grandpa. He gives us candy and soda when our parents aren’t looking…”, Kai explained. Sounds like an everyday grandfather, doesn’t it?
Vance himself was introduced by his wife Usha who he’d met at Yale Law School. Usha, the daughter of Indian immigrants, grew up in San Diego, and her loving tribute to her husband depicted him as a good man and father, ready to become vice president of the United States. Her love and pride in their family was evident for all to see.
Usha recalled how J.D. is the same person she’s always known. “Except for the beard.”
The RNC’s Day 3 was already a success before Vance arrived to run the final leg of the speaker relay. Very well put together.
J.D. Vance comes off as young but optimistic – and tough
The Republican party’s present circumstances certainly appear promising. But so does its future if J.D. Vance is any indication. It’s hard to conceive of someone so “ordinary” who has reached such heights – and has a stellar ability to describe what living the American Dream entails.
And Vance is a wonderful complement to Donald Trump, too.
I certainly did not detect anything from Vance’s speech that signaled major policy belief or implementation differences with Donald Trump, but would you expect one? The Framers of the Constitution left the vice president’s official duties purposely vague, perhaps not wishing to grant the second-in-line the power to make executive decisions on his own that could undermine the president.
To be frank, the vice president’s job, therefore, is to serve at the pleasure of the president himself and wait patiently to be called on to break ties in the senate and step-in to the commander-in-chief’s shoes if there’s a situation governed these days by the 25th Amendment. It’s been more of a last 40-50 years construct of the veep’s role that the man or woman acts as a right-hand advisor and unofficial buddy-in-chief to the one with all the constitutional responsibility.
How many times have we heard president senile Joe Biden describe the vice president’s role as “The last person in the room for major decisions.” Not to stray too far from the main point, but does anyone truly believe that Barack Obama had that much faith in Joe “never underestimate Joe’s ability to f things up” Biden to allow him access to real deliberations on strategy?
Therefore, the vice president is neither a powerless lackey nor a political slave under the modern conception of the office. It goes without saying that the vice president wouldn’t gain a whole lot by going public with grievances and critiques of the president’s decision-making, nor should he or she be over solicitous of the chief by nipping at his heels and portending to be there for all occasions and willing to go get the sandwiches and coffee if instructed to do so by the you-know-who.
In other words, don’t be like Joe Biden was to Barack Obama. Biden was originally selected because he was an old, white Washington swamp lizard who supposedly was in good with the traditional Democrat working class and would help the nation’s first African-American major party presidential nominee overcome the not-far-from-reality impression that he didn’t like common working folks in the rust belt because they “cling to guns and religion”.
Thus far, the super smart and imminently capable Vance didn’t hint that he’d act as an underling to Trump simply to be at the much older man’s beck and call. It certainly seems like Vance will fulfill an advisory and support role to the president while receiving on-the-job training into honing the MAGA message, perhaps to be Trump’s successor. Trump is roughly twice as old as Vance, something that could be awkward for the younger man if he were timid and easily intimidate-able.
Seeing Vance speak on the national stage on Wednesday provided the reassurance people may need that J.D. is up to the job despite his young age. As a point of comparison, I pointed out to several household observers that Vance is indeed a full year-and-a-half younger than current Joe Biden Trans Secretary Pete Butt, a feminine man whose face is so fresh that one is tempted to smack his hand with a ruler and give him detention in the corner if his behavior got out of line.
Thankfully, that’s not Vance. J.D. didn’t appear overwhelmed by the big stage, either, which helps, somewhat, to mask his lack of abundance of real political world seasoning. Think about it. If Trump and Vance wins in November and the vice president goes on to run for president and wins and serves two terms, the Ohioan will be term-limited out of the White House well before his 55th birthday. Actually, his 53rd birthday.
Dang, talk about early retirement with a heck of a pension and Secret Service protection (how valuable is it?) for the rest of his days. That’s Barack Obama territory by comparison.
But there’s a long way to go before talking about how old Vance will be when he retires. There’s a lot of fire and energy wrapped up in that barely middle-aged being, most of which would be directed at first helping Trump win his richly deserved second term and the balance committed to carrying out the MAGA agenda they appear to share. Senile Joe Biden, in an interview the other night, said that he didn’t see much issue difference between Trump and Vance. That’s a high compliment for J.D., isn’t it?
Would someone expect there to be a wide gap? Observers probably weren’t anticipating that Vance would delve deeply into possible distinctions between the two men’s abortion stances at the Republican National Convention. J.D. will likely face tons of questions about his thoughts on the matter in the coming months and he’s no doubt devoted much time to hammering out an answer that sounds a lot like, “Donald Trump wanted individual states to be able to decide the issue rather than the federal courts, and that’s where we stand.”
No vice president nominee would freelance on any issue, much less one that carries such gravity in this day and age like abortion does. Vance may be young but he certainly isn’t vain enough to believe he can say anything he wants on any subject. After all, it’s Trump whose signature appears on legislation and he’s the one who sets policy for the executive departments.
