World

Republican Donald Trump Announced J.D. Vance as His Running Mates

Eight years ago, in the lead-up to the 2016 presidential election, J.D. Vance was a bitter critic of Donald Trump. But by the time the former president tapped Vance to be his running mate on Monday, the Ohio native had become one of Trump’s most ardent defenders, standing by his side even when other high-profile Republicans declined to do so.

James David Vance’s transformation – from self-described “never Trumper” to stalwart loyalist – makes him a relatively unusual figure in Trump’s inner circle.

Democrats and even some Republicans have questioned whether Vance, who wrote a bestselling memoir “Hillbilly Elegy” and is now a U.S. senator from Ohio, is driven more by opportunism than ideology.

But Trump, who survived an assassination attempt at a Pennsylvania campaign rally on Saturday, and many of his advisers see his transformation as genuine.

They point out that Vance’s political beliefs – which mix isolationism with economic populism – dovetail with those of Trump, and put both men at odds with the old guard of the Republican Party, where foreign policy hawks and free market evangelists still hold sway.

In particular, Vance’s vocal opposition to U.S. aid for Ukraine in its war with Russia has delighted Trump’s most conservative allies, even as it has upset some Senate colleagues.

Vance, 39, was born into an impoverished home in southern Ohio. His pick may help boost the Trump campaign’s Rust Belt bona fides in a race that will be determined by voters in a handful of battleground states, including nearby Pennsylvania and Michigan, though his conservative views may be a turn-off for moderate voters.

After serving in the Marine Corps, attending Yale Law School and working as a venture capitalist in San Francisco, Vance rose to national prominence thanks to his 2016 book “Hillbilly Elegy.” In that memoir, he explored the socioeconomic problems confronting his hometown and attempted to explain Trump’s popularity among impoverished white Americans to readers.

 

If you like this story then please support us by a contributing a small amount you are comfortable with.