culture / history / Ideas and Policy

VP Vance: A Worthy Successor

The Portly Politico22 Comments

After the usual will-they-won’t-they of the vice presidential selection drama, President Trump delivered yet again, picking Ohio Senator and Hillbilly Elegy author J.D. Vance as his running mate.

The Vance pick is symbolic on a number of levels.  As a US Senator, he has focused on improving the lives of the forgotten men and women that President Trump champions.  He has rejected the siren song of the Establishment Uniparty.  He is very clearly the conservative populist in the Senate.

I receive an e-mail newsletter from The New York Times each morning at my work e-mail.  I am not fan of The New York Times, but I likely signed up for it because I needed to access some article for my students.  Regardless, the Tuesday, 16 July edition of The Morning newsletter makes a claim with which I agree:  in picking Vance, Trump was, essentially, picking his successor.

Vance is tied with Richard Nixon as the youngest vice presidential candidate in American history.  Both were thirty-nine when selected to be their candidates’ running mate (Nixon ran as President Eisenhower’s running mate in 1952 and 1956; he was thirty-nine in 1952).  He has years—God Willing!—of life ahead of him, coupled with youthful vigor (I’m thirty-nine myself, so I have to believe there’s youthful vigor left).  At the end of President Trump’s second term, Vance would be a mere forty-three-years old—on par with President Obama, President Kennedy, and President Theodore Roosevelt.  Assuming a triumphal Trumpian Restoration, Vance would be in excellent position to take the reins.

He is also a proven populist in the Trumpian mold.  There are numerous benefits here.  For one, it guarantees that the Republican Party’s leadership is firmly oriented in a populist direction.  Two, it indicates that this time President Trump will surround himself with the right people (seeing Tucker Carlson seated two spots away from President Trump at the Republican National Convention Monday evening is also suggestive that Trump is taken good counsel now)—and might actually “Drain the Swamp.”  Three, it suggests that the Republican Party will embrace the logical metamorphosis into a bread-and-butter, blue-collar, conservative-populist party, which is a strategy for both success and national restoration.

Most VP picks are, ultimately, unimportant.  They often result from the calculus of electoral expediency:  a presidential candidate attempts to expand his base, or shore up some geographical region that is a toss-up.  Sometimes, they are made to reassure party regulars that their faction or interest is represented.  The young, green Obama picked then-Senator Biden as his running mate for the perceived wisdom and experience the latter brought (oh, how the Truth blossoms in the fullness of time).  Reagan picked Bush I to mollify the Republican Establishment of the 1980s.  Trump picked Pence to reassure social conservatives and to beef up his Midwestern appeal.

Vance certainly helps geographically with his dual Midwestern and Appalachian ties, although Appalachia is for Trump 100% already.  But his pick is more consequential for the reasons stated.  He is a logical successor to Trump; he grew up in harsh Appalachian poverty; he cares about the blue-collar workers; he is a proven populist, in spite of his Yale education.

With the Trump-Vance ticket, we may very well have the twenty-first-century iteration of the Gracchi Brothers.  I’m surprised more commentators have not noted this connection (though some have), especially in the wake of the failed attempt on President Trump’s life.  The Gracchi were upper class Roman tribunates who represented the interests of the populares and the plebeians against the excesses of the optimates and the patricians.  The late Roman Republic was in dire straits, particularly with the unequal distribution of land and the increased dependence on slave labor.  Those two factors were squeezing the Roman middle-class out of existence, and fell particularly hard on the working-class plebeians.

Sound familiar?  A small handful of real estate firms have bought up massive amounts of land and property at bargain-basement prices, then jacked up rents.  We import massive amounts of illegal migrant labor that is paid a pittance—and robs working-class Americans of jobs.  The middle-class lifestyle is eaten away by runaway inflation; savings are stripped of their value for the same reason.

Now we have Trump and Vance boldly proposing to fix these problems and others.  What do they get for their troubles?  President Trump nearly died, and that was after years of bogus legal actions brought against him.

What happened to the Gracchi?  Both brothers were assassinated.  The results:  the end of the Roman Republic; long years of civil war; and the emergence of a imperial autocracy.

