Trump critic turned 'successor': Novice senator Vance 'doesn't add much to ticket' other than youth
Visit our website:
http://www.france24.com
Like us on Facebook:
https://www.facebook.com/FRANCE24.English
Follow us on Twitter:
https://twitter.com/France24_en
Category
🗞
NewsTranscript
00:00Immigration taking center stage at the Republican National Convention. It
00:04resumes this Tuesday with speakers spotlighting a key issue for President
00:08Donald Trump. That's former President Trump of course. We refer to him as
00:11president because he once was president but he is still in fact the former
00:14president and the Republican candidate to dispute at the election coming up in
00:18November. So that issue of immigration and his stance on that endeared him very
00:22much to the GOP or Grand Old Party base when he began his first campaign back in
00:262015. Some things don't change. Trump and JD Vance then his choice for
00:31running mate expected to appear at the convention each night according to two
00:35sources familiar with the planning and you would expect that wouldn't you?
00:38They've got a kind of really big up their partnership or budding bromance
00:43which of course is central to the whole drama which will play out on November
00:47the 5th. Let's bring in Robert Parsons our chief foreign editor for more
00:51analysis of this one. So Trump and JD Vance Rob. A match made in hard right
00:57Republican heaven? Yeah maybe. I mean look you know on politics on most of the key
01:04issues they're pretty much in line with each other. It helps I think for Donald
01:09Trump that JD Vance is young. He's 39. You know that changes the
01:15demographic certainly for the Republican Party. You can't make the
01:19accusation anymore that it's it's aging and that respect not greatly different
01:24from the Democrats. And you know on issues like foreign policy they're
01:31completely in step. You know perhaps even Vance is to the right of Donald Trump.
01:36He's certainly very strong on not supporting Ukraine or has been up until
01:40now. Who knows what his position will be going forward and I say that because you
01:45know JD Vance is a man who has sort of blown with the wind when it comes to
01:50policy. If you go back to 2016 for instance when he wrote his memoir
01:55Hillbilly Elegy enormously successful but subsequently went on to make several
02:01critical remarks about Donald Trump. Describing himself as a never Trump man
02:06calling Trump America's Hitler or a total fraud and that pretty much remained
02:12his position up until 2022. But in 2022 he wanted to stand become a member of
02:19the Senate and he needed Donald Trump's endorsement and his tune on Donald Trump
02:24has changed categorically ever since. So you know this is this is a man who many
02:30have pointed out tends to change with the wind. But for the moment at least I
02:35think one can say you're right. You know they do seem to be together. He does
02:39seem to bring positives to the Trump table. In particular if you look at that
02:43memoir which highlights his working-class background the fact that
02:48he's come from the Middle West. He came from he had a difficult upbringing. He
02:52understands you know the the Rust Belt states like Ohio. He can identify in
02:57other words with working-class people in states like Wisconsin, Pennsylvania,
03:03Michigan. Which the Republicans lost in the last election but where they need to
03:08do well this time if they're to carry the election. So that's why he's been
03:13brought on board. Trump feels that he can deliver. He's he's throwing red meat if
03:17you like to the MAGA faithful. Nicely put Rob. Thank you very much indeed. Stay with
03:22us. We're bringing in Larry Sabato who's Founding Director of the University of
03:25Virginia Center for Politics. Larry always a pleasure to have you here on
03:28France 24. We appreciate your time and also your opinions which you express so
03:32freely with us. Robert Parsons is staying with us our Chief Foreign Editor as well.
03:36Larry help me. This is a man, Vance, who called Donald Trump America's Hitler. How
03:43does he suddenly go from that to working with him? I don't understand. Explain how.
03:47Give us your sense of that. Well the New Yorker has a great new cartoon and they
03:52suggest that the reason Trump didn't take offense at American Hitler is that
03:57he regards it as a compliment. Seriously? Well it's a cartoon. Okay. Look J.D. Vance
04:07was strongly pushed by Trump's two adult sons Don Jr. and Eric. They very much
04:17favor him. Yes he is a convert. He was a never Trumper who said all kinds of
04:23terrible things about Donald Trump for the first few years after Trump emerged
04:28on the national stage but of course now he is one of Trump's greatest advocates.
04:34He's also 39 and Trump is 78 and Trump is thinking about the future. Whenever he
04:41chooses to give up the presidency you know technically under the Constitution
04:45it would be scheduled for 2029 but with Trump you never know. But he has a
04:51successor who's younger and who can carry forth the so-called MAGA policies
04:56make America great again policies. So they seem to get along reasonably well. I
05:02don't think that that Vance adds very much to the ticket other than the
05:06generational contrast. He's from Ohio. Trump has won Ohio twice in a massive
05:11landslide. The people in the other Midwestern states that Trump needs to do
05:16well in, Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Minnesota, they don't even know who JD
05:22Vance is. He's the senator from Ohio and he's been in for a total of one and a
05:27half years. One and a half years that's his total experience in politics. What
05:33about the optical area of having two white guys on the ticket? Is that
05:38something that is just basically too narrow or is that actually speaking to a
05:42certain base that Trump has? Well there's no question that the Republican
05:48Party likes white males. They nominate them with great frequency and of course
05:53who is JD Vance replacing? Mike Pence, another white male. So you know it's more
06:00of the same and that is the base of the Republican Party. They do overwhelmingly
06:06well with that particular demographic category and they will again they also
06:11do well with white women. Minorities less so although Trump has made inroads
06:16with blacks and Hispanics and even young people this time around. So some of that's
06:22due to the economy. Although it really isn't very bad here but it's what people
06:26think is true rather than what is true. Indeed perception plays a massive part
06:30doesn't it? I was once a student of politics Larry and I was told that it was
06:34persuading the floating voter that was key to winning an election. Is that now
06:39not true? Is it more now about motivating your base? And that's where we
06:42come back to Trump and Vance that ticket. That is exactly correct because whereas
06:48in the 1970s for example about half the voters split their tickets between the
06:53two major parties. They would simultaneously vote for some from both
06:56parties. Now about 90% vote for the same party from the top of the ballot to the
07:02bottom. So there just aren't many floating voters and the center does not
07:07hold anymore. It's the left versus the right. It's not all that different from
07:11what we've seen in Europe recently. How are things I mean I'm just wondering
07:15obviously we've had the assassination attempt. It's been a remarkable few days
07:19hasn't it? I'm wondering how how things are there right now. I imagine things
07:23aren't calming in any particular way. This has helped Trump. I'm sure he would
07:28rather have done without it but it has helped him because with his base again
07:34the evangelical Christians vote over 80% for Trump. White evangelical
07:40Christians and they are convinced this was the hand of God that diverted the
07:45bullet and lifted Trump up and you're hearing it it's almost a religious
07:48service in Milwaukee at the Republican National Convention. So it's helped him
07:53it's probably made criticism of Trump less welcome among Democrats and others
07:59at least for the time being. We'll see how long that lasts but you know it's
08:04assisted him because he's always had such a hard tough nasty image and now
08:11he's telling people that he's a changed man because he's been shot at with no
08:17effect to paraphrase Winston Churchill. Larry Sabato pleasure speaking to you
08:22sir. Thank you very much indeed. Founder director of University of Virginia's
08:25Politics Center. Great to speak with you. Great to speak with Robert Parsons as always
08:29sir and we're watching for all the violence of course politically speaking
08:32and otherwise in the United States.