Trump / Vance 2024

BREAKING: Per WSJ, Elon Musk plans to support Donald Trump’s campaign by giving $45 million a month to a new super PAC.

— Charlie Kirk (@charliekirk11) July 16, 2024

BREAKING: Donald Trump announces U.S. Senator J.D. Vance as his running mate pic.twitter.com/uTEsynPpZs

— BNO News (@BNONews) July 15, 2024

??VANCE IS THE VP PICK?? pic.twitter.com/9LTxCoXw3v

— Bradley Devlin (@bradleydevlin) July 15, 2024

BIG NEWS – Judge Cannon dismisses classified docs case —> says Jack Smith appointment is unconstitutional pic.twitter.com/kA4fCaHTPp

— Katherine Faulders (@KFaulders) July 15, 2024

Trump picking Vance is HUGE. Of all the choices, Vance ensures Trump has an IDEOLOGICAL legacy. The old GOP is dead and buried without doubt now. It’s Viktor Orhan as far as the eye can see.

— Damon Linker (@DamonLinker) July 15, 2024

It has been a huge news day.

1. Elon Musk has endorsed Trump and committed to spending $45 million a month on a pro-Trump Super PAC.

2. J.D. Vance has been revealed as Donald Trump’s VP pick.

3. A federal judge threw out the classified documents case which was widely considered the biggest lawfare threat to Trump.

My take on the Vance pick is that nearly every elected official in the GOP is somehow worse. He is a mixed bag. Trump could have chosen someone a lot worse like Tim Scott. The choice highlighted the fact that Trump has no obvious successor and how weak MAGA is even in Congress. Overall, I think Vance is an upgrade from Pence. I definitely have a lot more common politically with Vance.

I was surprised that Trump choose Vance. I assumed that he would choose someone who could have helped him win this election. He could have chosen Marco Rubio to appeal to Hispanics or Tim Scott to appeal to blacks. He could have chosen Doug Burgum to fire up the donor class. He could have chosen Nikki Haley to appeal to suburban women or Glenn Youngkin to appeal to Purple State moderates. I do not buy into the spin that Trump thinks Vance could help him win the Rust Belt.

I agree with Damon Linker that the Vance pick is about securing Trump’s ideological legacy. Donald Trump has no successor and his choice for VP will be the best positioned to inherit his movement. Assuming he wins the 2024 election, Trump will be a lame duck after the 2026 midterms. The 2028 presidential race and likely the post-Trump era begins in two years. J.D. Vance is nearly alone in sitting on the MAGA bench. Kari Lake, Dr. Oz, Herschel Walker, Blake Masters and others all lost their races.

Vance is the VP pick because he won it by default. It could have been a lot worse. We could be sitting here talking tonight about Trump-Tim Scott or Trump-Dr. Oz or Trump-Boebert. Vance is far from an ideal VP pick, but he is one of the better options. Mike Johnson is the typical congressional Republican.

Note: Thomas Massie is the only Republican congressman who doesn’t have an AIPAC babysitter. There are no anti-Zionist elected Republicans to choose from.