Why no second chances for Vance?

The takedown of JD (James David) Vance by the US commentariat within hours of his nomination as the Republican Party’s Vice Presidential nominee for the November 2024 election was expected. The speed at which any semblance of restraint and balanced analysis has been abandoned in favour of a no-holds barred attack on the youngest ever veep nominee since Richard Nixon over 70 years ago was surprising, though. Why does he inspire such animosity from ‘liberals’?

His story is compelling and unusual, in the sense that poor white men, especially from the deliberately forgotten but vast Rust Belt of midwestern America are hardly ever the stuff of rousing narratives in the US today. In the era of DEI—diversity, equity and inclusion—Vance is an outlier. Yet his biographical book Hillbilly Elegy was a New York Times bestseller, giving an inkling that the US is not just the rainbow nation that some in the media likes to portray it to be.

All candidates in the fray to join the main contender on a Presidential ticket are not only minutely vetted, what they bring to a campaign is assessed intently. Donald Trump’s closest advisors must have scrutinised the pros and cons of the junior Senator from Ohio before bringing him aboard despite Vance’s triple disadvantage—being white, male and a conservative. His only saving grace in the grudging opinion of the partisan media may be his Indian-origin wife Usha.

But Vance actually does fit the DEI bill, though not in the way acceptable to the liberal consensus. He came from a poor family, had an addict mother and a broken home leading him to be brought up by his maternal grandparents, whose surname he later took. He beat the odds to excel in high school, served in the Marines (including a stint in Iraq in 2005), returned to graduate summa cum laude (with highest merit) from Ohio State University and then completed law from Yale.

As the sales of his book portend, Vance’s life story must be inspirational to many more Americans than mainstream media discourse may imply. It should be remembered that though the Black/African-American segment has a poverty percentage of 21% (in 2022), as over 70% of Americans are white, even a rate of 9.5% (also in 2022) in that cohort means there are more poor whites than poor blacks in the US. Yet they appear to be a forgotten political demographic.

Vance’s rise to the top in the Republican Party cannot but be heartening to that silent majority, whom only Trump has addressed in recent times. Making Vance his running mate reiterates his commitment. That at 39 Vance is a shade less than half of Trump’s age (78) and much less than half of President Joe Biden’s age (82) may also appeal to Millennials and those even younger. This year, GenZ and Millennials comprise 48.5% of eligible voters; by 2028, they will cross 50%.

The generational leap within the Republican Party that Trump appears to be effecting is significant given this statistic. More so if his young veep nominee also aims to become the party’s presidential candidate in 2028. The younger speakers at the Republican National Convention at Milwaukee after the delegates had confirmed the Trump-Vance 2024 ticket on Monday indicated that the mercurial presidential nominee has correctly read the straws in the wind.

Vance has much of the impulsiveness and spontaneity that appeals to the young. His unequivocal stance on Ukraine, for instance, might resonate among Americans who do not want continued US involvement there. Opinion polls tend not to accurately reflect the gamut of American society, but even so, support for Ukraine has declined to 58%, down from 66% approval in August 2022. On every aspect of the war, young Americans are less concerned than older ones.

His provocative statements may also appeal to young audiences. At a conference of Conservatives held in Washington DC last week (also attended by Indian delegates) Vance quipped, for instance, that Britain may be the “first truly Islamist country” to have nuclear weapons, now that the Labour Party is in government. The importance of Gaza (ruled by the Islamist Hamas) in the UK elections and the rise of a group called The Muslim Vote makes outright denials difficult.

Vance could be the proverbial stalking horse within the Beltway’s ossified political system in a potential second Trump administration, given that now aged 78 and having survived an assassination attempt, the protagonist himself is a visibly mellowed personality. If Vance is indeed a junior Trump, he can be guided to accomplish the latter’s project to transform the government and set the Republican party firmly on the Make America Great Again (MAGA) path.

No wonder Trump’s old foes within the Republican Party eco-system are being sought out to make critical comments on his veep pick. Hence, much publicity has been given to arch Trump-baiter Jennifer Horn, for example, who quit the party in her home state New Hampshire but recently posted on X, “JD Vance was the least experienced, least qualified, most obsequious, psychopathic, servile candidate on the list. Perfect choice for Trump. Rotten choice for America.”

That Vance will be given no quarter as the presidential race nears the last lap is also clear from the number of times his criticism of Trump—back in 2016—as being an “idiot”, “reprehensible” and even Hitler, is also being repeatedly brought up. The intention is obviously to sow discord and dissent inside an increasingly upbeat Republican Party that senses the Democrats are hamstrung by President Joe Biden’s stubborn refusal to step aside in favour of someone younger.

But that gambit could backfire, as former Republican presidential nomination contender Vivek Ramaswamy has pointed out. The very fact that Vance was not a Trump cheerleader in 2016 but came round to believing in him puts the young Senator in the best position to convince other similarly disinclined voters to change their views and votes. Interestingly, the Vances are friends with and Yale classmates of Ramaswamy, and one of their children is named Vivek too!

What the liberal potshot brigades have not perhaps considered is Usha’s role as Vance’s main counsellor and helpmate. Her being a registered Democrat (at least up to 2014) and a litigator in an avowedly “woke” law firm even as she fell in love with, married and supported an outspoken, conservative rags-to-riches Republican weaves a compelling narrative that there are no absolutes in life or politics. That is the message Trump would want the Vances to disseminate.