On July 15, Donald Trump (*1946) made his VP decision, chose ideology over eligibility and picked Senator J. D. Vance (*1984) as his running mate. As potential VP, Vance would only be a heartbeat away from the presidency. He has only been a senator for roughly 18 months, and lacks executive experience.
JD Vance was born in Middletown, Ohio. He served in the Marine Corps in Iraq, attend Ohio State University and later graduated from Yale Law School, where he met his wife, Usha (*1986). His 2016 memoir, Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis (order the paperback from Amazon.com, Amazon.co.uk), became a bestseller and, in 2020, was even adapted to the silver screen. The movie was directed by Ron Howard, the adapted screenplay was written by Vanessa Taylor. It starred actors such as Amy Adams and Glenn Close.
In 2016, JD Vance had called himself a “never-Trump guy”, he had described the populist politician as “cultural heroin” and as “an opioid of the masses”. He even sent a text message to a former Yale roommate saying that he feared Trump could be “America’s Hitler”. But the man from “flyover country” not only converted from Protestantism to Catholicism, he also converted from never-Trump to MAGA cheerleader.
Today, J. D. Vance is an isolationist, who is skeptical of U.S. military aid to Ukraine. In the Senate, he was one of the few who, unsuccessfully, tried to block the famous $60 billion military aid package for Ukraine. In an April 12, 2024 NYT opinion piece entitled The Math on Ukraine Doesn’t Add Up, JD Vance wrote: “I voted against this package in the Senate and remain opposed to virtually any proposal for the United States to continue funding this war. Mr. Biden has failed to articulate even basic facts about what Ukraine needs and how this aid will change the reality on the ground.”
J. D. Vance is a protectionist who believes in tariffs, “broad-based tariffs, especially on goods coming in from China”, which he views as an unfair threat to American jobs and commerce. But the European Union would face tariffs too.
Without presenting any proof, Vance claimed that the 2020 presidential “election was stolen from Trump”. He called the the January 6th Capitol attack a riot, but he downplayed Trump’s role, both regarding the storm of the Capitol as well as the danger VP Mike Pence faced (people shouted “hang Pence”).
JD Vance rightly said that the climate has been changing for millenia. A fact. But he denied the role humans play today and he claimed that today’s climate change was not dangerous.
In the 2022 U.S. Senate race in Ohio, JD Vance said in a TV ad: “Joe Biden’s open border is killing Ohioans. With more illegal drugs and more Democrat voters pouring into this country.”
JD Vance welcomed the U.S. Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade. He is an anti-abortion hardliner, even in the case of incest or rape. The only exceptions he can see are for cases when the mother’s life is in danger.
JD Vance seems to be in sink with the Heritage Foundation’s Projet 2025. In the case of a victory in November, he asked for the firing of “every civil servant in the administrative state”, all to be replaced by “our people”.
Among the people pushing for J. D. Vance as VP were Donald Trump Jr., Eric Trump as well as the far-right “journalist” Tucker Carlson and entrepreneurs such as Elon Musk, Davis Sacks and Peter Thiel.
J. D. Vance and Peter Thiel have known each other for years. Vance worked in a key position Thiel’s Mithril Capital. They co-founded the company Narya Capital, together with people such as Eric Schmidt and Marc Andreessen. Thiel, Vance and others invested in the far-right video platform Rumble. In addition, Peter Thiel gave $10 million to an Ohio super PAC in support of J. P. Vance.
Since the failed assassination attempt, Donald Trump presents himself as a uniter, a fighter for democracy. In reality, for years, he has been stirring up hatred and, after the lost 2020 presidential election, he tried to overturn the result of a free and fair election and stay in the White House. Donald Trump publicly tried to push then Vice President Mike Pence not to certify that Joe Biden had won the 2020 presidential election and, in a recorded one hour phone call to Georgia Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger on January 2, 2021 he tried to push his fellow Republican “to find votes” so he would “win” the state of Georgia.
Already in April and May 2020, Donald Trump had encouraged “re-open” protests in states led by Democrats, including Michigan, where protesters managed to enter the State Capitol building which, in retrospect, looks like a blue print for the January 6 United States Capitol attack. Donald Trump belongs behind bars, of either a prison or a mental institution.
The far-right, Evangelical bigots as well as Trump himself think that God saved Trump (from the assassin’s bullet). When God enters the stage, (rational) arguments do not matter any more. In the case of Donald Trump, one has to add that he is a former reality TV star (The Apprentice) and a (MAGA) cult leader. His followers will follow him blindly.
When it comes to many issues, mentioned above, JD Vance is Trump’s Mini-Me. Just half his age. If elected, Vance is ready to govern another 10 years after Trump leaves office.
It’s up to the Democrats to replace Joe Biden, unfit to lead another term. Most American voters don’t want to witness the rematch Biden vs. Trump. One of the best alternative options offers probably the Governor of Michigan Gretchen Whitmer (*1971), who is governing a battleground state. Another possible candidate would be the Governor of California Gavin Newsom (*1967). In any case, it should be someone with a good record in an executive office, a centrist who can appeal to independents and moderate Republicans, who might otherwise not vote. Vice President Kamala Harris has no record, has remained pale and, therefore, is not a great alternative to the current president. If the Democrats stick with Joe Biden, we may well end up with Donald J. Trump and JD Vance.
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The official photograph of Senator J. D. Vance, 2023. Photograph: Unites States Congress (cropped via Wikipedia/Wikimedia); public domain.
Article added on July 16, 2024 at 22:11 Swiss time. Two details added on July 17, 2024 at 12:37 Swiss time.
