Choosing JD Vance, Trump achieved two things. In addition to choosing a candidate who targets exactly the states he needs to enter the White House in November, he may have chosen his successor — the man who will carry out the MAGA agenda even after Trump’s political retirement.

On Monday, Google saw a record worldwide search for “J.D. Vance”, in various languages, after Donald Trump’s announcement that this Ohio Senator will be the Republican vice-presidential candidate in the upcoming elections. This choice can be seen as an unexpected, controversial, but also quite logical and pragmatic move. Vance (39) was once a harsh critic of the former president, but lately he is known as a young star of the Republican Party and one of Trump’s most loyal allies.

What does this choice mean for Trump’s chances in the upcoming elections? Some immediately said that it was a blow to the more moderate part of the GOP, which asked Trump to choose someone more moderate to be his running mate, someone who will attract voters of different races, use moderate language and be more acceptable to moderate and undecided voters. More precisely, they were looking for a man who can make a few thousand or tens of thousands of disappointed Democratic voters “turn a blind eye” to Trump and vote for a man who is acceptable to their value system.

After the announcement of the candidacy, many in the American political establishment believe that Trump chose himself, while others are of the opinion that with this move he “also chose a successor”. He chose a MAGA candidate, and thus, at first glance, closed the door to many votes that would come with a more moderate choice. That’s why many people asked themselves these very words: “Why does Trump do this nonsense?” Why is he “chasing off” potential voters?”.

A Pragmatic Move

The answer is quite simple: Trump doesn’t do stupid things. As someone who has been in business for more than half a century, Trump has calculated well what serves him and what doesn’t. For him, Vance is not an emotional choice or a Dorian Gray kid of look in the mirror, but just a number, and a way to win elections using every voting resource available to him.

Some say the attempted assassination played a big role in Trump’s election. Because if the bullet had gone a millimeter to the side, Trump would no longer be there, and that image and possibility is now painfully engraved in the brains of all Americans, especially the voters of the MAGA movement and the Republican Party.

Namely, Vance comes from the “rust belt” – an area of ​​America named after the rusty machinery that was once part of the now defunct factories – (part of this belt is in Ohio, the state that Vance represents in the Senate), and precisely this part of the American Midwest and ) has the key states of Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, and b) is full of disillusioned people who can’t wait to see “someone of their own”, who understands and supports them at the head (or close to the head) of the USA. Especially if that someone has a patriotic pedigree worthy of all respect, as is the case with Vance who served in the Marines, the most elite part of the US military.

Trump does not hide this, which is why in the announcement of Vance’s candidacy he wrote: ” He 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.. ” What do those who think that “Trump reacted emotionally to the assassination and chose a “successor” for himself, instead of making a rational choice with a more moderate candidate, say now?

But if anyone thinks they’ve completely missed the point — they haven’t. Trump really provided a double opportunity with this move. In addition to the candidate targeting exactly the states he needs to enter the White House in November, he may indeed have chosen a successor for himself, a man who will carry out the MAGA agenda even after Trump’s political retirement.

Bernie Moreno, candidate for senator in Vance’s Ohio, said perhaps the key words when it comes to voters identifying with the “new Trump”: “He knows what it’s like to live in poverty, forgotten by Washington politicians”. Moren’s formula is simple: reproduce what won Trump the election eight years ago, and pour a little of that elixir into the glass of the vice presidential candidate. We all remember how Trump effectively won the election when he announced in front of Hillary Clinton that ” the system is rigged, and that he knows it because he uses it himself, but that Hillary will never change it, because it suits her friends and financiers from Washington”. This political message began its life 8 years ago and entered the ears of all Americans who they can’t stand being made crazy by politicians, and that’s why Moreno played it safe, repeating the message that was so effective.

Vance is in every way the embodiment of the American dream: a complete outsider, rejected by everyone, with no chance of success, underestimated, but someone who fought (in Iraq, under the American flag), and fought for everything he has.

Some say the attempted assassination played a big role in Trump’s election. Because if the bullet had gone a millimeter to the side, Trump would no longer be there, and that image and possibility is now painfully engraved in the brains of all Americans, especially the voters of the MAGA movement and the Republican Party. Maybe that’s why “Trump instead of Trump” was elected, a 39-year-old who shares the main MAGA views, has an energy reminiscent of the original, and is ready to take over the leadership of the country as soon as tomorrow (in case something happens to Trump) in a way that implies continuity what people voted for.

Vance’s Life – Poverty and Abuse

Vance became famous in America eight years ago, when he published the book “Hillbilly Elegy”, about his (difficult) upbringing in the Appalachian Mountains. Vance’s parents divorced when he was a baby, he was adopted by his mother’s third husband, and his childhood was marked by poverty and abuse, as well as images of a drug-addicted mother. He and his sister were raised mostly by his grandparents, James and Bonnie Vance. Vance was able to overcome all of this, graduate high school, enlist in the Marines, serve in the Iraq War, and even graduate from Ohio State University in 2009 (Political Science and Philosophy) — sounds impressive and made for people whose voice is attracted by patriotism.

However, in the second half of the last decade, Vance became known, apart from the book, for his pronounced “anti-Trump” stance. He compared Republican voters’ enthusiasm for Trump to heroin addiction, wondered “if Trump is American Hitler”, called him an idiot, and said of himself that he is “a never Trump guy”. After the 2016 election, he stated that he did not vote for Trump, the candidate of his own party.

In short, he is in every way the embodiment of the American dream: a complete outsider, rejected by everyone, with no chance of success, underestimated, but someone who fought (in Iraq, under the American flag), and fought for everything he has. This is a man who says what he thinks, he is not ashamed to change his position when he realizes that he is wrong. Some would call this all pathetic, some would call it perfect political marketing, but it is probably true that this is about matching one’s biography with the wishes of the American voters.

As someone who has been in business for more than half a century, Trump has calculated well what serves him and what doesn’t. For him, Vance is not an emotional choice or a Dorian Grey kind of look in the mirror, but just a number, and a way to win elections using every voting resource available to him.

Did Vance know or get a signal that he was going to be the vice presidential candidate? Probably not, but he certainly helped himself in the last months when it comes to the nomination. He recognized that his position on abortion was quite radical for many who might otherwise have voted for him and Trump, so he tried to tone it down: while he called abortion “murder” in 2023, he now lowered the octave and praised Trump’s platform that the decision on abortion is left to individual states.

After fierce criticism of Trump’s policies, Vance even managed to “enter” the Trump family: he is one of the closest friends of Donald Trump Jr., who after the announcement that Vance would be a candidate for vice president wrote that “Vance is an amazing person who will help the country unite”. All these are still predictions, and we will find out the reality after the elections in the most powerful country in the world, in November 2024.

Featured image source: Rebecca Wright/CNN