Vance was a critic of Trump during the 2016 election but has since become an ardent supporter.
Speaking to CNBC-TV18, senior journalist and author Mayank Chaya suggested Trump’s decision to pick the 39-year-old Vance could be due to his confidence in his chances of victory, especially given the wave of sympathy he has generated among his supporters following the assassination attempt. But Chaya was skeptical that Vance could expand Trump’s base beyond his existing stronghold, stressing that Vance’s wealthy background and Ivy League education may not resonate as well with Trump’s traditional blue-collar supporters.
Neelam Deo, a former diplomat and co-founder of Gateway House, added that Vance’s selection was a strategic move to win key battleground states like Ohio, Iowa and Michigan, where even a slight shift in voter preferences could affect the outcome. These Midwestern states hold huge influence in elections, and even a slight shift in voter preferences could affect the outcome.
Deo also speculated about the influence of Vance’s personal history – he is married to Indian-origin lawyer Usha Chirukuri – and suggested that while it might counter accusations of racism, it may not have been the main factor in his selection.
As the campaign progresses, some, including Chaya, see the assassination attempt as a short-term boost to Trump’s image as a resilient leader, but broader political dynamics and issues are expected to come back into play as the election nears.
Both experts agree that while the current momentum seems to be in Donald Trump’s favor, the uncertainty of the race leaves room for the political landscape to change dramatically.
Edited excerpts:
Q: How does this benefit Donald Trump? Having someone like J.D. Vance, 39, who served in the U.S. military, represents blue-collar workers from working-class America.
Chaya: What’s interesting to me is that Donald Trump seems determined that he’s going to win. And with his choice of J.D. Vance, who is widely seen as his presidential successor for the next 20-30 years, I seriously wonder if he’s going to expand his support beyond Trump’s already very solid MAGA base, given that he’s still fairly young at 39. Some expected Trump to choose someone like Florida Senator Marco Rubio, for example, to expand his support to the Hispanic community and beyond. But the choice of J.D. Vance could be a sign of confidence that he can ride a wave of sympathy to get to the White House once again, especially after the assassination attempt.
Q: One of the reasons Donald Trump chose Mike Pence was because he would appeal to the strong Christian base in the U.S. What do you think J.D. Vance brings to Donald Trump now? Do you think he will help Trump get votes in certain industrial areas of the U.S.? At least that’s what Donald Trump and his campaign think?
Chaya: I seriously wonder about that. The calculation here seems to be that after Donald Trump leaves the stage, there might be someone like J.D. Vance who can give Trump’s ideas an ideological foothold and help them grow in power. Trump is not known as an ideological figure at all. He’s a politician of the moment, and he’s rather impulsive. He reacts to the moment and says things. Not like J.D. Vance, who, according to media reports, has done a very fine job of giving an ideological foothold to the MAGA movement that Trump has been riding on since 2016. So, my sense is that J.D. Vance might bring some value in terms of an industrial area, but he’s not obviously a blue-collar type. He’s a Yale graduate. He’s lived a pretty remarkable life in many ways, helped a lot by his bestselling memoir, “Hillbilly Elegy,” which was written mainly about the dysfunction of the Midwestern middle class. It was pretty controversial. So, I don’t think that’s the calculation here. It’s more that Trump is confident that things are probably going to go his way now.
Q: There are still 3-4 months until the election is over. What do you think JD Vance will bring to Donald Trump’s campaign? Right now, he is leading. He is seen as the favorite to win the election. Biden’s approval rating is not very high because of his health, his missteps, his comments in the last few days, and his mistakes during his campaign speeches. But at the same time, what does it take for Trump to continue this momentum? How will JD Vance help Trump in the coming months?
Deo: So I think it’s important that J.D. Vance is from Iowa. He’s a senator from Iowa. The Midwest states and Virginia are battleground states. Some states, like California and New York, the Democrats will win anyway. Some states the Republicans will win. But states like Ohio, Iowa, Michigan, even a one percentage point swing in the vote can change things. J.D. Vance could help Trump swing those states.
Q: Kamala Harris was Joe Biden’s running mate when he was running for the Democratic presidential nomination. J.D. Vance, 39, is married to Usha Chirukuri, a highly successful litigation lawyer in San Francisco, and is of Indian descent. Do you think his personal family background, including his wife’s origins, played a role in the calculations of Donald Trump and his campaign?
Deo: I don’t think so, as there are others with similar backgrounds. Nikki Haley, like JD Vance’s wife, is the child of Indian immigrants, so I don’t think his wife being of Indian descent was a big factor in the consideration, although his wife being a successful lawyer herself may have been. But the fact that she is not a white American woman may help to validate the accusations of racism against Trump and many Republicans.
Related article: Biden’s first interview since Trump assassination attempt | Key takeaways
Q: Speaking of the attempted tip-off against Donald Trump, do you think it’s increased the level of sympathy for Trump and pretty much seals the fate of the campaign? Or is it too early to tell? The campaign is volatile and anything could happen.
Chaya: For a while, he’ll ride this well. But I think it might make some difference when the bigger issues start to come back into the discussion, as President Biden is trying to do. But for now, it’s reasonable for MAGA supporters to think that Trump has won. There’s still about four months left, and things could change dramatically, so I wonder. Because it doesn’t change the basic argument that Democrats have made, that Trump is an existential threat to the foundations of democracy. And he made that point yesterday in his NBC interview. So, while the assassination attempt was grotesque and tragic, I don’t think it’s going to give him the ripples that some people are hoping for. But for now, he’s considered a true blue warrior. You saw the way he clenched his fist and pumped it in the air in the seconds immediately after he was shot. So, he knows how to use the media, and he’s done an exceptional job in that sense.
Check out the accompanying video for the full discussion.
