FOR AS LONG as Donald Trump has dominated the Republican Party, much of the old establishment had assumed it could wait him out and eventually return to espousing Reaganite conservatism. After all, Mr Trump is a unique political talent but has not produced a consistent, comprehensive political programme. Yet the Republican presidential candidate’s choice of J.D. Vance, a senator from Ohio, as his running mate makes it much likelier that the MAGA movement will last beyond Mr Trump’s time in politics.

“I have decided that the person best suited to assume the position of vice president of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance,” Mr Trump wrote on July 15th, ending an Apprentice-style process of elimination. He added that Mr Vance “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…”

The 39-year-old rose to national prominence with his bestselling 2016 memoir “Hillbilly Elegy,” which was later turned into a film. Mr Vance grew up in a socially dysfunctional working-class family but quickly rose above his modest upbringing. He served in the Marine Corps and graduated from Yale Law School, eventually joining Mithril Capital, a venture-capital firm started by Peter Thiel, one of the founders of PayPal.