Roving Periscope: Back in action, Trump names ex-critic JD Vance as VP pick
Virendra Pandit
New Delhi: Returning to the election arena triumphantly with a bandaged right ear after last Saturday’s failed assassination attempt, Donald Trump has named former “never Trumper” Republican and Ohio Senator JD Vance as his vice-presidential nominee, the media reported.
Vance, who was baptized as a Catholic in 2019, is anti-abortion. He has backed Protestant Trump’s repeated statement that the issue is a matter for individual states.
He is one of the youngest vice-presidential nominees in US history.
On Monday, Republican National Convention (RNC) delegates formally selected Vance, 39, after Trump announced on his social media platform he had chosen him after “lengthy deliberation and thought.”
Vance, married to Indian-origin attorney Usha, is a Yale-educated venture capitalist and author of the bestselling memoir-turned-film Hillbilly Elegy.
A known Trump critic earlier, he had once even suggested privately that Trump could be “America’s Hitler,” but has since become an ardent supporter, the media reported.
In the 2022 midterm elections, Vance won a seat in the US Senate with Trump’s endorsement – his first time being elected to public office. The former President’s support made him an ardent fan of Trump’s Make America Great Again (MAGA) campaign.
After his confirmation as Trump’s running mate, Vance targeted President Joe Biden, claiming that Americans elected an “empty vessel” in 2020 who is now “an incapacitated president.”
He claimed Democrats had lied about Biden’s failing health, and voters could “either reward or punish that behavior” in November 2024 when they vote.
Putting the record straight, Vance admitted he had said “bad things” about Trump, adding he was wrong.
A native of Ohio, Vance gained attention after the release of Hillbilly Elegy (2020), about his blue-collar upbringing and how it affected his politics.
Reciprocating this reconciliation, Trump said on the Truth Social platform that the Vance book “championed the hardworking men and women of our country.”
“As Vice President, J.D. will continue to fight for our Constitution, stand with our Troops, and will do everything he can to help me MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN, he announced.
Vance was confirmed at the RNC, which is taking place this week in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
He entered the venue on Monday accompanied by his wife, Usha, and greeted delegates as a country song played with the chorus “Let’s build America first.”
Addressing the crowd of Republican supporters in the basketball arena where the event is taking place, Bernie Moreno, an Ohio Senate candidate, said: “To JD, America First isn’t just a slogan. It’s his north star.”
“It’s an incredible pick,” said Donald Trump Jr, Trump’s son, at the RNC. “Truly a great choice.”
His choice came before the opening of the RNC on Monday, and two days after Trump survived an attempt on his life at a rally in Pennsylvania.
Reacting to the attempt, Vance tweeted that Democratic Party rhetoric had “led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.”
Trump said he will tone down his RNC speech and call for national unity.
According to the media reports, his choice suggests the former president knows that this election will be won and lost in a handful of industrial Midwest battleground states – Pennsylvania, Michigan, and Wisconsin.
In the US Senate, Vance has been one of the biggest congressional skeptics of aid to Ukraine. In recent months, he introduced bills to withhold federal funds for universities where students protested over the Gaza war or that employ undocumented immigrants.
In March, he sponsored legislation that would cut the Chinese government out of US capital markets if it did not follow international trade law.
He has also frequently appeared at Trump’s campaign events, and traveled to New York City to attend the former President’s fraud trial.
Attending the RNC, Ohio Lieutenant Governor Jon Husted called Vance came from a humble beginning and became “the living embodiment of the American dream.”
Trump and Vance will face the Democratic nominees, President Joe Biden and Vice-President Kamala Harris, at the November 5 general election.
Reacting to Trump’s choice of the vice presidential running mate, Biden criticized Vance as “a clone of Trump on the issues.”
The Biden campaign said that Trump picked Vance “because Vance will do what (Trump’s former Vice-President) Mike Pence wouldn’t … bend over backward to enable Trump and his extreme MAGA agenda, even if it means breaking the law and no matter the harm to the American people.”
