Less than a year ago, people were still speculating about who Donald Trump would pick to be his running mate. When he finally announced that it was JD Vance, people on the right were excited or at least enthusiastic to learn more about the Ohio senator.
Over the summer, the Kamala Harris campaign tried to brand Vance as ‘weird’ but it didn’t stick, especially as people got to know Kamala’s running mate Tim Walz, who genuinely seemed weird.
Once the VP debate happened, any questions people still had about JD Vance were answered. He came across as a smart, decent man who was worthy of the public’s trust.
Two of Trump’s top advisers recently revealed some inside baseball about why Trump picked Vance in the first place.
The Washington Examiner reports:
Trump’s top advisers explain why Trump picked Vance: ‘Torch-carrier of MAGA’
Trump advisers Chris LaCivita and Tony Fabrizio said President-elect Donald Trump‘s selection of Vice President-elect J.D. Vance was a move for the future, in an interview that was the deepest dive inside the 2024 Trump campaign yet.
Fabrizio and LaCivita told Politico that Trump views Vance as the “torch-carrier” of the MAGA movement, and that he was a “deliberate” pick regardless of who the Democratic nominee for president was.
“They have a really good personal relationship,” Fabrizio said. “I think he sees JD — and I’m not trying to put words in the president’s mouth — he kind of sees JD as the torch-carrier of MAGA. This was a generational pick. This is, ‘I want this movement to go forward beyond me.’”
Vance has been known as Trump’s “envoy to Congress” in the weeks after the election, introducing Trump’s Cabinet picks to senators and relaying the president-elect’s feelings on the continuing resolution.
This explanation makes perfect sense. If the second Trump administration is as successful as people expect it to be, Vance will be well positioned to run as the Republican nominee in 2028 in order to carry on what started with Trump.
