Five Thoughts on Trump Picking Vance as His Running Mate

This afternoon, former President Trump selected Ohio freshman Senator J.D. Vance to be his running mate on the GOP ticket. Here are four thoughts.

First and foremost, Vance started out as a Never Trumper who called Trump "cultural heroin" and "America's Hitler". However, Vance had a fix of Trump and cannot get enough while seeing fit to appease him. That makes him the worst kind of quisling of all.

Second, despite Trump's pledge to deliver a speech emphasizing "unity" on Thursday night, Vance pinned the blame for the attempted assassination of Trump over the weekend on President Biden and Trump has not signaled his disapproval. Why would he? While Adam Kinzinger and David Axelrod said Vance's blame of President Biden should disqualify him from a place on the ticket are forgetting we are talking about Trump. After all, scarcely a fortnight ago Trump accused Biden and the FBI of trying to assassinate him. So blaming Biden for the attempted assassination of Trump would be every bit a prerequisite as claiming the 2020 election was stolen. The only unity between Trump and Vance is one of demagoguery and division.

Third, Vance is about as pro-Putin as Trump with his vigorous opposition to military aid for Ukraine, opposing their membership into NATO and demanding they concede land to Russia. President Reagan would spin in his grave if he saw what the Republican Party has become where it concerns Russia. 

Fourth, Vance is an anti-choice fanatic who dismisses pregnancies arising from rape and incest as "inconveniences" while calling upon women to remain in violent domestic relationships for the sake of the children. Gee, sounds like a hell of a guy.

Finally, at least for most Republicans, it wasn't going to matter who Trump picked. They are with Trump all the way. The question is whether independent and swing voters are going to like Vance very much. Assuming Democrats aren't still bent on trying to drive President Biden from the race, it will be interesting to see how a debate between Vance and Vice-President Harris goes assuming a debate comes to pass. If I had to hazard a guess the more people see of J.D. Vance, the less they are going to like him. Then again one doesn't have to necessarily be liked to be elected. Vance also has time on his side. He turns 40 next month and he could be a prominent figure in Republican politics for decades to come.