And there’s that accountability thing, too.
Thankfully, J.D. seems to understand his role. For this reason, most anti-establishment conservatives thought Vance was a solid choice for the presidential nominee in 2024.
It’s not to say there weren’t Republican detractors from Trump’s decision to add Vance to his ticket. Respected poll analyzer Sean Trende at Real Clear Politics wrote the other day that the Ohioan doesn’t help Trump and may even hurt him. In an opinion piece titled, “Trump's VP Pick Won't Help Him Win Election”, Trende argued on Tuesday:
“There’s not really much of a case that Vance helps Trump with non-white voters, though he may do no harm there.
“Then there are the suburbanites, whose defections in 2020 cost Trump the presidential election (and whose defections in 2022 cost Republicans control of the Senate). These voters are particularly concentrated in states like Nevada and Arizona (where supermajorities of voters live in suburbs). Vance’s brand of big-spending conservatism matched with culture warrior bona fides really does nothing to allay their fears about Trump. It may actually push them further away.
“In short, Trump could have opted for a big tent approach to the vice presidency. Instead, he opted for the pup tent. President Biden is unpopular enough that Trump may well still win this election. But Vance doesn’t make it any easier for the former president and is the rare vice presidential pick who might actually make it harder.”
Trende’s offered a lot of useful analyses over the years, but his piece on Vance doesn’t really add much to the mix now. To begin with, I highly doubt Trump selected Vance to run with him solely because he (Trump) felt that J.D. would help him win the election. No, Trump wanted someone who would help him govern, learn from the events and, back him on the important things when the going gets rough.
I think that’s called loyalty. Why do the Democrats and establishment media members only chastise Trump and the Republicans when the concept is in play? Does senile Joe Biden want cackling Kamala to be an “independent mind” on crucial topics? Nonsense.
Republicans, especially Trump, aren’t like Democrats in that they choose fellow officemates based on surface characteristics or where they’re from. Trump obviously didn’t need Mike Pence to win Indiana in 2016, did he? Vance was not so much a compromise pick as he was chosen to provide a stark contrast with ancient and obnoxious senile Joe Biden and cackling incompetent – and embarrassing – vice president Kamala Harris.
No one’s forgotten that age and competence are potentially ticket-killing problems for the Democrats. Even if Vance doesn’t bring in large blocs of voters, he certainly wouldn’t be worse than a “do no harm” choice.
Vance devoted the majority of his RNC speech to introducing himself and telling Americans where he’s been and where he hopes to go in the future – including ultimately to be laid to rest in the simple family cemetery when it’s his time.
In the process, he proved himself to be highly relatable and qualified. Very well done.
Will Vance help Trump with young Americans?
Even if it could be said, as Trende did in his column, that Vance doesn’t add much to Trump’s regional needs, J.D. could be beneficial in another area.
It’s always hard to tell what motivates young voters, but in reports I’ve read on them, one of the key factors the youngest generation cites is the ages of the two presidential candidates. I’m not sure why this would factor in, unless you’re talking about the doddering-near-the-edge-of-senility Joe Biden.
Cackling Kamala Harris will turn 60 in October, so she’s not exactly the demographic that Taylor Swift attempts to appeal to, either. So, relatability to the very youngest voters is still in question for Democrats.
But Vance and wife Usha have growing little children, so they understand the types of struggles young parents are going through these days, and the cultural issues the age group faces as well. As the first Millennial member of a presidential ticket, there’s no escaping the world that the generation confronts on an hour-by-hour basis. Social media is out there and can’t easily be tuned out, so the job of parenting is more challenging than it’s ever been.
Vance can likely also speak to the younger age groups about the pressures of finding good paying jobs, dealing with high interest rates when attempting to buy your first home and the awful inflation that is making it difficult to purchase anything in today’s world. Trump is great at talking about these subjects, but maybe having it come from J.D. would be even better?
Vance’s rags-to-riches personal story is another area where he’ll set a good example for younger voters, a good many of them discouraged from being saddled with student loan debt and a working world that’s demanding much more of them than they’d ever thought would happen.
Trump is more than capable of relating to everyone, including young voters. But having J.D. Vance at his side makes it that much more convincing.
Day 3 of the RNC was just as memorable as the first two and provided a needed glimpse of J.D. Vance
Seeing the immensely well put-together production of this year’s Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, it’s abundantly clear that much thought and talent went into designing a program that not only provides a snapshot of the party and its leaders – it showcased a wealth of talent for Americans to witness. It isn’t all about Donald Trump, but his leadership is essential.
Joe Biden economy
inflation
Biden cognitive decline
gas prices,
Nancy Pelosi
Biden senile
January 6 Committee
Liz Cheney
Build Back Better
Joe Manchin
RINOs
Marjorie Taylor Green
Kevin McCarthy
Mitch McConnell
2022 elections
Donald Trump
2024 presidential election
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