Trump’s running mate Vance introduces himself to nation, accepts Republican US V-P nomination
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MILWAUKEE - Donald Trump’s vice-presidential running mate, US Senator J.D. Vance,
He urged voters to “choose a new path” as he formally accepted his nomination to be the Republican Party’s vice-presidential candidate in a keynote address.
“I stand here humbled, and I’m overwhelmed with gratitude to say I officially accept your nomination to be vice-president of the United States of America,” Mr Vance told the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
In chronicling his journey from a difficult childhood to the US Marines, Yale Law School, venture capitalism and finally the US Senate, Mr Vance, 39, introduced himself to Americans while using his story to argue that he understands their everyday struggles.
“I grew up in Middletown, Ohio, a small town where people spoke their minds, built with their hands and loved their God, their family, their community and their country with their whole hearts,” he said at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee. “But it was also a place that had been cast aside and forgotten by America’s ruling class in Washington.”
He accused “career politicians” like President Joe Biden - who Mr Vance noted has been in politics longer that he has been alive - of destroying communities like his with ill-fated trade policies and foreign wars.
“President Trump’s vision is so simple and yet so powerful” he said. “We’re done, ladies and gentlemen, catering to Wall Street. We’ll commit to the working man.”
In a sign of his potential value to the ticket, he also spoke directly to the working and middle classes in Michigan, Pennsylvania and Wisconsin - three Rust Belt swing states likely to decide the Nov 5 election.
Mr Vance described his grandmother, “Mamaw,” who raised him as his mother struggled with addiction - and acknowledged his mother, Beverly, who was on hand to watch him speak.
“I am proud to say that tonight my mom is here, 10 years clean and sober,” he said. “I love you, Mom.”
A visibly moved Beverly Vance mouthed, “I love you, J.D.,” while delegates gave her a standing ovation.
As the first millennial on a major party’s ticket, he is well positioned to carry Trump’s Make America Great Again movement beyond a potential second Trump term.
At half Trump’s age, Mr Vance potentially has decades ahead of him to influence the Republican Party.
His prime-time debut, less than two years after assuming his first public office, caps a meteoric rise and a transformation from a fierce Trump critic to one of his most loyal defenders.
He is one of several high-profile Republicans, such as US senators Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio, whose reversal from critic to loyalist has underscored Trump’s takeover of the party.
Author of the bestselling memoir Hillbilly Elegy,
His speech embraced many of Trumpism’s core tenets, promising to prioritise domestic manufacturing over Chinese imports and warning allies they would no longer get “free rides” in securing world peace.
He has opposed military aid for Ukraine and defended Trump’s attempts to overturn his 2020 election loss to Mr Biden.
He has argued the government must do more to assist the working class by restricting imports, raising the minimum wage and cracking down on corporate largesse. Those positions, at odds with the Republican Party’s traditional pro-business stance, nonetheless track Trump’s programme closely.
Democrats have already gone on offence against Mr Vance, highlighting his strict anti-abortion views and arguing that he will advance a far-right agenda in office.
Mr Biden, their candidate, was forced off the campaign trail on July 17 after testing positive for Covid-19. The illness capped three tumultuous weeks in which Mr Biden has struggled to assuage panicked Democrats that he can still defeat Trump in the election following an anemic debate performance on June 27.
Trump, his right ear still bandaged a would-be assassin’s bullet at a July 13 rally in Pennsylvania,
Hard-hitting speeches
The evening featured a hard-hitting, emotional video in which families of soldiers killed during the 2021 US troop withdrawal from Afghanistan blamed Mr Biden for their deaths. The relatives then took the stage and voiced their anger, with some delegates wiping away tears.
Several speakers also levelled aggressive and sometimes baseless attacks against the Biden administration. The heated tone contradicted the message of national unity Trump had promised to deliver after the attempt on his life at a Pennsylvania rally on July 13.
Former Trump White House official Peter Navarro, who was released from prison earlier in the day after serving four months for contempt of Congress, received a huge ovation as he took the stage on July 17.
Mr Navarro, who was convicted for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the committee investigating the Jan 6, 2021, attack at the US Capitol by Trump supporters, said he, like Trump, was a victim of Mr Biden’s “Department of Injustice”.
Trump has frequently claimed, without evidence, that his four indictments since leaving office were part of a Democratic conspiracy to prevent his election.
Others focused on Mr Biden’s border policies, a favourite target for Trump and his allies.
Mr Tom Homan, who served as acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement under Trump, said Mr Biden was the first president in history to “unsecure” the border.
“This isn’t a choice,” he said. “It’s national suicide.”
As he spoke, delegates waved signs that read, “Mass Deportation Now!”
While border crossings reached record highs during Mr Biden’s tenure, arrests dropped sharply in June after the president implemented a broad asylum ban.
Trump has pledged to launch the largest deportation effort of illegal immigrants in US history.
