By Andrew Wolf, Jr.
The Republican VP pick, JD Vance, has not always seen eye-to-eye with the former president, but now they’re united by a common goal.
Once a frequent, harsh critic of former President Trump, Vance, a Marine veteran, venture capitalist, and author, has become an arch-advocate of the 45th president. But now that he’s on the ticket, can he help propel Donald Trump into the White House for a second term?
JD Vance – A Tale of Hardships
Vance, 39, surprisingly appeared on Trump’s short list of possible picks along with entrepreneur Vivek Ramaswamy – himself a recent contender for the White House – and Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL). The junior senator from Ohio overcame incredible personal hardships to position himself just one election away from the second most powerful office in America.
Born into an impoverished, fatherless family and to a drug addict mother, Senator Vance made a critical decision in 2003, one that changed his life. He enlisted in the US Marine Corps fresh out of high school. The period that followed, which saw the young man assigned to the Public Affairs section of the 2nd Marine Aircraft Wing, marked what Vance called “the defining chapter” of his life. It was then that he first developed a sense of purpose.
Yet the man from America’s Rust Belt hasn’t always been a fan of 45. Indeed, Vance’s past comments about his now running mate have been just as caustic and cynical as some of what has been featured in the modern liberal media. “I go back and forth between thinking Trump is a cynical [expletive deleted] like Nixon who wouldn’t be that bad (and might even prove useful) or that he’s America’s Hitler,” Vance wrote back in 2016. “How’s that for discouraging?”
On another occasion, he wrote in The Atlantic that “Trump’s promises are the needle in America’s collective vein…Trump is cultural heroin. He makes some feel better for a bit. But he cannot fix what ails them, and one day they’ll realize it.”
But in a fashion characteristic of the “DC Swamp," where politicians regularly run their mouths, alliances – and, therefore, governing – would not happen if every single criticism were taken at face value. Given the controversial outspoken manner of Donald Trump, finding a running mate who never uttered a negative remark about him would be virtually impossible. Instead, it appears the former president essentially decided on someone who was young, energetic and shares his political vision – setting aside the personal attacks – as “politics.”
Yet Vance’s early remarks about the former president could also work to his advantage today. He likely will employ them to illustrate how he and so many other Americans misunderstood Trump and perhaps listened to the strident mantra of the media maligning the former president. Such comments will resonate with many, especially after the emotional upheaval from the attempt on President Trump’s life.
Points of Agreement
The issue upon which Trump and Vance most see eye-to-eye is the Ukrainian conflict, which can be compared to the name of a once popular movie in America, The Money Pit. And this view of Ukraine is not lost on others in DC. In early 2023, Vance and three dozen other Republican members of Congress forwarded a letter to the director of the Office of Management and Budget, demanding a full accounting of the military assistance provided to Ukraine.
(Photo by Anna Moneymaker/Getty Images)
So far, Uncle Sam has allocated $175 billion in aid to Ukraine, some $67 billion of which is defense-related, including expenditures for regional allies and the US military. The balance of the $100 billion supports Ukraine directly (state budget costs, pensions, military salaries, etc.).
One other financial note of agreement between Trump and Vance is they both believe the European Union must assume greater responsibility for its own security. Should former President Trump return to the White House, Washington could scale back its defense funding abroad.
“The United States has provided a blanket of security to Europe for far too long,” the senator from Ohio wrote in an opinion piece for the Financial Times, going on to describe America’s contributions to NATO and assistance for Ukraine as “an implied tax on the American people for the security of Europe.”
“The question each European nation needs to ask itself is this: Are you prepared to defend yourself? And the question the US must ask is: If our European allies can’t even defend themselves, are they allies, or clients?”
Another area where Vance and Trump have nearly identical views is the Middle East. It is now experiencing one of its most dangerous conflicts as Israel continues its war in Gaza against Hamas following the latter's deadly incursion into Israeli territory on October 7 of last year.
Vance has gone on record as saying that antisemitism must be prosecuted. “If you beat up a Jew and don’t face consequences, the attacks will continue and get worse,” he said in an interview with The Jerusalem Post in 2022. In response to antisemitic, pro-Palestinian demonstrations on university campuses, Senator Vance introduced a bill that would preclude federal funding to colleges and universities if they fail to remove disruptive encampments from their campuses.
It is certainly no secret that Trump is fiercely pro-Israel. In 2017, he formally recognized Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The move was viewed by the West (US, EU, UK) as disruptive. Moreover, it spawned violence in Gaza and the land of Judea and Samaria (i.e. the West Bank) where the Palestinian Authority proclaims East Jerusalem as the capital of a future Palestinian state.
One last distinguishing feature about JD Vance – which may work out to his advantage on the “ticket” – is that his wife, Usha Chilukuri, is the daughter of Telugu-speaking Indian immigrants Krish and Lakshmi Chilukuri. The political divide and cultural climate in the US are such that the idea of two Christian Caucasian men at the helm of America might be ameliorated by the presence of greater cultural diversity.
For those who think the comment above may be of no consequence, the organizers of the Republican National Convention certainly didn't. Consider the cultural display on Monday, where Harmeet Dhillon, a Sikh, began the evening by singing a prayer to her religion’s god. This was followed by a speech from former adult film star Amber Rose, who told the enthusiastic audience: “Donald Trump and his supporters don’t care if you're black, white, gay or straight, it’s all love.”
It seems that Donald Trump in particular and the Republican Party in general are sensitive to the need to not be viewed as a caricature of the false perception that the people who support them are white Christian voters only. Recent political opinion polls indicate otherwise. Many voters (black, Hispanic, Asian, Indian and white) will admire, and some even identify with, the background of JD Vance. One idea especially stands out: The senator from Ohio does perhaps support the idea of a degree of diversity in the Republican contingent for the presidency – culturally and socially.
~ Andrew Wolf, Jr. is director of The Fulcrum Institute, an organization of scholars dedicated to the classical liberal tradition. He has also been published stateside in American Spectator, The Thinking Conservative, and American Thinker, and abroad in International Policy Digest, Times of Israel, and The Daily Philosophy, among others.
