Trump's VP pick J.D. Vance is a nod to his base, and surprises no one

When Donald Trump made his announcement of choosing J.D. Vance as his vice presidential running mate on the first day of the Republican convention, it appeared to confirm his dedication to his base and unsurprising to his supporters and other observers.

Within an hour of the announcement, convention attendees were already wearing pins reading, "Trump Vance," showing immediate support of the new running mate.

"Obviously, it wasn't a shoot-from-the-hip choice. It was a lot of input from a lot of people," Fred Doucette, a Republican delegate and state legislator from New Hampshire, told The New Arab. 

"Everyone knows that President Trump makes his own decisions. I can tell you that from first-hand experience," he said, as he sat at a picnic bench near Fiserv Forum, the debate venue, with bars across the street serving beer and playing music.

"He's a capable legislator, forward-looking, uber intelligent. I think it's a good pick. It's not everyone's flavour, but not everyone is going to be happy. I think he'll outperform any and all expectations," he said. He also noted that he's happy Trump choose a younger person to lead the party into the future.

Vance, the junior senator from Ohio, is well known for his best-selling book Hillbilly Elegy, depicting the socioeconomic problems of his family in the impoverished Appalachian region of the US. In recent years, however, he has become better known for his extreme right-wing political positions, including abortion and LGBTQ+ rights, and has expressed scepticism about the results of the 2020 presidential election.

Though Vance was previously a fierce critic of Trump, once calling him "America's Hitler" in response to his racist rhetoric, he has since apologised multiple times, particularly as the competition for vice president heated up. It isn't unusual for presidential candidates to pick running mates with him, they have disagreed in the past.

Regardless of their past differences, the two men appear to share a similar vision of leading the Republican Party in the direction of its hard-right base.

"It seems like Trump, at least from an electoral perspective, seems more interested in working to turn out his MAGA base, as opposed to chasing independent voters," J. Miles Coleman, associate editor of Sabato's Crystal Ball at the University of Virginia Center for Politics, told TNA.

"Perhaps Trump felt like he was burnt last time by picking a Republican who was more out of the traditional Reagan-esque mould, Pence, so wanted to change things up this time," added Coleman.