JD Vance is familiar to anyone tuned into US politics – to the population at large, perhaps not so much.
He’s the “Freshman” senator who ran with the crowd chasing Donald Trump’s blessing as VP, catching his eye, and kissing the ring.
As a process, it was the undercard of US politics – more of a “who’s that” than a “who’s who” of political wannabes pursuing the big stage.
So JD’s big night was one for proper introductions, to enhance his profile and frame himself as the man who would be vice president.
He told, and sold, the life story he’d already put in a book – an American tale of difficult beginnings made worse by the politics of Joe Biden who, he pointed out, had “been a politician in Washington for longer than I’ve been alive”.
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The 39-year-old father of three has youth and performance ability on his side.
He’s the Yale graduate who joined the Marines after 9/11, with a mother who conquered addiction and waved to the convention audience, “10 years clean and sober”.
If it reads like a downloadable CV, his opponents write a damning cover letter which casts Trump’s pick as hardline on abortion and with isolationist views on foreign policy that place him to the extreme right.
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Trump is counting on Vance’s rags-to-riches tale to connect with blue collar voters in the battleground states like Michigan, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin – all places where the election will be won and lost.
Time will test how the relationship between the two men evolves.
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Trump won’t have forgotten the “Hitler” and “cultural heroin” past insults from his running mate.
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The adulation from Vance in his speech reflected his course correction on the matter, and they will both hope his political epiphany on the boss presents an example to the “Never Trumpers” who have never turned.
