JD Vance, once a diehard Never Trumper, completes his MAGA metamorphosis

J.D. Vance drew on his Ohio roots in his highly anticipated speech at the Republican National Convention on Wednesday night, describing how his upbringing — which he called his “American dream” — made him the right man to join Donald Trump on the 2024 Republican ticket.

“Never in my wildest imagination could I have believed that I would be here tonight. I grew up in Middletown, Ohio, a small town where people spoke with their heads, built with their hands, and loved their God, their family, their community and their country with all their hearts,” Vance said. He added, “But it was also a place that had been forgotten and cast aside by the establishment in Washington.”

This sentiment dominated Vance’s speech, a tale of his childhood filled with “out-of-touch politicians” who made matters worse. Vance accused the president Joe Bidensaying, “Joe Biden screwed up and my community paid the price.” Vance used a populist tone throughout the speech, accusing those in power of neglecting communities like his, referencing trade policies like NAFTA and the war in Iraq. (Although, as he notes Aaron Blake of the Washington Postboth of which “have received more support from Republicans in Congress than from Democrats.”) Vance is particularly supportive of Trump’s economic agenda, which includes extending the former president’s 2017 tax cuts, the benefits of which, he noted this week, New York Times«disproportionately affect the wealthy».

Michael Tylerthe Biden-Harris campaign’s communications director, called Vance the “poster boy for Project 2025,” a radical conservative plan to remake government. While Vance “took center stage” Wednesday, he said, “it’s working families and the middle class who will suffer if he’s allowed to stay there.”

Tyler added: “Backed by Silicon Valley and the billionaires who bought his vice presidential pick, Vance is the embodiment of Project 2025, an agenda that puts extremism and the ultra-rich in place of our democracy.”

Trump revealed the 39-year-old senator as his vice presidential pick Monday at the start of the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, just days after a gunman attempted to assassinate Trump at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania. Before the suspect was identified or a motive was determined, Vance was quick to blame the failed assassination attempt on Joe Biden and the Democrats he works with in Congress.

“The central premise of Biden’s campaign is that President Donald Trump is an authoritarian fascist who must be stopped at all costs,” Vance wrote in X. “This rhetoric led directly to the attempted assassination of President Trump.”

Vance echoed his remarks during his speech on Wednesday, saying Trump had suffered “abuse, slander and persecution.”

“Look at what they said, they said he was a tyrant, they said he had to be stopped at all costs,” Vance argued. “Look at the lies they told you about Donald Trump, and look at the picture of him taking up the challenge, with his fist in the air.”

Before running, Vance was known for his best-selling American Elegywhich chronicled his childhood in Middletown, Ohio. In the book, Vance described his hometown as “a hemorrhage of jobs and hope,” and recalled how his mother suffered from drug addiction and went through periods of detox, forcing him to move in with his grandparents in tenth grade.

His mother, Beverly Vancewas in Trump’s VIP box, sitting next to the Speaker of the House Mike Johnson.

“My movement is dedicated to single moms like mine, who have struggled with money and addiction, but never gave up,” Vance began. “I’m proud to say that my mom has been here tonight for 10 years clean and sober. I love you, Mom,” he said, as a cheer went up in support of JD’s mom.

From 2003 to 2007, Vance served in Iraq as a U.S. Marine before continuing his studies at Ohio State University. His memoir also chronicles his rise from a young man from Ohio to a Yale law school graduate. Vance’s wife, Usha Vancerecalled their meeting at Yale during his presentation. He referred to him as a “working-class guy,” a “meat-and-potatoes guy,” and a “tough Marine” whose “idea of ​​fun was playing with puppies and watching movies Babe».

In his speech, Vance also focused on his empathy, taking particular care to launch an appeal to the swing states: “To the people of Middletown, Ohio, and to all the forgotten communities, in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania, Ohio and every corner of our nation, I promise you this: I will be a vice president who never forgets where he came from.”

After Yale, Vance pursued a career in venture capital, starting as a junior investor at Mithril Capital, which was backed by by Peter Thiel. Thiel later donated $15 million to his Senate campaign.