Let’s pray our Gracchi succeed.

22 thoughts on “VP Vance: A Worthy Successor”

  3. Great take on Vance and fascinating history on the Gracchi. At least presently, RFK Jr. is my top choice, so I’m less invested in Trump’s VP choice. While I would have preferred to see Carson, Gabbard, or Youngkin, hopefully Vance will be solid choice for just the reasons you’ve listed. It’s going to be very interesting to see how things play out over the coming months.

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          • It’s worth checking out! If RFK Jr drops out, Trump will be my pick, but Bobby and Nicole’s messaging is so aligned with people like you and I who have worked hard to get ahead and are being screwed by a system that helped one generation, but has been changed so our generation doesn’t have the same opportunities. I don’t agree on everything, but they’re the only ticket I’ve ever been excited for, which maybe says something.

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            • There is this fascinating convergence of what might be called the “sensible Left” and the Right into some kind of “Not Left.” Generally, I’m witnessing an increase in more conservative social values—or at least a generalized yearning for a more traditional way of life—coupled with more economically interventionist or progressive economics. It’s a really intriguing blend (although it’s nothing new; taken too far, it’s just economic fascism!), and seems to touch upon the anxiety’s of our age: diminished economic opportunity and mobility; failing institutions; and the wrecked lives of the Sexual Revolution.

              I’m hoping to see some collaboration between Trump and RFK in some way post-election. My money (and my vote) is on Trump to win in a landslide, but RFK brings an important voice to the conversation, one that we really need.

              We are in the midst of a major political realignment that started in 2016 (and probably earlier); I’m not sure what will come out of the other end, but it looks like the Republican Party will now definitively become the part of the blue-collar worker and the struggling middle class.

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              • Great observation, and I think you’re right. When I met him 11 years ago, Dr. Z labels himself as economically conservative, socially green (read: anti-globalization), a libertarian fed up with the libertarians, a constitutionlist with hopes of restoring the values of freedom and liberty, and supportive of basic safety nets of those in need while trying to empower the populous to shrink the welfare state. I’ve come to feel the same way, and I get the impression that many young people do, even if they can’t quite articulate it–a noticeable push toward traditional values with progressive economics.

                Yes, while I would personally love to see RFK Jr. in office, I suspect Trump will win by a landslide, and I’ll be happy with that, especially if RFK Jr. is appointed Attorney General or otherwise given some authority and opportunity for collaboration. We just need a change that will break up the corporate capture and set us on a new path. I have a feeling the next few years are going to be rocky–politically, economically, socially, and more–but I do believe we’ll make it through, come out stronger, and having creating a better world for future generations.

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                • If Trump and RFK can survive the intelligence agencies and resist Corporate America and the Chamber of Commerce types, we’ll be on a good path. We need to gut the CIA and FBI; abolish the Federal Reserve; and get corporations and their woke mind virus out of the institutions.

                  I think seeing RFK and Tulsi Gabbard in the Trump Administration in some capacity would be YUGE. It would be a major symbolic statement in favor of unity, too. And, let’s be real, a lot of these cabinet-level positions are just political patronage. Instead of rewarding the backstabbing neocons and NeverTrumpers who are still attached to the GOP like lampreys to a shark, Trump should make some wildcard picks. RFK as Attorney General would be intriguing—and a fitting succession to his father’s old job in his uncle’s administration. Put Gabbard as Secretary of State or Defense or something, and watch peace bloom.

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      • My mother’s family migrated from the Great Smokey Mountains during the depression to find work in the factories in Ohio, much like JD’s family. So, I definitely felt a connection with his story.

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        • My mother’s family also has roots in the Appalachian Mountains of southwestern Virginia. Very strong connection with Vance’s story. Again, I haven’t read the book, but I know the broad strokes. Everything he describes in his public appearances and what I have read in reviews of the book track closely with what I have heard about life in the Appalachian Mountains.

          My Papaw and a lot of my other mountain relatives went and worked in the shipbuilding industry in Maryland during the Second World War. That and the Tennessee Valley Authority created so many jobs and opportunities for people from a desperately poor region.

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