MAGA Play: Trump picks Vance

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As you almost certainly already know, in another flash of political genius, President Trump accelerated his plans to announce his Vice President and yesterday named freshman Ohio Senator J.D. Vance. The Associated Press ran the widely-covered story under the headline, “Trump picks Sen. JD Vance of Ohio, a once-fierce critic turned loyal ally, as his GOP running mate.” One of my best lifelong friends immediately texted me yesterday noting that Vance remarkably resembles the “Chad” meme:

To that strong comparison, you might also note that the Senator from Ohio also looks like he could be directly related to our second Republican President and brilliant Civil War general, Ulysses S. Grant:

Right? You see it too? I’m not imagining things, am I?

There is a lot that could be said about Trump’s bold choice. Vance is Mike Pence’s reverse opposite. J.D. is a political newcomer, having won his Ohio Senatorial seat in 2022 as his first public office. Vance is a veteran Marine, Yale lawyer, and bestselling author. His 2016 rags-to-riches story Hillbilly Elegy was adapted into a Netflix movie starring Glenn Close as Vance’s troubled mother. Close was nominated for an Academy Award for her performance.

J.D. Vance is 39 years old — just a few years younger than U.S. Grant when that military veteran ran for office.

Demonstrating Trump’s political brilliance, Vance started his political career in 2016 as a self-described “Never Trumper.” But by 2021, he’d apologized, recanted, and joined Team MAGA. This was politically masterful since Vance’s early skepticism builds a sympathetic bridge for anti-Trump Republicans, helping cure Trump’s greatest intra-party weakness.

And Senator Vance ticks all my favorite boxes.

Vance was deeply skeptical of pandemic overreach and opposed vaccine mandates. He was one of East Palestine’s strongest advocates. And his nomination is catastrophic for Proxy War proponents; Vance once famously remarked, “I don’t really care what happens to Ukraine.”

Without seeming unsympathetic to the plight of Ukraine’s luckless citizens, at this point in history we prefer that our politicians focus on fixing our border instead of fixing Ukraine’s. Ukraine’s border has received more U.S. taxpayer money than has our own porous border, and we are still waiting for the thank-you cards.

Jeff Childers

Jeff Childers is the president and founder of the Childers Law firm. Jeff interned at the Federal Bankruptcy Court in Orlando, where he helped write several widely-cited opinions. He then worked as an associate with the prestigious firm of Winderweedle, Haines, Ward & Woodman in Orlando and Winter Park, Florida before moving back to Gainesville and founding Childers Law. Jeff served for three years on the Board of Directors of the Central Florida Bankruptcy Law Association. He has also served on the Board of Directors of the Eighth Judicial Bar Association, and on the Rules Committee for the Northern District of Florida Bankruptcy Court. Jeff has published several articles as co-author with Professor William Page of the Levin College of Law (University of Florida) on the topic of anti-trust in the Microsoft case. He also is the author of an article on the topic of Product Liability in the Software Context. Jeff focuses his area of practice on commercial litigation, elections law, and constitutional issues. He is a skilled trial litigator and appellate advocate. http://www.coffeeandcovid.com/