MILWAUKEE: Donald Trump's vice presidential running mate, United States Senator JD Vance, presented himself to the nation on Wednesday (Jul 17) night as the son of a neglected industrial Ohio town who will fight for the working class if elected in November.
In chronicling his hardscrabble journey from a difficult childhood to the US Marines, Yale Law School, venture capitalism and the US Senate, Vance, 39, introduced himself to Americans while using his story to argue he understands their everyday struggles.
"I grew up in Middletown, Ohio, a small town where people spoke their minds, built with their hands and loved their God, their family, their community and their country with their whole hearts," Vance said, formally accepting the party's 2024 nomination at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. "But it was also a place that had been cast aside and forgotten by America's ruling class in Washington."
He accused "career politicians" like President Joe Biden - who Vance noted has been in politics longer than he has been alive - of destroying communities like his with ill-fated trade policies and foreign wars.
"President Trump's vision is so simple and yet so powerful," he said. "We're done, ladies and gentlemen, catering to Wall Street. We'll commit to the working man."
In a sign of his potential value to the ticket, Vance also appealed to the working and middle classes in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin specifically - three Rust Belt swing states likely to decide the Nov 5 election.
Vance's prime-time debut, less than two years after assuming his first public office, capped a meteoric rise that coincided with his transformation from a fierce Trump detractor to one of his most devoted defenders. He is one of several high-profile Republicans, such as US Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, whose reversals from critics to loyalists underscore Trump's takeover of the party.
For Trump's political opponents, his hold on the party portends a darker moment if he follows through on promises to vastly expand the power of the presidency, exact revenge on his enemies and threaten longstanding democratic institutions.
Author of the bestselling memoir "Hillbilly Elegy" Vance has helped to shape Trump's populist instincts into a policy agenda that would pull the US back from its dominant role in global affairs. As the first millennial on a major party's ticket, he is positioned to carry Trump's Make America Great Again movement beyond a potential second Trump term.
His speech embraced many of Trumpism's core tenets, promising to prioritise domestic manufacturing over Chinese imports and warning allies they would no longer get "free rides" in securing world peace.
Vance has opposed military aid for Ukraine and defended Trump's attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Biden. He has argued the government must do more to assist the working class by restricting imports, raising the minimum wage and cracking down on corporate largesse. Those positions, at odds with the Republican Party's traditional pro-business stance, nonetheless track Trump's program closely.
In chronicling his hardscrabble journey from a difficult childhood to the US Marines, Yale Law School, venture capitalism and the US Senate, Vance, 39, introduced himself to Americans while using his story to argue he understands their everyday struggles.
"I grew up in Middletown, Ohio, a small town where people spoke their minds, built with their hands and loved their God, their family, their community and their country with their whole hearts," Vance said, formally accepting the party's 2024 nomination at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. "But it was also a place that had been cast aside and forgotten by America's ruling class in Washington."
He accused "career politicians" like President Joe Biden - who Vance noted has been in politics longer than he has been alive - of destroying communities like his with ill-fated trade policies and foreign wars.
"President Trump's vision is so simple and yet so powerful," he said. "We're done, ladies and gentlemen, catering to Wall Street. We'll commit to the working man."
In a sign of his potential value to the ticket, Vance also appealed to the working and middle classes in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin specifically - three Rust Belt swing states likely to decide the Nov 5 election.
Vance's prime-time debut, less than two years after assuming his first public office, capped a meteoric rise that coincided with his transformation from a fierce Trump detractor to one of his most devoted defenders. He is one of several high-profile Republicans, such as US Senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, whose reversals from critics to loyalists underscore Trump's takeover of the party.
For Trump's political opponents, his hold on the party portends a darker moment if he follows through on promises to vastly expand the power of the presidency, exact revenge on his enemies and threaten longstanding democratic institutions.
Author of the bestselling memoir "Hillbilly Elegy" Vance has helped to shape Trump's populist instincts into a policy agenda that would pull the US back from its dominant role in global affairs. As the first millennial on a major party's ticket, he is positioned to carry Trump's Make America Great Again movement beyond a potential second Trump term.
His speech embraced many of Trumpism's core tenets, promising to prioritise domestic manufacturing over Chinese imports and warning allies they would no longer get "free rides" in securing world peace.
Vance has opposed military aid for Ukraine and defended Trump's attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Biden. He has argued the government must do more to assist the working class by restricting imports, raising the minimum wage and cracking down on corporate largesse. Those positions, at odds with the Republican Party's traditional pro-business stance, nonetheless track Trump's program closely.
