Ohio Senator JD Vance has formally accepted the nomination as the Republican Party’s vice presidential candidate alongside Donald Trump and called for “unity to win” the November presidential election.
Vance, 39 and in his first term as a senator, addressed the nation on Wednesday at the Republican National Convention in Milwaukee, where he explained how he went from being a fierce critic of Donald Trump to one of his biggest supporters.
“I officially accept the nomination for Vice President of the United States of America,” Vance said.addressing Trump, who gave him a standing ovation.
“I will never take for granted the trust you have placed in me. What an honor it is to help you realize the extraordinary vision you have for this country. I promise all Americans, regardless of party, that I will give my all to serve you,” he added.
Under the watchful eye of the former president, the politician, relatively unknown to the public, shared with Americans his success story, from his difficult childhood in a poor family, with a drug-addicted mother and an absent father, to becoming a senator in 2022.
With his ears covered following the attack he suffered, Donald Trump introduced JD Vance as his vice presidential candidate
BRENDAN SMIALOWSKI/AFP/Getty Images
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“Tonight is a night of hope. A celebration of what America once was, by God’s grace, and what it will soon be again,” the senator said. at the opening of his speech, after being introduced on stage by his wife, Usha Vance, the daughter of Indian immigrants who met her husband at Yale Law School, which they both attended.
Applauded by the excited crowd that chanted his name, Vance called for “unity to win” the elections and admitted he had never imagined he would be in this position.
The vice presidential candidate, who also served in the US Marine Corps, attacked current President Joe Biden’s policies, arguing that they harm underserved communities, like the one he grew up in in Ohio.
JD Vance then promised to defend the interests of the working class rather than the interests of Wall Street, in a reference to US financial markets, should the Republican Party return to the White House, accusing Biden of having made the US “weaker and poorer”.
“The import of foreign labor is over. We will fight for American citizens, jobs and wages,” he assured.
Vance argued that the country needs a leader who “answers to the worker, union and non-union” and who will fight to bring factories back to the country, assessing that that leader is Trump.
“Somehow, a New York City real estate developer named Donald J. Trump was right on every issue while Biden was wrong,” he added.
The senator, who thanked Trump for not giving up on politics, argued that the former president created “the best economy in history for workers” and asked the audience to imagine what he would do if he gets another four years in the White House.
The anti-trump past
JD Vance, this controversial Republican senator, was not always a fan of Donald Trump, who he even compared to Adolf Hitler, something that the former president is keen to remember.
But this ex-military man, known for having published a best-selling memoironly recently entered politics.
Vance was elected to the Senate in 2022 and has become one of the most vocal advocates of Trump’s “Make America Great Again” agenda, particularly on issues related to trade, foreign policy and immigration.
During the speech at the convention, JD Vance also spoke about his mother’s struggle with drug addiction, who was watching from the convention’s VIP box, near Trump, and celebrated being “sober for 10 years.”
“Our movement is about single moms like mine who have struggled with money and addiction but never gave up. And I’m proud to say my mom is here, 10 years clean and sober. I love you mom,” she said.
Before the senator, Donald Trump Jr, the former president’s son and a friend of Vance, took to the stage at the Convention and praised his father’s choice for vice president.
“No matter who you are, you can be a part of this movement to Make America Great Again. Look at me and my friend JD Vance: he’s a kid from Appalachia and I’m from Trump Tower in Manhattan. We grew up worlds apart, but now we’re both fighting side by side to save the country we love,” he noted.
“And by the way, JD Vance will be a great vice president,” he said.
The third and penultimate day of the Republican National Convention, which ends today, was also marked by the presence of family members of 13 US Marines killed during the US withdrawal from Afghanistan three years ago, who argued that they had been forgotten by Biden but supported by Trump.
In the audience, some of the convention attendees wore bandages on their right ears, as did Donald Trump, who appeared at the event with the same type of bandage after the assassination attempt he was the target of on Saturday, at a rally in Pennsylvania..
Source: expresso.pt
