Republicans’ expectations were high when the party’s new star, JD Vance, stepped on stage at the party convention in Milwaukee, writes US journalist Juri von Bonsdorff.
Juri von Bonsdorff, reporter for the USA
MILWAUKEE Officially By JD Vance the task was to approve the party’s nomination for running for vice president.
In practice, this first-term senator, unknown to the general public, wanted to present his thoughts about the future.
The 39-year-old career cannon is considered a possible successor to the MAGA ideology and a smart man. He may also shape the movement’s future ideology.
From the point of view of Finland and Europe, what Vance did not say in his speech was noteworthy. He did not mention Ukraine a word. The Russian attack did not deserve a mention.
It’s not a coincidence.
From abroad, Vance blasted China because it threatens American jobs.
Russia does not threaten jobs. Democracy, yes, and the territorial integrity of its neighbors. But it’s not very high on the MAGA movement’s priority list.
To his allies, JD Vance sent a stern warning familiar from the Trump years. Everyone should pay more for their own defense. The time for free rides provided by the American taxpayer is over. At NATO headquarters, this sentence was certainly taken into account.
JD Vance is the epitome of the mythical American dream. He has traveled from rags to riches, and from the poor home of a drug addict and absent mother to the threshold of the White House.
Based on this background, he charged Joe Biden For the violation of the American heartland and the suffering of its people.
Jobs once fled due to free trade, he threatened. It was Biden’s fault. Cheap labor ruined the economy. That was Biden’s fault, too.
Lax border policies opened the door to synthetic drugs that kill working-class children. The responsibility for this also fell on Biden’s neck.
JD Vance’s speech was a love song to the miners of Kentucky and the honest scoundrels of the Midwest. For the men and women who, for Vance, represent America at its purest.
He made it clear that the United States is not a nation that relies on some abstract ideology, as Biden often says, but on concrete things. For people and their traditions.
Vance, who is married to a wife of Indian background, said immigrants are welcome – but only if they adapt to the ways of the country.
It’s clear that Donald Trump has chosen a vice presidential candidate who echoes his own attitudes and opinions. JD Vance isn’t expanding Trump’s base of supporters much. But maybe he doesn’t need to when the campaign of a political rival is in full swing.
It’s more important to find an over-the-top loyalist and a timid defender of your own thoughts. Trump has succeeded in that.