'Completely Confident He Will Win': Political Scientist Explains Why Trump Chose JD Vance
On "Forbes Newsroom," political scientist and University of Chicago Professor Emeritus Charles Lipson discussed former President Trump's selection of Sen. JD Vance (R-OH) to be his vice president.
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NewsTranscript
00:00Within the Biden presidency, I mean, Kamala Harris has seen worse approval ratings than President Biden himself.
00:08And I want to talk about the Republican counterpart there, J.D. Vance.
00:12That was the big news out of the RNC.
00:15Donald Trump selected the senator from Ohio to be his running mate.
00:19What do you think of that choice?
00:22I wrote an article a couple of days ago that said,
00:29why didn't he choose X or Y?
00:34Why did he choose J.D. Vance?
00:36So, let's look at that.
00:38I thought that, in a lot of ways, his best choice was Junkin.
00:43Because Junkin could help a lot, not only in Virginia, but in swing states like Pennsylvania.
00:51It's unclear, some of the others, why he didn't choose them.
00:57But I think, first of all, Vance is whip smart.
01:02Secondly, Trump was willing to ignore some very harsh statements that Vance had made earlier against Trump.
01:11Because Vance has obviously changed his position.
01:17Now you could say that's opportunistic.
01:19But I think Vance sees which side his bread is buttered on.
01:24And this is Trump's party, and you do not want to be against Trump.
01:30I thought the reason to choose a guy like Junkin was that the thing that undid Trump last time
01:41was that he was never able to get control of the permanent government,
01:45what some people call the deep state or the permanent bureaucracy.
01:49So a really competent guy who's been in business and then led a state government would be helpful there.
01:56And I do think that Trump will have some of those people around him, led probably by John Ratcliffe,
02:03who was formerly the head of DNI and so forth.
02:08And a lot of his people are experienced now at managing the government from the first.
02:16But I think what the J.D. Vance selection tells you is that Trump is completely confident he will win.
02:26He is not picking somebody who will help him to the extent any vice president can in swing states.
02:37He's picking somebody who is a mega Republican to continue the party in that vein after his presidency.
02:47Because remember, Trump will be a lame duck on the day he removes his hand from the Bible.
02:56Let's talk about what you think that future will be,
02:59because something that has loomed large over this election definitely has been age.
03:05I mean, Bill Clinton, as of right now, is younger than both Trump and Biden, and he was president 30 years ago.
03:12So J.D. Vance is 39 years old, not a career politician, was elected to the Senate in 2022,
03:21is less of a traditional Republican, more of that Trump mega Republican.
03:26So what do you think this indicates about the future of the GOP?
03:31Well, I think the main thing that it indicates is that the party has been transformed.
03:36Now, they can't emphasize too much J.D. Vance's youth because it contrasts with Trump.
03:46What they'll indicate, what they'll do, is contrast the vigor of Vance and Trump against Biden's decrepitness if Biden stays in.
04:00And then, you know, if J.D. Vance will just shred Kamala Harris in a debate,
04:09he's just whip smart and he's a great debater.
04:17But I think what it all indicates is that they're building a, not so much a youth movement, but a working class movement.
04:26I mean, this is a guy who can go into a rural community.
04:29I grew up in a town of 2,000 people.
04:32The main industry was farming.
04:35The second largest industry was crushing soybeans for their oil, soybean oil.
04:41So, but it was mostly cotton farming and soybeans, 2,000 people.
04:46That's how many people lived in the town.
04:50J.D. Vance can go into a town like that.
04:53Kamala Harris just flies over it.