J.D. Vance spoke to the nation for the first time as Donald Trump's former vice president on Wednesday, as he presided over the third night of the Republican National Convention.
Vance began his speech by praising Trump’s resilience after Saturday’s assassination attempt, suggesting that Democrat rhetoric was to blame for the shooting. “I want every American to go watch a video of a would-be assassin who was a quarter-inch away from taking his own life,” he said. “Think about the lies you’ve been told about Donald Trump, and then look at that picture of him defying it.”
“Now, consider what they said,” he continued. “They said he was a tyrant. They said he had to be stopped at all costs. But how did he respond? He called for national unity and national calm, literally after he had been nearly killed by an assassin.”
Trump may have told some interviewers that he wanted to unite the nation, but he has since continued his usual attacks on Democrats on Truth Social, criticizing Biden and the Democratic “witch hunt” campaigns and calling his opponents “communists.” Trump will speak at the Republican National Convention on Thursday.
The rest of Vance's speech was a mix of stories about his upbringing — which he chronicled in his best-selling 2016 memoir. rural elegy – And the usual talking points of the “Make America Great Again” program. He attacked immigrants, claiming that they steal jobs from Americans; emphasized the need to bring manufacturing back to the United States; and took a thinly veiled dig at NATO, saying, “We will have our allies share the burden of securing world peace.” He denounced the “deadly Chinese fentanyl” coming across the border.
“We are done, ladies and gentlemen, with catering to Wall Street,” Vance said. “We are going to stick with the working man.” He continued: “We need a leader who is not in the pocket of big business, but who is responsive to the desires of working men, union and non-union alike.”
Vance's populist economic message was more nuanced than much of the rambling rhetoric offered by speakers during the “Make America Rich Again” night at the Republican National Convention on Monday.
This pro-labor rhetoric may not be enough to achieve his goals. As an outside adviser who advises Trump on economic issues recently said: rolling stone The former president has been particularly critical over the past few months of the unusually pro-union National Labor Relations Board under Biden, adding that Trump agrees that the NLRB should be “pro-business” again as it was during his time in office.
Trump tapped the Ohio senator for his first term on Monday, ending months of speculation about who the former president would choose to join him on his 2024 presidential ticket. Vance, 39, has little political experience but has close ties to Silicon Valley while espousing far-right views — particularly on abortion — that align with the Heritage Foundation’s Project 2025 policy platform.
Vance may seem like an odd choice to many given his history of criticizing Trump. He has called the former president “harmful,” “idiot,” a “cultural hero,” and a “moral disaster” who could turn into “America’s Hitler.” Yet he stuck to the “Make America Great Again” slogan as he ran for Senate, received Trump’s endorsement and easily won the seat. He has been one of Trump’s most ardent supporters ever since, saying that unlike Mike Pence, he would have done everything in his power to stop the certification of the Electoral College on Jan. 6, 2021, if he were vice president at the time. Trump has now made him the heir apparent to his place at the top of the Republican Party.
Vance’s rise has been widely praised on the right, while Democrats have warned that his place on the ticket confirms that Trump is ready and willing to implement the kind of far-right agenda outlined in his 2025 bid. “Trump looked for someone he knew would be a rubber stamp for his radical agenda,” Vice President Kamala Harris said Wednesday. “Make no mistake: J.D. Vance will be loyal only to Trump, not to our country.” Biden campaign She replied Responding to Vance's speech on Wednesday, he called him “the symbol of Project 2025.”
Vance’s nomination as vice president also underscores that a second Trump administration would be a disaster for women. The former president is trying to campaign as a “moderate” on abortion, despite appointing three Supreme Court justices who helped overturn the high court’s decision. Roe v. WadeTrump, who had previously announced that he would end federal protections for abortion rights and allow states to ban the procedure, rather than support a nationwide abortion ban during the 2024 campaign, has instead declared that the issue should be left to the states.
like rolling stone Vance reportedly backed the idea of a nationwide abortion ban as he runs for Senate in 2022 on Wednesday. “I would certainly like abortion to be illegal nationwide,” he said, arguing that state-by-state regulations would not work.
“Let's say Roe v. Wade “This resolution was rejected,” Vance said on one episode of the podcast. “Ohio bans abortion… you know, in 2024. Then, every day, George Soros sends a Boeing 747 to Columbus to disproportionately load black women to get them to go get abortions in California. And of course, the left is going to celebrate this as a victory for diversity.”
He later described the proposed national ban on 15-week abortions as “perfectly reasonable.”
Vance did not mention abortion during his hour on stage Wednesday.
