POLITICO Nightly: How J.D. Vance got here

BY CALDER MCHUGH Presented by  Republican vice presidential nominee J.D. Vance greets supporters today at Fiserv Forum in Milwaukee, Wis. during the first day of the Republican National Convention. | Francis Chung/POLITICO NEW RIGHT NOD — As the Republican National Convention began today in Milwaukee in the shadow of the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump’s life, the now-official GOP nominee for president’s first order of business was to name his running mate: Sen. J.D. Vance (R-Ohio). Just 39 years old, Vance’s 2016 bestselling memoir “Hillbilly Elegy” vaulted the former venture capitalist and Marine Corps veteran to national prominence — which he then parlayed into a successful 2022 run for Senate. He’s moved from a “Never Trump” conservative who once compared the former president to Hitler to one of Trump’s chief defenders. And even before he was named Trump’s running mate, Vance was a preeminent figure on the “New Right,” a collection of largely younger conservatives who want to take many pillars of the first Trump term — overt nationalism, anti-immigration and America First anti-interventionism — to a more direct and extreme place. Trump’s bet is that Vance’s Rust Belt voice will resonate in Pennsylvania, Michigan and Wisconsin, all of which are likely essential to President Joe Biden’s path to 270 electoral votes. But unlike some other figures who were considered veep shortlisters, such as Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Fla.) who may have helped Trump with Latino voters and suburban voters, the Vance pick looks a lot more like service to style and ideology. It’s a nod to the populist right and advocates for Vance like Donald Trump Jr., Steve Bannon and Heritage Foundation President Kevin Roberts. And it’s an overture to Silicon Valley billionaires fed up with Biden. Peter Thiel, who has demurred about financially backing Trump this cycle , once hired Vance at his venture capital firm and helped to bankroll Vance’s 2022 Senate campaign. Vance, who said in February that he wouldn’t have certified the results of the 2020 election if he was in then-Vice President Mike Pence’s place, will be introduced more fully to the country this week at the RNC, where he’ll get the chance to articulate his own vision for the country. If you want to know more about him right now, Nightly has you covered with the most important, up to the minute Vance coverage: 55 Things to Know About J.D. Vance, Trump’s VP Pick : Donald Trump’s pick for vice president made a 180-degree turn from fierce critic to bulldog surrogate for the former president. What Trump picking Vance for VP means for the Senate : Vance’s selection as Trump’s running mate means there could be an upcoming vacancy in the Senate — but it wouldn’t last long . If Vance is elected as vice president, Ohio Republican Gov. Mike DeWine will get to pick his replacement in Congress’ upper chamber. The backstory on how Trump picked Vance : Two days before Donald Trump named J.D. Vance as his running mate, the Ohio senator boarded real estate titan Steve Witkoff’s G6 Gulfstream jet. His destination: Trump’s Mar-a-Lago Club in Palm Beach, Florida. The surreptitious meeting, which has not previously been reported, helped to solidify Trump’s decision to pick the 39-year-old freshman senator as his running mate . Trump had spoken with North Dakota Gov. Doug Burgum and Florida Sen. Marco Rubio, the other two vice presidential contenders, earlier in the week. To those familiar with his deliberations, it was clear he had been the most impressed with Vance. Is There Something More Radical than MAGA? J.D. Vance Is Dreaming It : Vance’s new identity as a MAGA militant has existed alongside — and, at times, served to obscure — another influential role that Vance has taken on in Washington. In certain conservative circles, Vance has emerged as the standard-bearer of the “New Right,” a loose movement of young, edgy and elite conservatives trying to take the ideological revolution that began under Trump — including his overt embrace of nationalism, his hard-line stance on immigration, his vocal opposition of U.S. involvement in foreign conflicts like Ukraine and his overt skepticism toward certain liberal democratic principles — in an even more radical direction. Unlike Trump’s more conventional Republican followers, Vance’s New Right cohort see Trump as merely the first step in a broader populist-nationalist revolution that is already reshaping the American right — and, if they get their way, that will soon reshape America as a whole. What J.D. Vance Believes : In June, Vance sat down for a long conversation with Ross Douthat, a New York Times Opinion columnist, about how he sees his own political evolution, his relationship to the American elite and to Trump himself, his views on populist economics and America’s support for Ukraine. Trump: Tribune Of Poor White People : A 2016 interview with Vance in The American Conservative , published after the