Donald Trump's allies are already second-guessing his decision to name Sen. J.D. Vance as his running mate.
The 39-year-old first-term senator is the least experienced major-party running mate in nearly a century, and the Trump critic-turned-Trump lieutenant adds little to the ticket – especially after President Joe Biden dropped out of the race and threw his support behind his own running mate, Kamala Harris, wrote MSNBC columnist Steve Benen.
"[Vance] has no accomplishments to speak of," Benen wrote. "He has a record of extremism on key issues. He comes from a state the GOP ticket was certain to win anyway. He actually hated Trump in the recent past."
"As the public was reminded at Vance’s first solo rally since joining Trump’s team," Benen added, "the guy doesn’t exactly radiate charm and charisma, either."
Trump was almost certain to win Ohio with or without Vance, who actually underperformed every single statewide Republican on the 2022 ballot by a large margin, according to a recent Washington Post analysis.
"So why in the world did Trump pick him as his new running mate?" Benen wrote. "Why choose a Republican with little appeal beyond the former president’s far-right MAGA base?"
The Republican presidential nominee was reportedly convinced, before Biden left the race, that he would win November's election in a landslide, so he tapped Vance as a show of strength to his already loyal base.
“[The] most striking thing I heard from Trump allies yesterday was the second-guessing of J.D. Vance — a selection, they acknowledged, that was borne of cockiness, meant to run up margins with the base in a blowout," said The Atlantic's Tim Alberta, who reported on the decision-making behind the selection.
ALSO READ: 'Keep lying': Late night Trump rant about Harris quickly turns against him
Democrats have been energized, at least for now, by Biden's decision to pass the torch to Harris, who is nearly 20 years younger than Trump, and the former president's allies are already suffering from buyer's remorse less than a week after the Republican National Convention.
"Oops," Benen wrote. "I’ve long argued that the running-mate selection is the most important choice a presidential candidate will make during his or her campaign. Trump did not choose wisely — and it’s apparently not just Democrats who’ve noticed."
