DONALD Trump has named Ohio Senator JD Vance as his running mate for the 2024 presidential election.
The announcement from the former commander-in-chief, 78, comes less than 48 hours after a would-be assassin fired nearly a dozen shots at Trump during a campaign rally in Butler, Pennsylvania.
As GOP delegates gather at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee to formally select Trump as the party’s presidential nominee, the former president unmasked his running mate in a post on Truth Social.
“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 said.
“J.D. honorably served our Country in the Marine Corps, graduated from Ohio State University in two years, Summa Cum Laude, and is a Yale Law School Graduate, where he was Editor of The Yale Law Journal, and President of the Yale Law Veterans Association, J.D.’s book, ‘Hillbilly Elegy,’ became a Major Best Seller and Movie, as it championed the hardworking men and women of our Country.
“J.D. has had a very successful business career in Technology and Finance, and now, during the Campaign, will be strongly focused on the people he fought so brilliantly for, the American Workers and Farmers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota, and far beyond.”
President Joe Biden released a campaign ad minutes after Trump’s vice president announcement, calling on supporters to help “protect democracy.”
“Here’s the deal about J.D. Vance. He talks a big game about working people,” Biden wrote on X.
“But now, he and Trump want to raise taxes on middle-class families while pushing more tax cuts for the rich.
“Well, I don’t intend to let them. And if you’re with me, pitch in.”
If Trump is elected president, Vance, who will turn 40 in August, will be one of the youngest vice presidents in US history.
Vance came to national prominence with his memoir Hillbilly Elegy, where he disclosed his troubled upbringing in rural Jackson, Kentucky.
He grew up primarily with his grandparents as his mother struggled with drug addiction.
In his memoir, he argued that a lack of personal agencies was responsible for economic suffering, drug abuse, and other struggles in white working-class communities like the one he was raised in.
Vance was once a fierce critic of Trump, calling himself a “Never Trump guy” in an interview with Charlie Rose in 2016.
Donlad Trump announced Senator JD Vance as his running mate on July 16. His statement read,
“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.”
“J.D. honorably served our Country in the Marine Corps, graduated from Ohio State University in two years, Summa Cum Laude, and is a Yale Law School Graduate, where he was Editor of The Yale Law Journal, and President of the Yale Law Veterans Association, J.D.’s book, ‘Hillbilly Elegy,’ became a Major Best Seller and Movie, as it championed the hardworking men and women of our Country.
“J.D. has had a very successful business career in Technology and Finance, and now, during the Campaign, will be strongly focused on the people he fought so brilliantly for, the American Workers and Farmers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota, and far beyond.”
He publicly said he did not vote for Trump in the 2016 election, saying, “I’m a Never Trump guy. I never liked him.”
That same year, he told NPR, “I can’t stomach Trump. I think that he’s noxious and is leading the white working class to a very dark place.”
Vance also wrote an op-ed for The New York Times titled “Mr. Trump Is Unfit For Our Nation’s Highest Office.”
He posted a tweet in 2016 after Trump’s Access Hollywood tape leaked, writing, “Fellow Christians, everyone is watching us. When we apologize for this man, lord help us.”
The Ohio Senator has also called Trump a series of harsh names and previously stated that voters were “idiots” for voting for him.
He referred to Trump as “America’s Hiter” in a Facebook message to an associate in 2016.
A spokesperson for Vance later said that the comment did not represent his views.
Vance changed his tune in the past few years, becoming a Trump loyalist.
He walked back his previous critiques of Trump and has continued to praise the former president during his presidential campaign.
During an interview on CNN, he told Dana Bash, “But, look, my view on Donald Trump — I have been very clear on this — is, look, I was wrong about him.
“I didn’t think he was going to be a good president, Dana, and I was very, very proud to be proven wrong. It’s one of the reasons why I’m working so hard to get him elected.”
Vance also publicly stated that Trump’s felony conviction for hush money payments during the 2016 election was a “sham trial.”
He added that the trial was intended to “interfere in a presidential election,” and fiercely defended the former president.
Vance reiterated a similar sentiment in a recent interview on Fox News with Bret Baier, stating, “Look – I was wrong about Donald Trump. I didn’t think he would be a good president Brett, he was a great president.”
“When you’re wrong about something – you should be able to change your mind,” he added.
Corinne “Corky” Haynes, an RNC attendee and Trump supporter from Phoenix, Arizona, told The U.S. Sun, “I’ve always liked JD Vance. Ever since Hillbilly Elegy.
“I think he knows the MAGA program. He’s relatable, he grew up from nothing like all of us did.
“He made something of himself, not like so many on both sides of the aisle that are elitist, that forget who they represent, and who the people are. That’s why we’ve been Trump since the get-go.”
Prominent Republicans and Democrats are sharing their opinions of the selection on X, with Elon Musk tweeting, “TRUMP VANCE, Resounds with victory.”
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