Trumpism's heir apparent
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For many Americans, tonight will be their first real introduction to Trumpism's 39-year-old heir.
Why it matters: Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio) would be the youngest vice president elected since the Civil War, with a backstory already on Netflix and an ideology that meshes with the GOP's most loyal young Trumpers.
- Vance will speak Wednesday shortly after Donald Trump Jr., his close friend who helped forge Vance's connection with former President Trump.
- "He's the one guy in that movement that's a current politician that's out there that actually really speaks to sort of the America First people and isn't like sort of we'll be right back to the establishment, let's go back to the neocon warmongering," Don Jr. told Axios' Mike Allen on Tuesday at an Axios House event.
Zoom in: Vance has shifted drastically since the release of his bestseller "Hillbilly Elegy" in 2016. He blames the media for his initial stance.
- Vance told Charlie Rose in 2016 that he was "a Never Trump guy" and he "never liked him," Axios' Jacob Knutson reports in a recap of Vance's evolution.
- In 2021, Vance met with Trump to apologize for his prior comments, the N.Y. Times reports.
- By the time Vance won election to the Senate in 2022, he was one of the most loyal Trumpists in the GOP.
The big picture: Vance is a major break from decades of Republican VP nominees who called themselves Reagan Republicans, including former Vice President Mike Pence.
Economy: "Vance believes that decades of liberalized global trade and immigration to the United States have been damaging for U.S. workers," Axios Macro co-author Neil Irwin writes.
- "Vance may emerge as a voice within the administration with whom business interests and traditional Reaganites clash."
Foreign policy: Vance was one of the first Senate Republicans to openly say they weren't concerned with Ukraine aid. "I don't really care what happens to Ukraine one way or the other," he said in 2022.
- "What worries the hawks is that Vance may also be the last adviser in the former president's ear," Jonathan Martin reports for Politico.
Elections and voting: Vance would have acted differently than Pence on Jan. 6, 2021, he said earlier this year on ABC News.
- "If I had been vice president, I would have told the states, like Pennsylvania, Georgia and so many others that we needed to have multiple slates of electors and I think the U.S. Congress should have fought over it from there."
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