The Triumph of J.D. Vance
Being Indian, I have hardly any stake in the U.S. Presidential Elections. Sheer curiosity led me, nevertheless, to watch the months leading up to election day with great interest.
I had heard of J.D. Vance earlier only in an interview of Thomas Sowell conducted by the Hoover Institution in 2023. I knew not who Vance was or what his policy positions were.
Beginning perhaps with 2022, a restless dynamism would begin to brew in the Republican Party. That year, the Governor of Florida, Ron DeSantis, would raise his profile in the eyes of conservatives. He emplaned fifty odd illegal immigrants and sent them to Martha’s Vineyard, that elite and affluent summer colony in Massachusetts. To the conservatives he became an instant hero — he was someone who was giving the sanctimonious elite liberals a taste of what border towns felt like when compelled to house illegal immigrants. With a sure touch for protecting their pristine enclave, Martha’s Vineyard ensured that the military arrived in less than forty-eight hours to shuttle them out.
- To be clear, the idea did not originate with DeSantis. He had merely joined Texas governor Greg Abbott and Arizona governor Doug Doucey in utilizing this tactic. For whatever reason, DeSantis seemed to receive a higher profile — and more of the media’s scorn.
Predictably, many began viewing DeSantis as Donald Trump’s running mate for the 2024 presidential elections. Others were bolder in seeing in him the next president.
But the year 2023 would see DeSantis’s star yield to a brighter one. In the Republican primaries, Vivek Ramaswamy rose sharply to effulgent stardom, eclipsing all the other unimpressive politicians with whom he shared stage. The stage was his; others were merely standing on it. Even DeSantis could not appear scintillating enough. Vivek took on the Republican establishment and the media. Few would emerge so thoughtful in their defence of Trump as he would. It was not uncommon for him to be viewed as the frontrunner for Trumps’ vice-presidential candidate.
There were few who, boldly still, wanted Vivek Ramaswamy to be president. White Americans would be included in the number, dealing a blow to the sweeping generalization that Trump’s base consisted only of racists.
Then in 2024, shortly after the assassination attempt on him, Trump dropped a bombshell by nominating J.D. Vance as his running mate. This was met with some misgiving. He had since January 2023 been a senator. Nationally, his profile had yet to attain so much sheen as to be viewed with enthusiasm. With his penchant for attacking the prevailing ideological trends, he seemed to be a Trump 2.0. Perhaps it was easy to see him as a grifter. Yet, Trump’s supporters displayed a general bent to close ranks behind his choice, especially given that they felt it imperative to support him after having taken a bullet.
To the Democrats, this choice was slightly alarming. Rendering Vance a possibly greater threat than Trump was that he exuded a more believable Christian conviction. Vance was a hillbilly (a term he may not regard as belittlement). He could with ease be stereotyped as a provincial-minded man. His aggression thus far and his passionate reference to his faith appeared to blend into a potent weapon for the Democrats. He could, though not in so many words, be presented as a Christian fundamentalist who might reverse the separation of church and state. This did not apply to Trump. The forty-fifth president had, as a businessman, bestridden the cosmopolitan city of New York like a colossus. He would never pass off as a man of deep, fervid faith. If he had turned faithful after the attempt on his life, it was not effusive.
So it was that the opposing side fired at Vance the various and frenzied darts of mockery and doomsaying.
But he had a card up his sleeve. Unlike Trump, he was not averse to a political filter. He knocked the wind out of the Democratic sails during the vice-presidential debate with Tim Walz. The Democrats were prepared for partisan darts; they met instead an equanimous Vance who sought common ground with the Minnesotan governor. “Why are they vibing?” the SNL parody of the debate would have us hear Kamala Harris say.
Having won for himself a statesmanly acquittal in the debate, Vance would vindicate both himself as a high-profile political figure and Trump’s choice of him as a running mate. This profile would only solidify. He appeared on many interviews, where he faced the porous cloak of media professionalism. For a subtle hostility oozed through it, but Vance never lost his cool. He amplified his appeal on podcasts and town-hall appearances.
In the fray, therefore, were two eminences: a seasoned politician in Ron DeSantis, and a supremely versatile Vivek Ramaswamy who could breathe fire and convivially discuss policy with equal ease. An alignment of stars and a pool of merits initially elusive to Trump supporters elevated Vance above them.
I came to view him, therefore, as an adroit politician who could communicate policy in a precise fashion. At this he was far better than Trump, who operated more on an electrifying mood and less on policy speeches of any appreciable length. He gave catchy slogans — “Drill, baby, drill!” comes to the fore. He limited himself to the role of an entertainer. Perhaps this was by design; he excelled at this. He might well have lost his appeal had his speeches been laden with policy. He campaigned merely on adumbrations of low-priced energy, mass deportations, and no foreign entanglements. Vance would be the one to elaborate. Plainly, he did this successfully, given the sway of the youth vote towards Republicans.
How he excels as vice-president remains to be seen.
