US, Trump has chosen his vice: bad news for Zelensky
Donald Trumpfresh from his official nomination as the Republican candidate, has chosen his vice president. It will be the 39-year-old James David Vance his right-hand man, the tycoon has disappointed the moderate of the party and launched yet another challenge, especially after the attack he suffered. In the business world – reports Il Corriere della Sera – there are those who would have preferred a “moderate” like the governor of North Dakota, Doug Burgumperceived as closer to Wall Street’s interestsor Senator Marco Rubio of Florida, with potential appeal to a segment of the Hispanic electorate and seen as an important voice on foreign policy in the Senate. Others wanted African-American Senator Tim Scottto target minorities, or a woman.
Senator Vance is the most ideologically aligned with Trump — his political rhetoric is deeply based on nostalgia for the white electorate — and is perhaps the figure best suited to enthuse the hard core of the Maga electorate (the acronym for Make America Great Again, Trump’s slogan) as well as representing his successor: it will not bring him new votes from undecided and moderatescritics note. But Don Trump Jr (the son) and Steve Bannon, the former strategist now in prison, are his strong supporters, because he strenuously opposed new funding to Ukraine and it’s in favor of higher trade tariffs.
But both before and after the Trump’s victory in 2016– continues Il Corriere – Vance was a Trump’s fierce critic: he once said that he had not yet decided whether Donald was “a cynical asshole like Nixon (who in the end is not so bad but can also be useful) or l’Hitler americano“. But when he decided to run for the Senate in 2022, Vance turned into one of Trump’s most loyal supporters: he downplayed the January 6, 2021 attack on Congress, questioned whether the life of the then vice president Mike Pence were at risk. At the annual Conservative conference in Orlandosaid he would advise Trump, if he became president again in 2024, to “fire every single bureaucratevery official of the administration, replacing them with our men.”
US: Who is JD Vance, Trump’s Vice Presidential Pick?
Vance made a name for himself with his bestselling memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” published in 2016 when Trump was first running for president. Vance was born and raised in Middletown, Ohio. He joined the Marines and served in Iraq, and later earned degrees from Ohio State University and Yale Law School. He also worked as a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley. Vance made a name for himself with his 2016 bestselling memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy.” After Trump won the 2016 election, Vance returned to his native home and founded an anti-opioid charity. He hit the speaking circuit and was also a featured guest at Republican Lincoln Day dinners, where his personal story, including the struggles Vance endured with his mother’s drug addiction, broke through.
Once elected to the Senate, Vance became one of Trump’s most loyal allies on Capitol Hill, tirelessly defending the tycoon’s policies and behavior. Kevin Roberts, president of the conservative Heritage Foundation, has called Vance a leading voice in the conservative movement. Democrats call him an extremist, citing the provocative positions Vance has taken but sometimes changed. Vance, for example, campaigned for the Senate, once backing a nationwide ban on 15-week abortions, but later softened his stance after Ohio voters overwhelmingly supported an abortion rights amendment last year.
Regarding the 2020 election, Vance has said he would not have immediately certified the results if he were vice president and that Trump’s doubts about the results were “legitimate.” In the Senate, Vance has sometimes taken bipartisan positions. He and Ohio Democratic Sen. Sherrod Brown co-sponsored a rail safety bill after the disastrous derailment in their state of East Palestine. His legislative initiatives include protecting the Great Lakes and supporting a bipartisan bill to help workers and families.
