MILWAUKEE – Republicans welcomed JD Vance as Donald Trump's running mate on the same night devoted to blasting President Joe Biden's leadership on the world stage.
Vance, the 39-year-old Ohio senator, offered his life story as a son of Appalachia to reaffirm Trump’s connections to Americans who feel alienated socially, economically and politically.
The mix of national security talk, relentless attacks on Biden and the unveiling of a potential “MAGA” movement heir encapsulated what Trump’s “America First” agenda means for the GOP and the U.S. role as a global superpower.
Here are some takeaways from Day 3 of the RNC:
JD Vance underscores a more populist, protectionist, isolationist GOP
Vance used his national introduction to blend his working-class Appalachian roots with Trump's economic populism and nationalism. The young senator is a natural fit with the former and potentially future president. His nomination effectively coronates Vance as the heir apparent to Trump's movement.
Vance blasted Wall Street and “multinational corporations.” He hailed Trump as a man who “will stand up for American companies” and “union and nonunion” workers. He talked of raising wages, battling China in the global marketplace and making other nations foot the military bill for international security and stability.
The senator torched Biden for his support of international trade deals and foreign wars during his days as a U.S. senator. “At each step of the way ... jobs were sent overseas and our children were sent to war,” said Vance, who has opposed U.S. aid to Ukraine.
Each of those historical U.S. policy decisions Vance mentioned had sweeping Republican support. The Iraq War was pursued by the last Republican president before Trump: George W. Bush. But this isn't the party of the Bushes anymore. It's not even Ronald Reagan's.
“We have a big tent in this party,” including “on national security and economic policy,” Vance said, nodding at the obvious gap in his pitch and what Republican conventions would have cheered a generation or just a decade ago.
How much Vance expands Trump's political reach remains to be seen. He mentioned the key states of Michigan, Ohio and Pennsylvania often. The 2024 electoral map, though, may not be the most important takeaway from Vance's national debut.
Rather, it is how his sweeping argument — made more crisply than by Trump — reflects just how much the former reality television star and real estate brand at the top of the ticket has reshaped the Republican Party and American politics.
There were no apologies for Jan. 6. But there was a reminder of many Trump administration convictions
RNC programming for the first two nights largely sidestepped any mention of the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on Congress by former President Donald Trump's supporters.
Peter Navarro ended that streak.
Once a top Trump White House adviser, Navarro woke up Wednesday in a Miami federal prison. Hours later, he walked onstage in Milwaukee to an extended ovation after completing a four-month sentence for refusing to testify before Congress about Trump’s efforts to overturn the 2020 election.
“You folks just want to know if you can see my MAGA tattoo I got there,” he said jokingly before unleashing a string of attacks on Democrats.
He referred to “the Department of Injustice.” Some delegates chanted, “Let them go! Let them go!” in a reference to hundreds of people convicted for their parts in the Jan. 6 attack.
It was a surreal moment for a party that has long portrayed itself as a staunch defender of law and order. It also served as a fresh reminder of the legal troubles faced by Trump, who was convicted of a felony in May, as well as numerous aides, advisers and allies who have been indicted or imprisoned for violating the law in his service.
“If they can come for me, if they can come for Donald Trump — be careful, they will come for you,” he said.
Navarro’s dark vision stood in stark contrast to the unifying theme that Trump’s campaign has sought to exude during the four-day gathering.
Families of slain servicemembers made a powerful critique of Biden
There were many allegations that Biden is “weak,” that he pushes “appeasement” and cannot contain Russia or China — this despite many Republicans, including Vance, opposing Ukraine aid and Democrats’ left flank being incensed about his support for Israel.
But the most powerful prosecution of Biden’s foreign policy came from Gold Star family members of some of the 13 servicemen and women killed by a suicide bombing in August 2021. Their deaths were part of the U.S. withdrawal from Afghanistan after 20 years of war.
Trump committed to leaving Afghanistan before he left office and did not leave a detailed plan in place. But the actual withdrawal came on Biden’s watch, and its disorderly execution became one of his administration’s biggest missteps.
“Joe Biden has refused to recognize their sacrifice,” Christy Shamblin, the mother of Sgt. Nicole Gee, told the crowd. “Donald Trump knew all of our children’s names. He knew all of their stories.”
Through tears, the mother of Marine Corps Cpl. Hunter Lopez told delegates: “We have another son in the Army. We do not trust Joe Biden with his life.”
Biden did go to Dover Air Force Base to view the dignified transfer of the remains but memorably was seen glancing at his watch. Trump later hosted some the families at his Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida.
Biden further inflamed the families in the June presidential debate when he lied by claiming that no servicemembers had been killed during his presidency. Seeing them share their stories and name their children out loud was more effective than typical broadsides from partisan politicians.
Trump's softer side, explained by women
Trump has demonized immigrants, mocked the LGBTQ community and was found liable by a jury of sexual abusing a woman in the 1990s — which he still denies.
But this week at the RNC, he has sought to soften those edges. And he’s turned to women for help.
His daughter-in-law Lara Trump offered a humanizing portrait Tuesday of “the Donald Trump that I know” – portraying him as a doting grandfather, family man and supportive father-in-law who encouraged her to take a job as a Fox News commentator. Model and rapper Amber Rose said the ex-president doesn’t care “if you’re Black, white, gay or straight.”
On Wednesday it was Conway insisting that “in Donald Trump’s” Republican Party “everyone is welcome.” And delegates heard from one of his granddaughters, Kai Trump, who spoke glowingly of her grandfather.
If successful, the effort could boost his standing with suburban women, Blacks and Hispanics — key groups that can flip states Biden won narrowly in 2020.
Culture war rhetoric flew freely, testing the bounds of ‘unity’ talk
Callista Gingrich, Trump's former ambassador to the Vatican, cast the Biden administration — led by a practicing Catholic president — as having an “anti-faith agenda” and trying to “impose its far-left ideology on believers.”
Tom Homan, director of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement during the Trump administration, made an open threat to would-be migrants and anyone in the country illegally.
“You’d better start packing now,” Homan said. “Because you’re going home.”
There were references to “woke ideologies” and allusions to transgender rights and “men in women's sports.”
Altogether, it was another unabashed round in the culture wars — with a notable exception: There was scant mention of abortion.
Certainly, the rhetoric animates Trump supporters. And, at least on immigration, there are policy differences between Biden and Trump that Republicans think help them.
But hardline positions on cultural issues have hurt Republicans in multiple recent elections. On abortion, Trump has warned it could happen again; he insisted the GOP platform not include a call for a national ban on abortion access.
Any time a Republican is emphasizing cultural conservatism, it means they are not talking about inflation and the economy. Part of the message Wednesday handed reeling Democrats more grist for their argument that Trump, Vance and Republicans are too extreme.
Biden isn't the only older man keeping health details unde
r wraps
U.S. Rep. Ronny Jackson, Trump's former White House physician, said plenty about Biden's health and vitality. He said the 81-year-old's family and close aides should have convinced him he is not up to the job. But Jackson said nothing about Trump's health, either generally or after the assassination attempt.
Biden's health and visible aging has been a focus of the campaign, even before his halting debate performance last month. He became the oldest president in history as soon as he was inaugurated in 2021. But Donald Trump is 78, several months older now than Biden was when he accepted the Democratic nomination in 2020. And Trump, if he wins in November, could become the 81-year-old president just like the man Republicans now insist is too old for the Oval Office.
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Slodysko reported from Washington.