Former President Donald Trump, who has been the presumptive Republican nominee for months, received enough delegate votes on Monday to officially become the party’s nominee.
Earlier on Monday, Trump announced that he has chosen JD Vance, a US Republican senator from Ohio, as his running mate on Monday, ending months of speculation on his vice president pick.
After surviving an assassination attempt on Saturday, loyalty became Trump’s priority when choosing a running mate and picking Vance signals that Trump has forged an alliance with technology circles, and may advocate more aggressive tech policies during campaign, said observers.
“After lengthy deliberation and thought, and considering the tremendous talents of many others, I have decided that the person best suited to assume the position of Vice President of the United States is Senator J.D. Vance of the Great State of Ohio,” Trump said in a statement on Truth Social.
Trump added that Vance “will be strongly focused on the people he fought so brilliantly for, the American Workers and Farmers in Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Ohio, Minnesota, and far beyond…”
Vance later said on X that “What an honor it is to run alongside President Donald J. Trump. He delivered peace and prosperity once, and with your help, he’ll do it again. Onward to victory!”
Before running for office, Vance, 39, was known as the author of Hillbilly Elegy, a best-selling memoir recounting his upbringing in a poor family that also served as a sociological examination of white working-class Americans. The book was published the summer before Trump’s election in 2016, and many readers looked to it after his victory as a sort of guide to understanding Trump’s support among white working-class communities, according to The New York Times.
However, Vance is on record as having harshly denounced Trump during his 2016 campaign. But by 2022, he had embraced Trump, winning a Republican Senate primary with his backing and becoming a reliable pro-Trump voice in Congress, according to the report.
US President Joe Biden on Monday labeled Vance as a “clone” of the Republican former president. “A clone of Trump on the issues,” Biden told reporters before flying to Nevada when asked about the Ohio senator. “I don’t see any difference,” according to media reports.
Loyalty and having a successor to carry the “Make America Great Again” (MAGA) base within the Republican party made Vance Trump’s chosen one, especially after the shock gun attack on the former president on the weekend, Shen Yi, a professor at Fudan University, told the Global Times.
The shooting pierced through the facade of civilized elections, thus Trump now prioritizes loyalty more than anything in picking a running mate. Moreover, Vance, deemed as a “clone” of the former president, will not hold him back, Shen said.
At 39, Vance is decades younger than the 78-year-old Trump, which makes him suitable to be the inheritor to double-down with the MAGA base within the Republican party, Shen said.
Silicon Valley’s Trump backers cheered Trump’s picking of Vance as his running mate. Elon Musk called the decision a “great choice” and said the lineup “resounds with victory” on X. David Sacks, an investor and Trump supporter scheduled to speak at the GOP convention on Monday night, called Vance an “American patriot” in a post, Bloomberg reported.
Vance’s academic and previous working experience has made him proximal to the tech industry.
Choosing Vance marks Trump’s willingness to forge alliances with tech protectionists, Lü Xiang, research fellow at the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences, told the Global Times, predicting that the Trump-Vance team may advocate more aggressive technology protection policies.
Experts said the reconciliation of Trump and Vance reflects their common stance on economic populism. Whoever becomes the new US president may draw on the views to promote more conservative domestic policies to attract working-class voters.
In terms of foreign policy, a tougher stance may be taken by prioritizing national interests, they said, noting that Vance’s views will continue to have a significant impact on future policy discussions and formulation.
Unrealistic election language
US media Politico published a piece on Monday titled “Trump’s VP pick spells ‘disaster’ for Europe and Ukraine,” saying that “he [Vance] is vehemently opposed to using more funds to help Ukraine and has blasted what he sees as Europe’s over-dependence on the US when it comes to military investment.”
One senior EU official, who was granted anonymity to speak candidly on the issue, said in an interview Monday that the appointment of Vance was a “disaster” for Ukraine – and by extension for the European Union, according to the article.
Experts, however, doubted that the US will be able to stop funding Ukraine. “Candidates’ policy proposals during election campaigns cannot be equated with their actual foreign policy strategies and actions once they are in office. Cutting off military aid to Ukraine would mean cutting off a major source of income for the US arms industry,” Shen said.
In April, China issued a report titled “The Hypocrisy and Facts of the United States Foreign Aid.”
It said that US foreign aid has prolonged the crisis in Ukraine. As of January 2023, the US commitment to Ukraine amounted to $76.8 billion, of which military aid accounted for the largest share, $46.5 billion, or 61 percent. US media revealed that 40 percent of US military aid to Ukraine is used for the mandatory purchase of US equipment and training services, known as “tied aid.”
Part of the military aid is a financial loan that will become a long-term liability for Ukraine. Marjorie Taylor Greene, member of the US House of Representatives, stated bluntly that the US aid to Ukraine is tantamount to disguised “money laundering.”
When asked about the Ukraine crisis, Vance said in an interview with Fox News on Monday that Trump would negotiate with Moscow and Kiev to “bring this thing to a rapid close so America can focus on the real issue, which is China.” “That’s the biggest threat to our country and we are completely distracted from it,” he said.
We are always opposed to making China an issue in US elections, Lin Jian, spokesperson of China’s Foreign Ministry said on Tuesday after being asked about Vance’s remarks on China.
Chinese experts said that “China bashing” has always been a topic of US elections and candidates tend to compete with each other on who is the bigger “China hawk”. However, no matter who becomes the new US president, he should carefully ponder a trade war with China as Trump’s previous one severely harmed the US economy. Taxes could rise again and inflation could become truly uncontrollable, and these are all problems American politicians must consider.
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