(Milwaukee) He was chosen by Donald Trump to assist him in the campaign and will become vice-president if the Republican is elected: the atypical senator JD Vance is giving his grand oral on Wednesday at the Milwaukee convention.
The young Ohio elected official will deliver a speech to the world’s media during another prime-time evening of the party’s high mass.
The 39-year-old, a best-selling author, was thrust into the limelight when Donald Trump announced Monday that he was his running mate for the White House, ending weeks of suspense.
Faithful among the faithful
For a presidential candidate, this choice often responds to the objective of attracting new voters, or of compensating for weaknesses identified in terms of image or program.
JD Vance, an anti-establishment elected official from a modest background, with a unique background since he had a career in the army as well as in Silicon Valley, should reassure the party’s most right-wing voters, while Donald Trump is trying to make inroads among moderates.
In the American Senate, this tall, dark-haired man with piercing blue eyes has indeed distinguished himself by his fierce opposition to aid to Ukraine, demanding that these funds be allocated instead to the fight against illegal immigration.
If Donald Trump, 78, is elected, JD Vance will also bring a wave of youth to the White House as he will become the third youngest vice president in US history.
But one quality may have mattered more than anything in explaining his selection by the Republican candidate: loyalty.
Despite his past criticism of Donald Trump, JD Vance has made a complete turnaround to emerge as one of the most ardent defenders of the billionaire and his MAGA ideology, “Make America Great Again.”
On Saturday, just hours after the shooting of the former president, JD Vance accused President Joe Biden of having “directly caused this assassination attempt” with his rhetoric about the dangers of Trumpism.
Trump’s speech on Thursday
The attack unsurprisingly disrupted the Milwaukee convention, whose primary objective was to nominate Donald Trump as the Republican candidate for the November 5 presidential election.
The images of the septuagenarian, presenting himself with a raised fist and a bandage on his ear in a room carpeted in red and blue, are already historic.
Some of his supporters immediately followed suit, also walking through the aisles of the Milwaukee sports complex with a small white square covering their earlobes.
“I do this to honor President Trump and the sacrifice he is making for our country,” said Joe Neglia, a delegate from Arizona.
But the high point of this meticulously choreographed grand mass will come Thursday when Donald Trump formally accepts his party’s nomination.
The occasion for a spectacular celebration, punctuated by the traditional release of thousands of red, white and blue balloons.
It will be the first time the Republican has spoken on stage since he escaped the assassination attempt.
Barely after the convention, Donald Trump will fly to Michigan on Saturday, where he will hold a campaign rally exactly one week after the attack.
JD Vance will take his place on stage next to him.