Meanwhile, the country was being taken over in a firestorm of political rhetoric never seen in politics, as entrepreneur and TV personality Donald Trump won the Presidency on the heels of a campaign on populism, nationalism, and pure Americanism. From November 2016, Trump changed the political landscape in ways that had never been tapped into, revealing the silent majority of rural voters that helped propel him and his supporters to heights, federal positions, and ideological shifts unlike any other movement in American history.
Fast forward to the present year, an election year, 2024. On the heels of his attempted assassination, the 45th President and 2024 Republican Party Presidential nominee, Donald Trump, selected now-United States Senator from Ohio, JD Vance, as his Vice Presidential nominee at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
How the GOP got to the Trump-Vance ticket is no mystery. On the scope of two back-to-back losses to President Obama at the hands of moderates John McCain and Mitt Romney, the Republican Party had to shift in a new direction. While hardly anyone could have predicted that the most globally impacting campaign in modern world history would be led by Donald Trump and figures such as Senator Vance, that is precisely what transpired.
Vance began to rightly correct himself about his feelings on Trump as he entered office in 2017. Like many, Vance had been told by the media, the left, and many pundits that Trump was the next coming of Adolf Hitler when it could not have been any further from the truth. Not only did JD Vance come to appreciate Trump, but he quickly identified with the American nationalism that his administration was advocating for.
From anti-interventionist foreign policy, which he supported due to his experiences as a United States Marine Corps veteran, to President Trump's advocacy for bringing American companies back home and enacting tariffs on countries not paying their fair share to the United States, Vance began to align himself with the America First movement.
He not only openly supported Trump as he witnessed his Presidency but was so inspired by the 45th President's policies and messages that he declared a run for the United States Senate in the midterm elections of 2022. After winning both the primary and general elections on the backing of President Trump himself, JD Vance, the under-forty-year-old, Appalachian-raised Ohio native, was sworn into the United States Senate.
Since entering the Senate's chambers, Senator Vance has been a symbol of America First policy and an outspoken Trump ally. A strong voice in an ever increasingly weak congress, Senator Vance spoke out on issues such as legal and illegal immigration, anti-intervention overseas, anti-foreign aid, and domestic issues with no fear or shame about him. He consistently looks for solutions like mass deportation, protectionist reforms on foreign economic affairs, and pragmatism regarding organizations such as labor unions in blue-collar America. During his tenure, Vance has been the unique and lone bulwark that the legislative branch of the United States government so desperately needed and one that understood the often-overlooked plights of everyday Americans in a way no other politician in Washington could have ever begun to have understood.
Witnessing this, Trump has chosen a man as good electorally as he is morally and ideologically. A proud Christian and social conservative, Vance can relate to the party's evangelical base by using pragmatic approaches to social policy while still attracting independent and minority voters. From his roots and experiences, the Senator from Ohio can also speak to everyday Americans to understand the struggles of the working class because they are his people. From East Palestine to the hills of Kentucky, Vance can talk to any American and relate to their story while not compromising his promise to put America First.
In the aftermath of his attempted assassination in Pennsylvania on June 13th, President Trump needed to pick a man who would be as loyal to him as they were electorally viable. With Vance, Trump is getting the entire package. Young, well-spoken, relatable, and cunning are all words that describe the Senator to a tee.
The GOP has nominated two men who truly understand the working class and average United States citizens in a way no President or Vice President has prior.
A Trump-Vance ticket is needed to give power back to the everyday American.
