In an exclusive report at American Thinker yesterday, I broke the news that a highly placed reliable source had confirmed that Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance is former president Donald Trump’s choice for his vice presidential running mate. My source did not discourage publication of what s/he shared with me as long as I protected his/her identity as an anonymous source, which I did.
At 3:00 p.m. ET Thursday, in a “scoop” at AXIOS titled “Don Jr. to speak ahead of Trump's VP nominee at RNC,” Sophia Cai reported that evidence was mounting that Sen. Vance would get the nod as Trump’s VP choice.
Donald Trump Jr. is scheduled to speak right before his father's vice presidential pick at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Wednesday, Axios has learned.
Why it matters: It's the latest sign that former President Trump has zeroed in on Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) as a favorite contender to be his running mate, over North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.). . .
Don Jr. has an been early and vocal booster of Vance, and the convention's speaking order is the clearest indication yet that the 39-year-old senator could have the inside track to being named the GOP's vice presidential nominee.
At this point, we are all reading the tea leaves for clues as to former president Trump’s vice presidential choice. My source for yesterday’s blog on Vance cautioned that his/her information was current as of Monday July 8, while noting that Trump is known to frequently change his mind. For example, last month Trump told NBC News that he had decided on his VP choice. This month, he has been saying that he has yet to decide.
In an article yesterday, “The rise of JD Vance: From 'never-Trump guy' to potential VP pick,” ABC News appeared to advance speculation that Vance would be the VP pick.
Ohio Sen. J.D. Vance has come a long way since his memoir "Hillbilly Elegy" launched him into the national spotlight eight years ago.
And now Vance could reach new heights in his transformative career, possibly serving as vice president to the man he once heavily criticized, former President Donald Trump. . .
James David Vance grew up in a low-income family in Ohio. After serving in the Marines and graduating with a degree from Ohio State University, he obtained a law degree at Yale Law School. He then worked as a venture capitalist in the tech industry and in 2016 wrote a wildly successful memoir, Hillbilly Elegy, that was later made into a motion picture. In 2022, running as a conservative Republican with Trump’s endorsement, Vance was elected to the U.S. Senate from Ohio.
As ABC News noted:
During Trump's reelection campaign, Vance has been an active surrogate, attending campaign events, doing media hits and helping court wealthy donors for the campaign. Most recently, Vance attended fundraisers for Trump in Ohio and California. Vance also helped organize the June Silicon Valley fundraiser hosted by entrepreneur David Sacks and acted as the point of contact between Sacks and the Trump campaign. The fundraiser raised $12 million. . .
What Vance Could Bring to the Ticket [emphasis original.]
With Trump expected to announce his running mate in the coming days -- and Vance being one of the top contenders, allies of both Vance and Trump say Vance's ability to be an effective messenger for the campaign sets him apart from others.
"J.D. was always talented at delivering an effective message on TV and on the campaign trail, but over time, he just got better and better," said a close friend of Vance. "He's one of the few people I've seen in politics, who really has an ability to appeal to both working-class voters because of his blue-collar background, and also highly educated suburban voters because of his intelligence." . . .
An Ohio GOP operative told ABC News that Vance's background is critical to his effectiveness as a messenger for the Trump campaign. The operative emphasized Vance's background growing up in the Rust Belt and how it would be crucial in attracting those voters who have felt left behind by both parties.
"That experience that he had growing up in Appalachian watching the collapse of the Rust Belt… [his] book, it spoke to what was happening in American politics at that moment in time, in a way that nobody else really had captured, and he has lived that out …"
Peter Barry Chowka is a veteran journalist who has covered national politics and other topics for over five decades. His most recent interview on BBC Radio in the U.K. can be listened to here. His web page with links to his work and a bio is http://peter.media. Peter’s extensive American Thinker archive: http://tinyurl.com/pcathinker. His Twitter account is @pchowka.
Image: Gage Skidmore, via Wikimedia Commons // CC BY-SA 3.0 DEED
