Donald Trump has picked Senator JD Vance from Ohio to be his running mate. Vance will be the first millennial to hold a major post among the Republicans.
He made the announcement on his Truth Social Network on July 15, just before the Republican National Convention started in Milwaukee on the same day.
“After lengthy deliberation and thought, and considering the tremendous talents of many others, I have decided that the person best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D Vance of the Great State of Ohio,” said Trump on his social media network Truth Social.
Vance formally received the nomination at the convention and he sat next to Trump who had a large bandage on his ear from the July 13 shooting incident.
Strong Trump supporter on trade, foreign policy and immigration
Vance was elected to the Senate in 2022 and is relatively new to national politics but is a strong supporter of Trump’s policy on trade, foreign policy and immigration.
He has also received quite a bit of flak for his post on X after the attempted assasination on Trump. Vance posted the following on X;
”The central premise of the Biden campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs. That rhetoric led directly to President Trump’s attempted assassination.”
Trump offered the job to Vance on the phone, 20 minutes before his Truth Social post, according to one source.
In an interview with Fox News’ Sean Hannity, he said he knew when Trump was calling that it would be big news but he didn’t know if it was going to be good or bad.
Trump believes that Vance will play a big part in securing the votes from Midwestern swing states like Michigan, Ohio and Wisconsin.
Ironically, Vance once called Trump a “total fraud”, “ a moral disaster” and “America’s Hitler.”
On the reason for his change of heart, he simply said that although he was sceptical of Trump in 2016, he had since changed his mind because Trump had delivered a lot of peace and prosperity during his administration.
Biden’s campaign manager, Jen O’Malley Dillon said in a statement that Donald Trump had chosen Vance as his running mate because he knows Vance would do what Mike Pence wouldn’t on January 6; which is to 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.