VP pick Vance poised to take Trumpism into the future

17/7/2024 18:44

        When Senator J.D. Vance takes the stage at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee on Wednesday, he will be viewed by many Republican Party faithful as the newly anointed inheritor of Donald Trump's Make America Great Again movement.
        
        Trump's choice of the 39-year-old Vance, a fire-breathing populist, as his vice-presidential pick signaled the former president, 78, views his MAGA movement as something that could stretch beyond his own time in power. If Trump wins the Nov. 5 presidential election he can serve only until 2029.
        
        Vance's task on Wednesday and in ensuing months will be to reassure those dubious about his MAGA credentials of his bona fides while bringing voters skeptical of Trump into the fold, having once compared Trump to Adolf Hitler before his conversion to stalwart Trump defender.
        
        Erick Erickson, a prominent conservative commentator, believes Vance can thread that needle.
        
        "J.D. Vance can speak Trump to people who don't understand Trump," Erickson told Reuters in an interview. "He can explain his agenda."