Other tech powerhouses have expressed their support for Trump in picking Vance. Elon Muskfor example, directly told Trump “that he should choose Vance as his running mate, describing the Trump-Vance combination as ‘beautiful,’” according to the New York Times. Even supporters of artificial intelligence (AI maxers), or those who are in favor of the continued development and diffusion of artificial intelligence, have expressed their enthusiasm, as reported by 404 Average.

Vance’s entrance on stage at the Republican National Convention last Wednesday symbolized the latest step in his evolution from self-styled “never Trump” to the former president’s right-hand man.

Two presidential election cycles ago, he was a vocal opponent, calling Trump “unfit for our nation’s highest office” and a “cultural hero.” In 2016, Vance’s former roommate and Georgia state senator Josh McLaurin shared an apparent screenshot of a conversation the two shared about then-candidate Trump. “I’m swinging back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical Nixon-like asshole who might not be all that bad (and might even be helpful) or that he’s America’s Hitler. Isn’t that disheartening?” Vance wrote.

Trump acknowledged Vance’s past criticisms when he endorsed Ohoi’s 2022 Senate bid.

“He’s the guy who said some nasty things about me,” Trump said at a rally at the time. “If I had followed that criteria, I don’t think I would have ever endorsed anyone in this country.” Vance responded: “I haven’t always been nice to him, but the fact remains that he’s the best president I’ve ever had.”

Vance spoke about Trump on stage Wednesday night, and his support has appeared unwavering in public appearances, a trait Trump wants in a teammate, and especially in a vice president.

In a February interview with George Stephanopoulos ABC’s Vance became visibly upset when the host asked him if he would certify the 2020 election. (Trump reportedly called the former vice president Mike Pence (A “sissy,” threatening him for not wanting to certify the results.) “Oh George, that’s a ridiculous question,” Vance said, adding, “Do I think there were problems in 2020? Yes, I do.” (Officials across the country have said they have found no evidence of irregularities that affected the election.) Vance also declined to confirm that he will unconditionally accept the results of the 2024 election, saying he will only do so if the election is “free and fair.”

After Trump announced Vance as his running mate, Biden’s team released a statement, saying in part that Trump chose “Vance as his running mate because he will do what Mike Pence would not do on January 6: bend over backwards to make room for Trump and his extreme MAGA agenda.”

Vance’s past comments and his Senate votes offer a glimpse of what might happen if Trump, and by extension Vance, takes office in 2025.

In February 2022, the same month Russia invaded Ukraine, Vance told the former Trump adviser and right-wing host Steve Bannon: “I have to be honest with you, I really don’t care what happens to Ukraine one way or the other.” Last December, Vance introduced the College Admissions Accountability Act, arguing that “the American higher education cartel has discriminated against applicants and students by adhering to racial preferences under the banner of ‘fairness.’” In an email this month, Vance told supporters that “we need to deport every single person who has illegally invaded our country.”

For years, some of Vance’s strongest opinions have been about gender, the role women should have in society, and abortion. In 2023, Vance introduced a bill that would make providing hormones or performing surgery on transgender minors punishable by up to 12 years in prison. “We’re effectively run in this country,” Vance began to support Tucker Carlson, “by a bunch of childless catwomen who are miserable.”

On abortion, Vance has said he would support a nationwide ban, saying in a 2022 podcast interview, “I would certainly like to see abortion illegal nationwide.” In 2021, he praised Texas’s near-total abortion ban and argued against exceptions for rape and incest, calling those experiences “uncomfortable,” adding that “two wrongs don’t make a right.”

Lately, Vance seems to be following Trump’s lead in trying to appear more moderate on abortion, even as the former president boasts of having suppressed it. Roe v. Wade installing three conservative justices on the Supreme Court. As he recently noted Bess LevinTrump’s messaging ahead of the election “is because he knows that extreme positions on abortion cost Republicans the election.”

In his speech Wednesday night, he did not mention abortion once.