release of Hillbilly Elegy . How Democrats plan to attack Vance: As NBC News reports, the Democratic playbook on going after Vance is to paint him as “extreme,” in particular on the issues of abortion and defending democracy that have become pillars of Biden’s campaign. “He’s dangerous. So is his book”: Silas House, the Appalachian Studies chair at Berea College in Kentucky and one of the premier thinkers in and about the South, spoke with POLITICO Magazine in 2022 about “Hillbilly Elegy” and Vance as a political figure. All of J.D. Vance’s Trump quotes that could come back to bite him : Vance didn’t always have kind words for his running mate . In the year before Trump took the Oval Office, Vance, who once described himself as a “Never Trump guy,” was quick to criticize the former president, using words like “idiot” and even “Hitler” to describe Trump. Farewell to the dumbest Senate primary ever : Low-lights from the fractious Republican primary that delivered the Ohio Senate nomination to Vance in 2022. How J.D. Vance won an Ohio U.S. Senate race that captured national attention : Vance’s path to general election victory in one of the most closely watched and hard-fought Senate races of 2022. Welcome to POLITICO Nightly. Reach out with news, tips and ideas at nightly@politico.com . Or contact tonight’s author at cmchugh@politico.com or on X (formerly known as Twitter) at @calder_mchugh .   A message from Johnson&Johnson: We’re restoring the true meaning of healthcare—developing advanced treatments and smarter and less invasive solutions for today’s most complex diseases. See how we're connecting the best of Health&Care for every patient and provider. Learn more   WHAT'D I MISS? — Judge dismisses Trump’s Mar-a-Lago classified docs criminal case: Judge Aileen Cannon has dismissed the federal criminal case against former President Donald Trump charging him with amassing highly sensitive national security secrets at his Mar-a-Lago estate and then obstructing government efforts to reclaim them. Cannon, in a 93-page ruling, concluded that special counsel Jack Smith’s appointment violated the Appointments Clause of the Constitution. Smith is likely to appeal the ruling. — Secret Service will privately brief lawmakers on Trump assassination attempt: Congress is quickly ramping up a sprawling, multi-committee investigation into the assassination attempt against former President Donald Trump , with much of its early scrutiny focused on the Secret Service. House Oversight Committee members will get a briefing with the agency on Tuesday, a committee aide told POLITICO. In addition to the briefing, Oversight Chair James Comer (R-Ky.) has invited Secret Service Director Kimberly Cheatle to testify publicly before his panel on July 22. The committee aide said that “based on our conversations with the Secret Service,” they expect Cheatle will appear for the hearing and “more details will be announced soon.” — Biden extends Secret Service protection to RFK Jr.: The Biden administration will extend Secret Service protection to independent presidential candidate Robert F. Kennedy Jr. , Homeland Security Secretary Alejandro Mayorkas said today. In addition, “adjustments” have been made to the security protection provided to President Joe Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and former President Donald Trump, Mayorkas said, declining to reveal specifics. Sen. J.D. Vance, as Trump’s vice presidential choice, will get “the appropriate level of security,” Mayorkas added.   Understand 2024’s big impacts with Pro’s extensive Campaign Races Dashboard, exclusive insights, and key coverage of federal- and state-level debates. Focus on policy. Learn more.     NIGHTLY ROAD TO 2024 PROJECTING STRENGTH — Republicans gathering in Milwaukee are almost certain to use the assassination attempt on Donald Trump to reinforce his image of defiance and strength , as they already have on social media and in public statements. The former president himself said he planned to use his speech as “chance to bring the whole country, even the whole world, together.” But the central thrust of the convention — with a heavy focus on appealing to traditionally Democratic-leaning demographic groups — will not change, according to a Republican strategist close to the campaign. CONFLICT AVERTED — Anti-abortion advocates upset with the GOP’s watered-down abortion platform have abandoned plans to escalate their fight to the Republican convention floor this week after the assassination attempt on former President Donald Trump. Nearly two dozen members of the RNC’s Platform Committee objected to language backed by the Trump campaign that couched abortion as primarily in the hands of the states and had planned to push for the adoption of a so-called minority report calling for a stronger federal role on the issue. Tony Perkins, president of the Family Research Council and a platform committee member, said today that they planned to escalate the issue — possibly to a full-on floor fight — but that the situation