Jeff Swensen/Getty Images
- Former President Donald Trump picked JD Vance as his running mate.
- Vance was favored by the likes of Elon Musk and Donald Trump Jr.
- In selecting Vance, Trump has made clear he wants to cement his takeover of the GOP.
Former President Donald Trump is running like he has nothing to lose.
On Monday, Trump announced that he had selected Sen. JD Vance of Ohio as his vice presidential pick. In selecting Vance, Trump stiff-armed the establishment and Wall Street voices that settled on another finalist, North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum. Instead, the voices of Tesla CEO Elon Musk and Donald Trump Jr. held the most sway.
"I've seen him on TV," Trump Jr. told CNN on the convention floor shortly after Vance's selection was announced. "I've seen him prosecute the case against the Democrats. No one is more articulate than that."
While he was once an outspoken "Never Trumper," Vance is now the MAGA heir apparent. As the senator alluded to earlier this year, Trump can serve at most four more years as president. It means the 39-year-old is now in the prime position to cement the populist takeover of the Republican Party.
Trump's selection shows he is confident in his lead. In national polling, he is in the best place for a Republican presidential nominee in over two decades. His opponent, President Joe Biden, also threw the Democratic Party into chaos after a disastrous debate performance. It remains to be seen how the assassination attempt on Trump will alter the race. But almost immediately, Republicans have embraced Trump's defiant response.
Vance is a firebrand who rarely embraces subtlety. In May, he expressed skepticism that former Vice President Mike Pence's life was ever truly in danger during the Capitol riot. Hours after Trump survived an assassination attempt, Vance suggested that it was Democrats to blame for the shots being fired even before a suspect had been named or a motive identified. And yes, Vance once compared his now running mate to Hitler.
Like Trump, Vance has embraced conspiracies about the 2020 election. The Ohio Republican has also clearly stated that he would have done the opposite of what Pence did on January 6. A Vice President Vance would have allowed lawmakers to consider alternative slates of electors even if that meant that the certified election results of a particular state could be rejected.
President Joe Biden's campaign wasted no time tearing into Vance, illustrating the extent to which the president's reelection campaign may try to focus on him.
"Donald Trump picked J.D. Vance as his running mate because Vance will do what Mike Pence wouldn't on January 6: bend over backwards to enable Trump and his extreme MAGA agenda, even if it means breaking the law and no matter the harm to the American people," Biden-Harris 2024 Chair Jen O'Malley Dillon said in a statement.
Trump is betting that Vance will help him lock down states like Pennsylvania by extolling his blue-collar roots that were at the center Vance's New York Times bestseller "Hillbilly Elegy."
Vance was just sworn into the Senate last year. In terms of elected office experience, he would be one of the least experienced vice presidents in history.
Even in his short time in the chamber, Vance has staked out clear territory for himself. Among a group much closer to the Reagan-era GOP, the Ohioian has been an unrepentant populist in favor of protectionist trade policies. Like Trump, Vance has also strongly questioned sending defense aid to Ukraine.
Vance took his case against Ukraine aid to the Munich Security Conference in February. The gathering of the West's top defense officials was once a major stop for Sen. John McCain, who, more than any Republican, embodied the interventionist foreign policy that prized Europe's role in shaping the post-Cold War world.
In addressing the gathering, Vance said it was "time for a wake-up call."
Trump delivered one to the party he has forcibly molded in his image. Vance could make sure the GOP never goes back.