J.D. Vance, formally accepting the Republican nomination for vice president tonight, gave a speech that aimed over key swing states of Michigan, Wisconsin and Pennsylvania, as he shared heartwarming and sometimes amusing biographical details of his life.
But in his first address on the national stage, he was surprisingly low key, less fiery in delivery than much of his social media posts would suggest. It was the type of speech that Donald Trump, who was watching from the VIP box, might have even labeled “low energy,” at least compared to the speech delivered earlier in the hour by his son, Donald Trump Jr.
“To the people of Middletown, Ohio and all of the forgotten communities in Michigan, Wisconsin, Pennsylvania and Ohio and every corner of our nation, I promise you this: I will be a vice president who never forgets where he came from,” Vance said.
Per CBS News, Vance mentioned Michigan five times, Pennsylvania five times and Wisconsin three times. All three are President Joe Biden’s main path to reelection.
He wrote about his life in the 2016 bestseller Hillbilly Elegy, something that his wife, Musha, reminded the crowd when she noted in her introduction that he was “already the subject of a Ron Howard movie.”
The best parts of his speech were when he shared biographical details of his life, the high point when he introduced his mom, celebrating 10 years clean and sober. And he told the amusing story of his grandmother — Maw Maw — and, after she passed away, finding 19 loaded handguns stashed throughout her home. “It occurred to us that towards the end of her life, Maw Maw couldn’t get around so well and so this frail old woman made sure that no matter where she was, she was within arm’s length of whatever she needed to protect her family,” Vance said.
Vance tried to tie the plight of working class communities to Biden, noting that he voted for the North America Free Trade Agreement and the authorization of the war in Iraq — as did overwhelming numbers of Republicans at the time. “At each step of the way, in small towns like mine in Ohio, or next door in Pennsylvania or Michigan, and states all across our country, jobs were sent overseas and our children were sent to war. And somehow, a real estate developer from New York City by the name of Donald Trump was right on all those issues while Biden was wrong.” There is evidence that Trump supported the war in 2002 — albeit not enthusiastically — before opposing it.
Vance avoided some topics in his speech, like his opposition to additional funding of Ukraine. And he sidestepped his own journey from never Trumper, having once referred to him as “America’s Hitler,” to true believer. Earlier this week, Vance said that he changed his mind once Trump became president.
The speech mainly stuck with Trump’s favorite populist themes, some of which diverge sharply from traditional Republican orthodoxy, as well as a transactional foreign policy. But the delivery was rather conventional for a running mate — effusive to the top of the ticket, but doing nothing to upstage the man in charge, watching live and in person.
“My work taught me that there is still so much talent and grit in the American heartland,” Vance said. “There really is. We need a leader who fights for the people who built this country.” He waited a beat for the crowd to cheer, then added, “We need a leader who is not in the pocket of big business, but answers to the working man, union and non-union alike.” In a week where “fight, fight, fight” is the motto, where Vance himself is billed as the inheritor of the MAGA movement, his debut was just a little flat.
Following his speech came Fleetwood Mac’s Don’t Stop, the anthem of Bill Clinton’s 1992 campaign. Vance was just eight years old.
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