had changed because of the Saturday shooting. A NATION OF CONSPIRACISTS — Four minutes after the first report of a shooting at a rally for Donald J. Trump on Saturday, an anonymous account on X posted, “Joe Biden’s antifa shot President Trump.” Within half an hour, another account on X with links to the QAnon conspiracy theory claimed without proof that the attack against Mr. Trump had most likely been ordered by the Central Intelligence Agency. The idea that President Biden was behind the shooting of Mr. Trump was perhaps the most dominant conspiracy theory to emerge after the attack in Butler, Pa., on Saturday, writes the New York Times. The unproven conjecture surfaced almost instantly, hardened into a narrative and then catapulted between platforms large and small, even as information about the incident was limited. It was a striking example of the speed, scale and stickiness of rumors on social media, which often calcify into accepted truth far more efficiently than efforts to debunk or pleas for restraint.   A message from Johnson&Johnson:     AROUND THE WORLD Rwanda's President Paul Kagame casts his vote in Kigali today in the country's presidential election. | Brian Inganga/AP FOREGONE CONCLUSION — Rwandans voted today in a presidential election that is expected to extend the rule of President Paul Kagame , who has held power since the end of the country’s genocide in 1994, reports The Associated Press. The authoritarian leader, 66, is running virtually unopposed. Kagame faced the same opponents — Frank Habineza of the Democratic Green Party of Rwanda and independent candidate Philippe Mpayimana — in the previous election in 2017 in which Kagame took nearly 99% of the vote. His opponents struggled to attract supporters during campaigning, but Habineza told The Associated Press that his party “has improved, and we are confident we will perform very well this time.” TAKING THE OATH — Nepal’s newly appointed prime minister took the oath of office today at a ceremony in Kathmandu , reports The Associated Press. Khadga Prasad Oli, the leader of Nepal’s largest communist party, was named prime minister on Sunday following the collapse of a previous coalition government. Oli, 72, will be leading a coalition government made up of his Communist Party of Nepal (Unified Marxist Leninist) and the Nepali Congress party, the two largest parties in Nepal. This is his fourth time serving as prime minister of the Himalayan nation. Two deputy prime ministers and 19 ministers appointed by him also took the oath of office. He is expected to further expand the Cabinet, including members from coalition partner parties.   SUBSCRIBE TO GLOBAL PLAYBOOK: Don’t miss out on POLITICO’s Global Playbook, our newsletter taking you inside pivotal discussions at the most influential gatherings in the world. Suzanne Lynch delivers the world's elite and influential moments directly to you. Stay in the global loop. SUBSCRIBE NOW .     NIGHTLY NUMBER $13.8 billion The size of a digital cash handout program that Thailand is set to roll out as the country attempts to boost a lagging economy. The widely criticized “Digital Wallet” program is meant to give 10,000 baht — about $275 — to 50 million citizens in digital money to spend at local businesses. RADAR SWEEP A HELPING HAND — In America, if you give birth to a healthy child, you can be home with the new baby within a couple of days. But for plenty of new parents, that’s increasingly not preferred. Rather than trying to figure out everything about keeping a baby healthy and happy on their own, they’d prefer to have some medical professionals with experience give them a hand . This is common in many other countries, where services like longer term stays or retreats in specially designed facilities for new parents and children are available. In the U.S., these are beginning to pop up as well, though they’re privately owned and can cost a pretty penny. For Slate, Elena Sheppard writes about the parenting trend, and the parents looking for a helping hand. PARTING IMAGE On this date in 1976: Jimmy Carter with then-Sen. Walter Mondale of Minn., his vice presidential choice, on the final night of the Democratic National Convention at Madison Square Garden in New York. | AP Did someone forward this email to you?  Sign up here .   A message from Johnson&Johnson: At Johnson & Johnson, we believe health is everything. Our strength in healthcare innovation empowers us to build a world where complex diseases are prevented, treated, and cured; treatments are smarter and less invasive; and solutions are personal. We are uniquely positioned to innovate across the full spectrum of healthcare solutions today to deliver the breakthroughs of tomorrow. We combine our science and technology with our determination to create a powerful force of care ... and profoundly impact health for humanity. Learn more     Follow us on Twitter Charlie Mahtesian @PoliticoCharlie Calder McHugh @calder_mchugh   FOLLOW US

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