The 'Hillbilly' From Ohio Is Trump's Running Mate Now 
AInvestTuesday, Jul 16, 2024 2:02 am ET
4min read
ETY --

At the Republican National Convention held on Monday, former President Donald Trump was officially nominated as the presidential candidate for the third time, representing the Republican Party to compete for the highest power in the United States. In addition, at the convention, Trump officially announced his choice for Vice President - Ohio Senator James David Vance will serve as his running mate and join the charge for the White House.

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, Trump wrote on his social media platform.

According to sources, Donald Trump Jr., conservative media personality Tucker Carlson, and Vance's former boss & well-known technology investor Peter Thiel all played a key role in this final decision.

Who is J.D. Vance?

According to the official website of the United States Senate, Vance is currently 39 years old and comes from Middletown, Ohio - the entire town only has about 50,000 people and is located in the economically depressed Rust Belt. In 2005, Vance joined the U.S. Marine Corps and served in Iraq. After retiring from the military, Vance completed his studies at The Ohio State University and Yale Law School.

Vance's most outstanding achievement thus far should be his memoir Hillbilly Elegy written in 2016: This book describes his childhood growth experience and his family's values, which are considered to truly reflect the living conditions of the lower class in the Rust Belt areas of the United States and giving many people a new understanding of poverty in the United States.

This book even became The New York Times Best Seller at the time and was later adapted into a movie.

In July 2021, Vance announced his candidacy for Senator of Ohio, officially entering the political arena. On May 3, 2022, he won the Republican primary with 32% of the vote, and on November 8 of the same year, he defeated the Democratic candidate with 53% of the vote and entered the United States Senate.

Once A Trump Hater, Now a MAGA Believer

It is worth noting that before entering politics, Vance was one of the most hardline haters of Trump: In the 2016 presidential election, he was an important spokesperson for the Never Trump movement, repeatedly publicly criticizing and opposing Trump's policies - including but not limited to, describing Trump's policy proposals during the campaign as absurd and immoral, publicly describing Trump cultural heroin, an opioid of the masses, and calling the former president America's Hitler...

However, things took a turn in February 2018, after Trump had been president for a year, Vance began to think that Trump could promote his ideas, and believed that Trump is one of the few political leaders in America that recognizes the frustration that exists in large parts of Ohio, Pennsylvania, eastern Kentucky and so forth.

In the 2020 election, Vance changed his attitude from four years earlier and chose to publicly support Trump, while apologizing for all the criticisms and attacks on Trump he had previously made. Vance said that he thought Trump was a good president, and from October 2021, he has been supporting Trump's election fraud claim, and also publicly standing by the former president's side in this year's hush-money trial.

Compared with six years ago, Vance is now considered one of the core supporters and key inheritors of Trump's conservative MAGA ideology.

What does Vance's Nomination Mean?

As for Vance officially becoming Trump's running mate, the outside world's views can be said to be quite divided: In the view of the Republicans, the growth experience in the poor Rust Belt town and the identity of an Iraq veteran make him look like he can help Trump win the key swing state working-class voters in November. Moreover, his Indian-American wife Usha Chilukuri may even have the opportunity to help him absorb a wave of minority votes.

Some analysis also points out that Trump's choice of Vance, who is similar to his own political image and younger, is to hand over the keys to the MAGA kingdom to the successor in advance.

Ohio Governor Mike DeWine, with a Republican background, said at the Republican convention: Trump's choice of a young man is wise, and he (Vance) has the same view of the working class as Trump - they are both committed to reflecting the vision at the grassroots level and expanding the Republican Party's base at the grassroots level. DeWine also believes that Trump's choice of Vance is a great day for Ohio.

To the extent that he can do anything for the ticket, it would be to recapture being the voice of the American dream', said David Niven, an associate professor of political science at the University of Cincinnati. Columnist Ross Douthat also believes:  think his personal odyssey is inherently fascinating - from writing a best-selling book about working-class dysfunction that made him the toast of the establishment to deciding that the establishment was rotten and aligning with their great enemy, Donald Trump. In many ways, Vance is an avatar for countless Republicans who've significantly changed their assessments of Trump since 2016.

And as a political opponent, the Democrats' evaluation of him is more extreme. Biden publicly stated on Monday: He's a clone of Trump on the issues, so I don't see any difference.

Vance will do what Mike Pence wouldn't on January 6: bend over backward to enable Trump and his extreme MAGA agenda, even if it means breaking the law and no matter the harm to the American people, said Jen O'Malley Dillon, the chair of Biden's campaign, in a statement.

Meanwhile, as the opponent in the upcoming vice presidential debate, Kamala Harris did congratulate Vance by phone on Monday - although the call did not get through. According to the Biden team, Vice President Harris left a voice message for Vance, congratulating him on his nomination and expressing her hope for Vance to participate in the upcoming vice presidential debate and looking forward to the exchange.

Vance Also Has His Meme stock?

In fact, in addition to being a writer, senator, and veteran, venture capitalist is also another identity of Vance. His venture capital firm Narya Capital has invested in the Canadian video platform Rumble, which has also seen a surge in stock prices after Vance was nominated.

As of the close on Monday, the company's stock price rose by more than 20%, with more than 15.5 million shares of RUM traded on the Nasdaq, which is 15.6 times its three-month daily moving average. And Vance's investment of $300,000 on the platform is now worth as much as $1.5 million.

And Trump's Trump Media & Technology Group (DJT) stock also rose by 32% on Monday.

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